Bay State GOP ranks shrink, data indicate
They may have ignited sparks after US Senator Scott Brown’s January surprise, but Massachusetts Republicans are still bleeding voters.
The latest voter data show Republican registration has slipped to a recent low — just 11.34 percent of those registered to cast ballots in Tuesday’s primary.
That’s a smaller share than four years ago, when then-Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey was the Republican nominee for governor and 12.7 percent of voters were registered Republican. The GOP lost 9,067 voters since August 2008 and a total of 28,789 since 2006, according to the figures released by the secretary of state’s office yesterday. How does the Massachusetts Republican Party explain the drop?
“Early on, the decision was made not to focus on registration until after electoral successes,’’ said Jennifer Nassour, state Republican Party chairman.
Democrats have lost a small share of voters too, since the last election for governor. Now, 36.65 percent of Massachusetts voters are Democrats — down from 36.95 percent in 2006.
The ranks of unenrolled voters, who are not affiliated with either major party and who often swing statewide elections, increased by 187,383, from 49.51 percent of voters in the 2006 primary to 51.44 percent this year.
All told, registration is up since the last primary election for governor — from 3,934,672 in 2006 to 4,151,075.
