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Democratic party losing members in SLO County

November 2, 2014

VoteThe number of voters in San Luis Obispo County registered Democratic has fallen over the past six years while Republicans hold their own and Independents increase in numbers. [Tribune]

Between 2008 and 2014, the number of Democrats in the county shrunk nearly 3 percentage points to 33 percent. During the same time, Republican voters fell by 0.6 percent to 39.4 percent and declined to state increased by 3 percentage points to 21.3 percent.

There are 150,139 registered voters in San Luis Obispo County. Of those, about 95,000 use mail in ballots of which about 39,200 have been returned.

On an average, about 60 to 70 percent of registered voters either mail in their ballots or turn out at the polls.


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The pendulum swings….


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The sad thing is that with people like Mitchum representing the Republicans, it won’t be long before it swings back. I wish there were a practical way to stop the swinging in the middle somewhere.


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Entirely a personal decision: but move to a more civilized nation where you don’t have to deal with 314 million morons.

Not being snarky here towards you….just a constructive suggestion.


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Big surprise. As long as people like Ass Hill, Caren Ray, and others are leading the charge, the numbers will KEEP on dropping. Nobody wants to be part of a party like that. On the other hand, people like Unabel Maldonado aren’t exactly helping the Repubs.


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While I consider myself to be “all-over-the-place” as far as my political views go, I am, on average, slightly closer to the Democrats avowed positions (not the ones they actually practice). I think that the hypocrisy of people like Gibson and Hill advocating for a “drought solution” that would put control in the hands of major landowners in North County is one reason people are moving away from the Democratic Party. (Caren Rae criticizing Lynn Compton for wanting to turn South County into Bakersfield while she takes big money from developers herself is a similar situation.)


I don’t know if they are just following the playbook of people like Feinstein, Pelosi and Obama who talk about helping the poor and lower middle class while continuing to let Wall Streeters do whatever they want or if they are somehow able to rationalize away their actions as for the good of the people. But some people are seeing through their BS and recognizing that they are not what they claim to be. The arrogance of Gibson, Hill and Ferrara in the way they treat those with whom they disagree doesn’t make informed, decent people want to associate with them either.


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No, there are a few people so dedicated to the DCC that they’ll support anything and everything they are told to. I’m sure the republicans are the same, but we really don’t see a lot of them holding office or public positions in SLO.


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The DCC would not support or endorse Nancy Johnson in her bid for reelection to the MB city council last June. So they do have a level that they will not sink below. She was thumped.


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I would just like us to go back to the Constitutional Democratic Republic that we are supposed to be. No more “Executive Orders” to ignore certain laws. Oh, and maybe a flat tax with no deductions for anything. Get the government out of the social engineering business and leave us the hell alone.


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To restore the ‘Constitutional Democratic Republic’, the people would need to be protected from the profiteering corporations and businesses that would practice their own form of social engineering. If predicated on ability to pay, many rights and services would be denied just like they were in the Jim Crow era. Certain places would install restrictive covenants…like racist Atascadero was founded on.


AFA taxes, why not have a sales tax on the purchase of financial instruments of risk; like stocks, currency trading, commodities speculation, and secondary homes ? It could be 5% and maybe less…and it would fully fund the government, probably create surplusses, and we could eliminate all other taxes entirely.

Why should an ordinary Joe have to pay sales tax on a McDonald’s hamburger or a used car, but the rich get to skate on what they buy ?


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That is good news. Shows I think that people are starting to think for themselves. Voting for people as individuals allows you to vote your conscience rather than letting a committee decide for you which is so predictable.


You actually have to be awake and aware of issues and candidates to be an independent. 21.5% independent thinkers is a really good sign. At this rate it will not be long before an independent can run on their own and then that will really stir up the pot. Lord knows this pot needs stirring.


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I hope so. A lot of people voted for Obama, and clearly they did not think for themselves.. or at all. Obama was manufactured to be a feel-good vote, something that can capitalize upon years of leftist propaganda or white guilt. Do not look an see who or what the candidate actually is or does (or hasn’t ever done); no, rather look inwards and know you’re a terrible person if you do not jump on this band wagon.


