COMANCHE COUNTY, Okla_Registered
democrats still outnumber republicans in Oklahoma,
but the GOP is continuing to close the gap. The latest figures released this
week by the Oklahoma Election Board show democrats make up 46 percent of the
state's registered voters, followed closely by republicans at 42 percent. 12
percent of registered voters in the Sooner
State are independents.
To say that
republicans are giddy, might be a stretch, but they are pleased as punch that
more and more voters in Oklahoma
are moving in their direction. While Oklahomans voted democratic for decades,
the trend toward the Republican Party is picking up steam.
46 percent
democrat, 42 percent republican, the numbers don't lie or do they?
"That may
be what people say registration-wise, but actually it's clearly a Republican
state," Cameron University Professor Phillip Simpson said.
Dr. Simpson
should know, he taught political science at Cameron University
for more than three decades. He said even when the Democrat Party had a clear
majority of registered voters it was misleading.
"The
Democrats typically in the state were conservative to begin with not quite as
conservative as the republicans. The republicans have come in with a very
strong right of center conservative ideology which is very popular in Oklahoma and really it's always been popular in Oklahoma."
Dr. Simpson said
older voters registered as democrats are less likely to change party
affiliation even though they may vote republican. But people who are
registering now, well that's a different story.
In just the
last 60 days Oklahoma's voter rolls have grown by more than 9,600 with
republicans gaining about 4,600 new voters, followed by about 3,000 new
independents and less than 2,000 new
democrats.
Comanche County
Republican Party Chairman Ed Petersen likes the trend.
"We've
been very successful where we can engage the people in explaining some of the
platform issues that the republicans stand for and they say well that's what I
believe in, and that's when they're willing to really identify as a Republican
as opposed to an Independent or a Democrat for that matter."
Petersen likes
the way things are going but if you are a democrat in Oklahoma you probably don't want to hear
what Dr. Simpson has to say.
"The trend
line is for Democrats to become Independents for a while and then slip over to
be Republicans."
Democrats had
47 percent of the state's registered voters in January, just 46 now. If the
trend continues at the current rate, political analysts say democrats and
republicans will have the same number of registered voters about this time next
year.
