The explosive growth in independents continues among New Hampshire's electorate.
Before the 1996 presidential primary, so-called undeclared voters constituted 27.8 percent of registered voters in the Granite State, but this year, the percentage has soared to 44.9 percent, Secretary of State William M. Gardner said yesterday.
Republicans, who 12 years ago made up 41.7 percent of the presidential primary electorate, now constitute 29.4 percent, Gardner said. Democrats, who made up 30.5 percent of all voters in 1996, have dipped to 25.7 percent. Republicans constituted a plurality of all voters in New Hampshire until the general election of 2000, when they were overtaken by independents.
In the past year, the number of independents, who can vote in either party's presidential primary, increased by almost 7,000 while the GOP rolls dipped by 8,340 voters and Democrats fell by 4,033, Gardner said.
Independents can tip a party primary, as they did in 2000 when Senator John McCain of Arizona thumped then-Texas governor George W. Bush. McCain, who is counting on independents again this primary, benefited from a surge of 68,492 undeclared voters taking Republican ballots, compared with 45,521 who took Democratic ballots, according to Gardner.
This year, however, polls have showed that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has been leading among undeclared voters in the Republican race. A recent Globe poll showed that he was the choice of 31 percent of independents, followed by McCain, who was supported by 23 percent of independents, and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was backed by 14 percent of undeclared voters who said they were likely to vote in the Jan. 8 GOP primary.
On the Democratic side, Barack Obama was leading Hillary Clinton among independents, according to the poll. His campaign is also counting on undeclared voters to cast ballots for him in the Democratic primary.
BRIAN C. MOONEY
