(The Center Square) – The unaffiliated voting bloc had a larger gain than did the state of North Carolina overall during the last seven days ending Saturday, tabulations from the State Board of Elections say.
North Carolina’s total number of voters went up 1,486 to 7,496,728. As maintenance of rolls and new registrants happened simultaneously, the unaffiliated block increased 1,643 to 2,821,005.
Republicans gained 267. Democrats lost 513.
Unaffiliateds have 512,170 more registrations than Democrats and 538,661 more than Republicans. The Grand Old Party is 26,491 shy of the Democrats.
By percentage, it’s 37.6% unaffiliated, 30.8% Democrats and 30.4% Republicans.
The collapse of domination by Democrats in the state has been steady this century. Republicans in 2010 won both chambers of the General Assembly at the same time for the first time in 140 years, since Reconstruction following the Civil War.
On Jan. 1, 2004, Democrats had 47.6% of the state’s more than 5 million registrations, Republicans had 34.4% and those unaffiliated only numbered 17.7%.
Republicans have only dropped 4%-5% since, hitting 29.8% at the 2018 midterms and this past November’s 29.9%. They got as high as 34.7% on April 1, 2006.
Democrats have steadily fallen, dropping below 40% for the first time on Nov. 8, 2016. Unaffiliated registrations climbed above 20% in 2008, above 30% shortly after the 2016 presidential election, and today are at an all-time high.
