Trump Drives Republican Turnout to Record, Democrats Lack Enthusiasm
(Washington Times) – Republicans continued to shatter turnout records in their presidential primaries and caucuses Tuesday, while Democrats lagged behind in what analysts said was a clear indication of an enthusiasm gap heading into the general election.
Virginia easily broke its GOP record of 664,000 votes from 2000, and was nearing the 1 million mark. That would be four times the turnout in 2012’s Republican primary.
But Democrats in the state were unlikely to touch their record set in 2008’s contentious primary.
In Georgia, results were trickling in more slowly, but projections put the GOP there on pace to top the 900,000-vote record set in the 2012 Republican primary, when favorite son Newt Gingrich was in the race.
All told, about a dozen states held caucuses or primaries on Tuesday, but returns in the rest of them were too preliminary to make projections as of press time — though Tennessee and Texas were also on record paces in early returns.
“We have expanded the Republican Party,” GOP frontrunner Donald Trump said at a post-election press conference Tuesday night. “There’s much less enthusiasm for the Democrats.”
He said he’s drawn Democrats and independents into the GOP race, which accounts for the changes in turnout patterns.
The strong GOP showings follow record turnout in the first four contests: Republican turnout in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada was up 27 percent compared to 2012. By contrast Democrats’ turnout is down 25 percent compared to their record-setting 2008 campaign, when then-candidate Barack Obama faced off against Hillary Clinton, who is trying again this year.
That 2008 campaign saw contests on both sides of the aisle, and the massive turnout among Democrats was followed by an easy victory in November for Mr. Obama, who drew minorities and young voters into the process.
Analysts said the enthusiasm this year is on the Republican side, and much of it is being driven by Mr. Trump.
“I think it’s a harbinger of things to come,” said David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University. “All those people who line up for Donald Trump rallies and also lining up at the ballot box and the caucus site. Trump’s winning and nothing succeeds like success.”
Turnout has been strong for Republicans across the board. Iowa, which kicked off the campaign season, saw a 50 percent increase for Republicans over their previous record. Indeed, turnout was so high that Mr. Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio, the second- and third-place finishers, got enough votes that they would have won in any previous year.
Democrats, though, said they’re still happy with their turnout.
Luis Miranda, the Democratic National Committee’s communications director, who has been tracking turnout, says it’s unfair to compare the GOP’s turnout, spread among a big field of candidates, to Democrats’ turnout, with just two candidates still in the race.
“While turnout for Republicans in these early contests has increased over their previous baseline, it has NOT matched the level of spending or the size of their field,” he wrote in a memo last week.
“The 80,000 Democrats turned out to caucus across Nevada by just TWO Democrats was more than the 75,000 Republicans who were turned out by SIX Republicans. In New Hampshire TWO Democrats turned out 247,000 voters, while EIGHT Republicans turned out just 279,000. And in Iowa TWO Democrats turned out nearly as many caucus-goers as ELEVEN Republicans,” Mr. Miranda wrote.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/mar/1/donald-trump-drives-republican-turnout-to-record-d/
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