About Party Affiliation and the NH Primary
24th January 2024
I want to clear some things up about the New Hampshire primary. In New Hampshire, there are 44% who are Democrats or lean Democrat, 35% who are Republicans or lean Republican, and 20% who report no lean. The latter group would represent the true Independents, if there be such a thing. The state has Republican state officials and Democrat federal representatives, which I suppose makes it officially purple. But on the federal level it is blue. Except for the year 2000, New Hampshire has voted for the Democrat in every presidential election since 1992.
But the voter registration rolls are a bit different. Because New Hampshire has long had an important position in the primaries, many people who are not Independents nevertheless register as “undeclared” (there is no other way to register as an Independent in NH). This gives them the freedom to vote in either the Democrat or Republican primaries. All they have to do, as an undeclared voter, is to ask for either ballot when they enter the polling venue. They can’t vote in both, of course. But they can vote in either.