(The Center Square) – Voters seeking independence from political party affiliation is not letting up in North Carolina.
More than 15,000 registrations have been added in the last four weeks, and the unaffiliated bloc is up 11,912, according to Saturday’s latest weekly update by the State Board of Elections. Republicans gained 2,477 in that time; Democrats lost 1,001.
The state’s more than 7.5 million registered voters are 38.4% unaffiliated, an all-time high for the bloc; 30.6% Democrats, an all-time low; and 30.4% Republicans, consistently within a range of 1.1% (29.8% to 30.9%) since Nov. 6, 2012.
Republicans continue to close in on Democrats, standing just 17,477 behind. Voter maintenance since Election Day has dropped each of the three main blocs; on Nov. 5, Democrats had 105,675 more registrations than Republicans.
North Carolina is distinguished purple, meaning no clear-but favorite of the two major parties. It’s a stunning and tumultuous fall for the Democratic Party.
As recently as 2008 Election Day, the party claimed eight of 10 seats for the Council of State, and held majorities of 30-20 in the state Senate and 68-52 in the House of Representatives. Democrats that day had 864,253 more registrations than did Republicans.
In addition to the registrations, the Council of State today is split 5-5, and Republicans have majorities of 30-20 in the Senate and 71-49 in the House.
