A common theme I've discussed entering the 2020 cycle has been perception vs reality. Follow the news reporting for a day and you might think the country in is some sort of crisis. The House has impeached the President. In reality, we have the best economy providing the most opportunity in American history. Here at home in Florida, the political drama in Washington doesn’t appear to reflect the political reality on the ground. Here are the voter registration changes in Florida for 2019:
- DEM:+10,731
- GOP:+23,084
- Minor:+26,572
- NPA:+50,065
First thing’s first. This is a huge increase in voter registration year over year for a non-election year. We’ve added over 110k new voters outside of an election cycle. It bodes well for engagement in Florida heading into 2020. Now, the gains clearly aren’t equitable. We continue to see the longer-term trends in Florida playing out with NPA’s and Minor party candidates performing best and Democrats the worst. In terms of the breakout of registered voters overall in Florida here’s the lay of the land.
- DEM:36.9%
- GOP:35.1%
- Minor:+1%
- NPA:+26.9%
Democrats held a 2.5% advantage on Election Day 2016. That’s down to a 1.8% advantage currently. Historically Florida’s Democrats haven’t reflected the most progressive wing of the party. The party’s continued leftward bend likely is impacting would be Democrats from registering in the party and on back of the impeachment of President Trump, in which every Florida Democrat voted to impeach – it'll be very interesting to see what voter registration looks like as the election cycle quickly heats up in the new year.
Photo by: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images