The eye-opening political analysis, published by the Times in an August 20 story, likely created a stir in its liberal newsroom considering Republicans gained 2.4 million new voters while Democrats lost 2.1 million voters from 2020 to 2024.
In its story, the Times said it looked at voter registration over four years in the 30 U.S. states that track registration by political parties. That loss-versus-gain statistic represents a swing of 4.5 million votes in the GOP's favor, which the Times called a “deep political hole” for the Democratic Party.
When they lose elections, Democrats typically blame the loss on “poor messaging,” or because Republicans supposedly scared and deceived voters. In Kamala Harris' loss last year, Democrat strategist David Alexrod accused the voters who rejected her of being racist, sexist and misogynistic.
The liberal political analysts interviewed by the Times, however, did not make excuses. One said the issue has been happening “month after month, year after year.” A second analyst predicted there “seems to be no end” to the voter registration crisis for Democrats.
Among registered voters who changed parties, about 314,000 Democrats flipped to Republican and about 160,000 Republicans flipped to Democrat.
Republicans also registered almost twice as many voters age 35 and under, the Times found.
Trump made history in '24 election
Donald Trump famously crushed Kamala Harris in last year’s election, winning 31 U.S. states to easily breeze past the 270 electoral votes to win election. He won 312 electoral votes compared to 226 for Harris.
Not only did Trump win the Electoral College, he won the popular vote, too. He defeated Harris by 2.2 million votes to win the most votes, 77.3 million, of any Republican presidential candidate in history.
Across the nation, Trump famously won every battleground state and flipped approximately 2,300 counties to red. His support also jumped among Hispanic voters and black voters, too.
The popular vote is also significant because Democrats contend the popular vote is a better gauge of voter support and democracy than the Electoral College.
35 seats up for re-election in Senate
Despite those huge political wins last fall, Republicans currently hold a narrow lead over Democrats in the U.S. Senate, where Vice President J.D. Vance has cast tiebreaking votes, and in the U.S. House of Representatives.
A total of 35 seats in the Senate, and all 435 seats in the House, will be on the ballot in 14 months.
The Times’ voter registration story got the attention of liberal news outlet, CNN. Looking ahead, it tied the issue to the 2026 midterm elections with GOP registration higher in swing states Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
Reacting to the Times’ story, political activist Gary Bauer tells AFN the registration numbers don’t mean conservatism is going to prevail and Republicans will keep winning. With that said, he adds, Democrats should be panicking.
“There’s a lot of other things are taken into consideration,” he says, “but I certainly wouldn’t want to be reading this statistic the other way around.”
