Democrats outnumber Republicans in state of Kentucky.

[kentuck]

Democrats outnumber Republicans by almost half/million voters - 1,672,664 to 1,196,183

http://elect.ky.gov/SiteCollectionDocuments/Election%20Statistics/statcnty.txt

VOTER REGISTRATION STATISTICS REPORT PAGE: 160

*** COUNTY TOTALS DATE: 05/20/14

COUNTY NAME NO.PRECTS DEMOCRAT REPUBLICAN OTHER MALE FEMALE * TOT REG.*
105 SCOTT 46 17,896 14,004 2,595 16,590 17,905 34,495
106 SHELBY 34 14,964 11,814 2,213 13,639 15,351 28,991
107 SIMPSON 13 8,040 3,587 1,073 5,976 6,724 12,700
108 SPENCER 14 6,559 5,528 870 6,406 6,550 12,957
109 TAYLOR 20 8,010 8,653 894 8,067 9,489 17,557
110 TODD 13 5,975 1,777 355 3,825 4,282 8,107
111 TRIGG 15 6,484 3,790 718 5,283 5,708 10,992
112 TRIMBLE 12 5,097 1,378 374 3,390 3,459 6,849
113 UNION 16 8,178 1,599 397 4,894 5,280 10,174
114 WARREN 121 38,702 27,884 5,984 33,446 39,121 72,570
115 WASHINGTON 14 5,567 2,554 320 4,005 4,436 8,441
116 WAYNE 19 5,153 8,466 588 6,941 7,266 14,207
117 WEBSTER 14 7,297 1,716 395 4,510 4,898 9,408
118 WHITLEY 36 6,474 18,626 1,321 12,753 13,667 26,421
119 WOLFE 8 5,047 500 174 2,837 2,884 5,721
120 WOODFORD 19 10,792 6,716 1,463 8,871 10,099 18,971

**** STATE TOTALS * 3736 1,672,664 1,196,183 236,499 1,463,564 1,641,651 3,105,349

[KamaAina]

1. And yet repukes keep winning.

Can you say "gerrymandering"? Mr. KamaAina can!

[unblock]

2. yeah, but that doesn't explain the senate

[treestar]

3. They haven't changed their registration

since they turned Republican because of Raygun.

[1StrongBlackMan]

8. And a bunch didn't change their registration after the passage of the CRA and VRA. eom.

[machI]

4. Republicans are adapt at cheating

Cheating is the conservative force multiplier. CHEAT = WIN

[kentuck]

5. The problem is getting Democrats to the polls...

Many are very low income and it is not easy to rally them to the polls. I'm hoping they are fired up enough by Alison Grimes to vote in the next election.

[upaloopa]

6. It is the numbers who vote that counts

We tend to not vote in midterms as much as repukes do.

[geek tragedy]

7. DINO's are plentiful. nt

[alp227]

9. Kentucky seems to be a mixed politically, however.

Governor: Steve Beshear (D) - won the 2007 & 2011 elections

State Senate: Majority (R)

State House: Majority (D)

Jr. US Senator: Rand Paul (R) - won election in 2010

Sr. US Senator: Mitch McConnell (R) - in danger of losing his seat this year

US House delegation: 1 Democrat, 5 Republicans; the sole Democrat (John Yarmuth) represents the Louisville area (KY-1). In 2012, the Lexington district (KY-6) replaced incumbent Democrat Ben Chandler (grandson of Gov. Happy Chandler) with Republican Andy Barr.

[DemocraticWing]

10. Kentucky was a Presidential swing state throughout the 20th century.

Even in the early 1900s, we were one of the least solid members of the "Solid South," with Presidential elections often being closely fought. We even voted GOP in 1924 and 1928, and Kentucky went for the winning Presidential candidate in every election from 1956 through 2004. Obviously that has changed in recent years, but there are a few reasons why that people outside the state may not recognize as being important.

1) Standard reasons: We'll get these out the way right now: Kentucky's a rural state with some socially conservative views on guns, religion, etc. This has been discussed often enough that we don't really need to delve into it all that much, although I would note that of those issues gun control is by far the biggest hot button issue, much more so than abortion or even marriage equality.

2) Coal: For whatever people may think of coal outside of Kentucky, the Eastern and Western part of the states have traditionally relied upon it as an industry, and billions of dollars of GOP/Coal Lobby money have been spent to convince people that Democrats are waging a "war on coal" that is designed to take jobs away from the poorest areas in Kentucky. Regardless of the actual truth of the matter, or the fact that Democratic State candidates are stridently pro-coal, it is probably the most effective issue in making what should be traditional Democratic areas like Appalachia vote Republican.

3) Tobacco: This is a very underrated issue, but one that made a big difference in the 1990s when we essentially abandoned our Democratic lean. Tobacco farming was a huge industry in Kentucky, but the tobacco buyout of the Clinton administration essentially killed the industry in Kentucky and created a lot of resentment. Again it doesn't really matter what the facts of the issue are, whether tobacco farming is a moral hazard, or whatever; this was viewed by rural Kentuckians as an assault on their livelihood.

4) Obama Neglect: This is of course not meant to criticize Obama's campaign strategy, as plenty of other states were more important to his election chances in 2008 and 2012...but that facts are that Obama has never campaigned in Kentucky, never visited Kentucky, never run ads in Kentucky, and generally never done anything to win the support of the state. He got 41% of the vote in 2008 without lifting a finger, and our Democratic Senate candidate got 47%. I doubt Obama could have won Kentucky under any circumstances in 2008 (although polling indicated Hillary could) but a stronger base to start from in 2008 with a bit more attention paid to the state would have likely allowed him to maintain something higher than a 30% approval rating in this state. Again, this is a politically impossibility, but you absolutely have acknowledge that not paying any attention to Kentucky certainly hasn't helped the national party in maintaining popularity here.

[kentuck]

12. Good post!

Thanks!

[hobbit709]

11. But they don't vote in those numbers.