The Democratic Party Faces a Voter Registration Crisis - Out of Power [View all]

[Passages]

The party is bleeding support beyond the ballot box, a new analysis shows.

By Shane Goldmacher
With Jonah Smith

Shane Goldmacher is a national political correspondent covering the rebuilding efforts of the Democratic Party. Jonah Smith is a data journalist focused on voter registration and election turnout data.

Aug. 20, 2025

The Democratic Party is hemorrhaging voters long before they even go to the polls.

Of the 30 states that track voter registration by political party, Democrats lost ground to Republicans in every single one between the 2020 and 2024 elections — and often by a lot.

That four-year swing toward the Republicans adds up to 4.5 million voters, a deep political hole that could take years for Democrats to climb out from.

Change in share of registered voters, 2020-24

The stampede away from the Democratic Party is occurring in battleground states, the bluest states and the reddest states, too, according to a new analysis of voter registration data by The New York Times. The analysis used voter registration data compiled by L2, a nonpartisan data firm.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/us/politics/democratic-party-voter-registration-crisis.html

Serious business.