It’s no secret that Joe Biden is in a horrible political position right now. His approval ratings are underwater (and have been for most of his presidency) and he’s lost ground with several voting blocs crucial to the Democratic coalition. Black, Latino, and young voters are just slipping away from him.
Joe Biden isn’t just losing ground in national polls, but in battleground states as well. Recent polling has shown Trump beating Biden in Pennsylvania—a must-win state for Joe Biden if he wants a shot at winning in November, and according to state data, Democrats are leaving the party in droves... and flocking to the Republican Party.
"The most up-to-date voter registration data from the Pennsylvania Department of State shows that 35,589 registered Democrats have switched to their party affiliation Republican this year, as of December 18, 2023,” reports Newsweek. "Comparably, 15,622 registered Republicans have switched their party affiliation to Democrat. There were also 20,908 former Democrats and 18,927 former Republicans who are now unaffiliated with either party."
Pennsylvania still has more Democratic voters than Republican voters (nearly a half million) but this is still devastating news for the Democrats, as it suggests that another battleground state is shifting red.
“Current voter registration trends and polling in Pennsylvania should be setting off alarms for President Biden and Democrats at the state and national level,” Erik Telford, the Commonwealth Foundation’s senior vice president of public affairs, told Newsweek.
"If I were involved in the Biden campaign, I'd be asking a lot of questions, and doing all in my power to reverse this trend," political consultant Jay Townsend told the outlet. "Biden does not have to win every swing state, but he can ill afford to lose Pennsylvania. Every vote will matter."
The Democratic National Committee doesn’t seem particularly concerned.
“Asked about the trend in voter registration, the Democratic National Committee pointed to investments that the national party made to the Keystone State and emphasized several state wins that the Democrats have achieved in recent election cycles, signaling that the DNC expects to repeat those victories on a federal level in 2024,” Newsweek reported.
Related: Is This How Democrats Will Stop Pennsylvania Going Red in November?
"The Pennsylvania Democratic Party has had a sweeping victory for Democrats in the 2023 election cycle," a DNC spokesperson explained. "Since [state] Senator [Sharif] Street took leadership in 2022, the PA Dems have invested significantly in the party structure, providing unprecedented resources at every level."
While the trends don’t look good for the Democrats in Pennsylvania right now, they’re clearly not about to go down without a fight. For sure, this is a terrible time for the Democrats be losing voters in such an important battleground state, but it may also be the sign of a larger problem. Pennsylvania doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and it stands to reason that other states are likely experiencing similar trends. In recent years, we’ve seen both Florida and Ohio go from bellwether battleground states to red states, and perhaps other states are starting to catch up.
