There is a problem with the Democratic Party in North Carolina, more specifically with the registered Democrats in the state. According to the polls, Democrats aren’t voting nearly as much as Republicans, although they are in the majority. Donald Trump won North Carolina because more people voted Republican, not because there are more Republicans in the state. If we, as Democrats want someone to blame for the rise of Trump, we need to look no farther than ourselves.
As of November 19, 2016, which was the BOE’s last reporting period, there were 2,734,023 registered Democrats in North Carolina, 2,087,727 registered Republicans, 32,377 registered Libertarians and 2,066,620 registered unaffiliated voters. That puts the grand total of registered voters at 6,920,747.
There are multiple reasons why some Democrats didn’t vote, including voter suppression, voter apathy and some Democrats thoroughly displeased with the Democratic nominee. However, after looking at the numbers, it is highly likely that many Democrats simply chose not to vote for their party’s nominee.
Okay, now that we have a perspective of the grand scheme of things, let’s break it down and compare the numbers we have to the number of voters who voted in the presidential election.
Wait a minute. That doesn’t make much sense. The difference between registered Democrats and Republicans in North Carolina is 646,296 favoring the Democrats. One would think that Clinton, the party’s frontrunner would at least receive the number of votes equal to registered Democrats in the state, but in fact that’s not the case. Clinton received 560,789 fewer votes than the number of registered Democrats. Trump however, received 262,226 more votes than there are registered Republicans. Now, this isn’t to say that all Republicans voted for Trump and obviously not all Democrats voted for Clinton, but it is clear that, while Republicans may technically be in the minority, the Republicans outvoted the Democrats by almost 177,000.
If the Democrats in North Carolina had just gotten the number of registered Democratic voters to the polls, they would have won. Not only would they have won, but the margin over Trump would have been almost 350,000 votes.
Now, at first I thought this was some special election where a populist superhero took the state by storm, collecting millions of votes from Republicans, independents and maybe even some Democrats because of his outsider appeal. But upon further investigation, I found that’s not the case.
Going back to 2008, North Carolina has had a significantly higher number of registered Democrats than Republicans, and in the three elections since, and including, 2008, there have been less Democrat votes than registered Democrats and, you guessed it, more Republican votes than registered Republicans.
Even in 2008, when Barack Obama, the nation’s first black president, won the state marginally over Sen. John McCain, he did so with 2,142,651 votes, some 724,018 less than the number of registered Democrats. That number is even greater than Clinton’s deficit. The 2012 election was similar, with Mitt Romney winning the state by just over 92,000 votes.
So, what is going on? Democrats outnumber Republicans in North Carolina, yet can’t even bring their number of registered voters to the polls. Republicans, on the other hand, seize the opportunity and win almost every time. Republicans are the minority, yet they carry a majority of votes and counties in the state. Why?
Because Democrats aren’t doing enough.
Recently, many college students, including some on NC State’s campus, have taken part in peaceful protests and demonstrations, publicly expressing their disagreement with the President-elect and vocalizing their concerns for the future. It is absolutely necessary that events like these continue to occur during Trump’s campaign. However, so much more can be done.
Young voters and college students should actively take part in political campaigns on the local, state and federal level. Working for the state Democratic party or with Democratic candidates’ campaigns can have so much impact in electing Democratic leaders and there are many positions available for college students.
Of course, the most important action anyone can take is voting. Voting is the most basic and most important duty that citizens can take in the American political process, yet so many people choose not to vote. The numbers make it clear; if every registered Democrat had voted for Hillary Clinton, she would have won in a landslide.
The Board of Elections has not yet released the final statistics for total voter turnout, but according to their numbers, it’s around 68.1 percent, which is roughly the same as it was in 2012. Of course we can’t currently know the voter turnout of Republicans and Democrats and I won’t speculate numbers, but I feel confident Republicans probably have a higher percentage.
I know many of you are upset with the results. I know I am. However, our blame cannot fall on the Republicans or conservatives. While their votes propelled Trump through the primaries and helped him in the general, it was those Democrats who chose to stay at home who ultimately landed the President-elect in Washington. Now, while I can’t honestly blame my fellow Democrats who voted third party or write-in instead of the candidate their party chose, their ballots certainly crippled the party they supposedly had allegiance to.
We claim to be progressives, but when the moment of judgement comes, when we have the opportunity to take part in the democratic process, we choose to vote against the candidate with the greatest chance of propelling our country into the future. We, as Democrats, must take charge and do something about this. So many members of our party won’t hesitate to blast conservatives on social media, but when Election Day comes and the easiest, most basic form of our democratic duty to our nation presents itself, we fall through.
I’m asking the Democrats who do vote and take part in our political process to help mobilize members of our party who don’t have the same initiative. And to those who didn’t vote, you need to understand just how important your voice is in our democratic system.
Next Election Day, remember your civic duty to your state and nation.
