The Democratic Party Faces a Voter Registration Crisis - Out of Power

[Passages]

The party is bleeding support beyond the ballot box, a new analysis shows.

By Shane Goldmacher
With Jonah Smith

Shane Goldmacher is a national political correspondent covering the rebuilding efforts of the Democratic Party. Jonah Smith is a data journalist focused on voter registration and election turnout data.

Aug. 20, 2025

The Democratic Party is hemorrhaging voters long before they even go to the polls.

Of the 30 states that track voter registration by political party, Democrats lost ground to Republicans in every single one between the 2020 and 2024 elections — and often by a lot.

That four-year swing toward the Republicans adds up to 4.5 million voters, a deep political hole that could take years for Democrats to climb out from.

Change in share of registered voters, 2020-24

The stampede away from the Democratic Party is occurring in battleground states, the bluest states and the reddest states, too, according to a new analysis of voter registration data by The New York Times. The analysis used voter registration data compiled by L2, a nonpartisan data firm.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/us/politics/democratic-party-voter-registration-crisis.html

Serious business.

[Lovie777]

1. NYT..................

again.

[Passages]

2. I would just ignore it.

Like in 2016 and 2024.

[Lovie777]

3. Will do.............

I will still vote blue.

[Terry_M]

17. Everything is great, news we don't like are just fake.

[LearnedHand]

4. Deregistering as a Democrat does not equal swinging toward Republicans

Some may do that for sure, but I’m betting the much larger number is simply people disassociating with the party, not with liberal policy.

[Passages]

5. Policies that are considered " socialism" are popular across a political spectrum.

Yep.

[Lovie777]

7. Not with GQP..............

[gab13by13]

16. They certainly are popular with unwashed GQP

[Passages]

10. We have had ample documentation which policies a spectrum supports.

We should be able to turn this around, and need a more focused concentration imo.

snip
Sixty-one percent of Republicans agree that SNAP benefits should be raised, and a majority of Republicans stated they would feel less favorable toward their representatives in Congress if they voted for cuts.

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-one-big-beautiful-bill-act-would-ravage-regions-won-by-donald-trump-while-giving-tax-breaks-to-the-rich/

[FloridaBlues]

6. After months of Republican rule that will change! Dramatically.

Going forward the first big tell will be in Virginia and the election results for the Dems.

[Keepthesoulalive]

13. We're on it

A lot of folks in the commonwealth were laid off, they are pissed and they know who to blame.
The liberty university idiot is not well liked. It would be helpful if people didn’t scour the internet for bad news from questionable sources like but her emails and Maggie whatever her last name. I’m not Pollyanna but it is demoralizing to constantly belittle us and it does travel to other blogs.

[Terry_M]

18. relying on people going back to what they think is less bad

rather than finding a way to convince them we're doing good will get us through 2026. It will not win us 2028.

[Midwestern Democrat]

24. I see no evidence that the party has learned anything from 2024 - right now it appears to be totally indistinguishable

from what it was before the election.

[Terry_M]

25. yup

and I feel like most of the people on this forum are going to vote in primaries for the most 'same' candidates they can possibly find.

[Terry_M]

26. yup

and I feel like most of the people on this forum are going to vote in primaries for the most 'same' candidates they can possibly find.

[LearnedHand]

8. I also note the Dems tend to whine about it

or think they’ll just let TSF fail and sweep into power automatically instead of understanding how people might just be SICK TO DEATH of government of, for, and by the billionaires.

[Lovie777]

9. Oh right then................

Or could it be following what the fathers of the Constitution wanted..................

Rules, laws, justice and positive amendments?

[LearnedHand]

14. Sorry but I have no idea what you mean

I didn’t say a thing about following or breaking rules or the constitution.

[chia]

11. Those numbers are from 2024

Doubt the numbers would look the same 8 months into 2025. Considering all the damage he’s done? I just don’t buy it.

[Passages]

12. Ok.

[Keepthesoulalive]

15. Thank you

[Terry_M]

19. Find some actual data, otherwise you're just guessing about 2025 trends.

[Katinfl]

27. Exactly. After what is happening now, smart people who care enough to change things will have to vote blue.

They have no other recourse. That’s not to say they will vote Dem by default only, I just don’t see how sane people could vote otherwise. The worst thing is if they choose not to vote at all. These past few months should have made people realize that their vote counts. IMHO.

[rso]

20. Democrats

And yet, democrats have won or seriously over-performed in every single special election since January, and democrats are several points ahead of republicans in generic polls. I think the issue is that a very large number of democrats don’t think the Party is fighting hard enough, but that is changing.

[Passages]

21. The data is not about special elections, and not to isolate your information as selective and irrelevant.

Yet, the trends are worrisome, and what will be the remedy? That is my concern.

**There are now roughly 160,000 fewer registered Democrats than on Election Day 2024, according to L2’s data, and 200,000 more Republicans.

[rso]

22. Democrats

The point is if things were so dire, democrats would not be doing so well in special elections. After all, polls and registration numbers are not nearly as important as actual elections.

[Passages]

23. A mistake to ignore..the data.

[somsai]

30. https://www.cookpolitical.com/ratings/house-race-ratings

also generic approve disapprove

[DUU]

28. This is simple: Elections are won by numbers: 50.0000001%

Politics is very fluid competition. What planks and platforms will the majority of voters go for today?
That’s what must be constantly adjust to.

The ideas that won in 1998 and 2008 probably won’t win in 2028.

[jmbar2]

29. Welcome to all the recent folks to DU!

And so it begins...

[somsai]

31. It's the same with all other sources

We had more money, we had more billionaires, and we lost. We have sucky policies that we can't even talk about without fear of being excommunicated.

Trump is one of the least popular politicians ever elected. Trump isn't running in 28, or 26. We have no backbench. We've become so doctrinaire that no one is on record as being against bad policies. I sure hope someone new steps up to run.

[Gum Logger]

32. Losing in Appalachia by 90% is not a great place to be

In the words of James Webb, you ignore the Scotch-Irish at your peril