According to American University's Center for the Study of the American Electorate, voter registration is at an all-time high -- 73.5% of 208 million eligible citizens, more that 153 million Americans in all. This year's turnout wasn't as heavy as expected, but at 61.2%, it was the highest since 1964.
Turnout is a one-day snapshot, however, and in the long run I find registration trends a bit more interesting.
Democrats (blue), as a percentage of registered voters, peaked in 1964 and currently comprise 38% of the total. Republicans (red) are exactly where they were 48 years ago at 27%. Other registrations (yellow), which include independents and minor parties, are higher than ever -- 22% of registered voters pledge allegiance to neither of the dominant parties.Comparing that breakdown to Tuesday's turnout, Democrats accounted for 39% of votes cast, essentially identical to that party's slice of the registration pie. Republicans would appear to have done a bit better at 32%, besting their registration number by five points -- but the GOP's seven-point turnout disadvantage to the Dems was its worst showing since 1964.
The true overachievers were those pesky other voters -- 22% of registrations, 29% of votes cast. For those of us who hold the two-party monopoly largely responsible for America's political stagnation and national decline, that'd seem to be encouraging.
Not so -- until those other voters cast their ballots for a candidate other than a Republican or a Democrat, the revolution is on-hold indefinitely. And on Tuesday, 96% of other voters chose either McCain-Palin or Obama-Biden.
Independence ain't what it used to be, is it?
We know what happened -- Barack Obama 53%, John McCain 46%. Ralph Nader finished third with 0.5% and Bob Barr was fourth at 0.4%. It's worth noting that the army of once-rabid Ron Paul supporters propelled him to an eighth-place finish, pulling a laughable 0.01% of the electorate.
For historical context, the best results by modern-day other presidential candidates were George Wallace in 1968 (13.5%), John Anderson in 1980 (6.6%) and Ross Perot in 1992 (18.9%).
Naturally, I'm disappointed that only a few Americans chose other than cosmetic change in 2008. At the same time, I acknowledge that real change doesn't happen overnight, or in a single election, or even in a generation. It's a process.
With that in mind, then, take another look at that voter-registration graph. Check out that yellow line.
That's what I call a foundation. We can build on that.
