Registration data from the State Board of Elections show unaffiliated voters have surpassed Republicans in 36 counties, and Democrats in 19.
In four counties – Currituck, Dare, Transylvania and Watauga – unaffiliated voters are the majority. While the legacy parties still dominate overall – with Democratic the most popular affiliation at 2.7 million registered members, followed by Republican at 2 million – voters are eschewing party affiliation in greater numbers.
Ten years ago, there were fewer than a million unaffiliated voters, 18 percent of the electorate at the time. Today, 1.78 million voters represent 27 percent of the whole.
The fact that unaffiliated voters can choose any party’s ballot during primary elections probably isn’t the lead attraction, said Michael Bitzer, a political science professor at Catawba College.
In a phone interview, he noted the decline of more liberal “Rockefeller Republicans” and conservative Southern Democrats. “Those two species are gone,” he said. “They’re extinct.”