It didn’t help that the other party ran McCain and Romney, either. Well, McCain, especially. It was like the republicans were helping Obama get elected (I still think there really is only one party, like the cast of a film… they play roles, but are really all just actors in the same troupe).


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Well, We certainly can stay home Tuesday. How many times has the biased Knuckleheads been right?


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Geeze, you guys aren’t biased, are you? How about this for a headline: “Number of Independent Voters Increasing” or “Democratic Voters Shifting to Independent” ? Oh no, for CCN (which I normally have great respect for) it’s gotta be “Democrats Losing”.

How about you give it a break sometime?


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If you look CLOSER you will notice this is a Tribune article and NOT a CCN article they just linked it. Your argument should be directed to Tribune,


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The title of the TT piece is “slo county voter data reveal changes”…


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Hmm my reading comprehension or glasses must be off. HUGE HEADLINE SAYS………..”Democrats In Decline”. Go pick up a copy on the newsstand and have a look yourself.


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I always laugh at the thumbs down crowd that don’t want to hear facts. Guess it messes with there fantasy reality.


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I guess you need to work on your reading comprehension as well as your glasses; the HUGE headlines says “SLO county voter data reveals changes in voter registration”…word for word… Maybe you need to pull your head from an orifice?


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Again are you looking ONLINE or at PAPER??? I’m talking print paper and it is AS STATED!!! Maybe it would make it easier for the few here that can’t comprehend if I scan the paper headline for them.


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CNN Linking to the Tribune?


HAS HELL FROZEN OVER???


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Are Democrats NOT losing voters, then? Oh, what? They are? So… running with a headline that IS a fact is not something you like? I’m confused.


What if they change it to: Democrats losing way more voters than even Republicans?


Stop trying to protect a FAILED political party. Both parties are abject failures, and both should be recognized as the problem.


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Thanks for making the change in the wording of the article, CCN.


I’m all for people having more choices and breaking the duopoly of the major party system currently in place. Presidents George Washington, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson warned against political parties. They actually called them factions.

There is a very good book out that fully explains this…”The Revolution of 1800: How Jefferson Rescued Democracy from Tyranny and Faction – and What This Means Today” by Dan Sisson.


I’m registered Democratic, but I consider myself as an independent voter.

It may surprise some here just how many Republicans and Independents I have voted for in the past: Republicans Lee Dreyfus of Wisconsin, John Anderson of Illinois, John McCain of Arizona ( in 2000, before he became a half senile fool ) ; Independents such as Barry Commoner, and various lesser known down ballot candidates.

Altough I have not had the opportunity to vote for him ( yet ), I would sincerely like to vote for America’s Senator: Independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

In 2012, I just could not vote for either US senate candidate here in California with the rigged jungle primary system we now have.


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Bernie is actually a socialist. Not an independent. Though as the only socialist he is pretty much an independent. I think Bernie is just a great example of being able to vote for a person because of who he is rather than what he is. His party affiliation are almost irrelevant. You know it is all about the person when someone like Bernie keeps getting elected, not by the socialist party but by independent thinking independents, democrats and republicans. See, it doesn’t have to be a party thing to win. Just a person with integrity and not afraid to do the right thing. He doesn’t represent a party. He represents the people and the people know it and show they approve of what he does and how he does by electing him year after year.


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Yes !


Because of the false framing, and the gross stupidity of much of the American public, I avoid common labels much of the time.

Doesn’t stop the morons from calling me whatever, guessing, or trying to find out.

I felt saying ‘independent’ was kind of a weak copout, so I say that I am a ‘Civilizationalist”.

I can practically hear the rusty gears trying to click in their heads.


I DO hear the “Uhhhh….Wah Dat ?” that many of them blurt eventually.


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“Bernie is actually a socialist. Not an independent.”


Bernie Sanders’ official party registration is “Independent”; his political leanings are that of a Democratic Socialist, which is only one form of socialism, the form that does NOT attempt to end private ownership of goods and businesses, that does not believe that government has to do everything, that capitalism, when properly regulated can be very fair by offering a more even ability to succeed.


Do some reading, learn a bit more about political ideology before you go spouting off and making yourself look very uninformed. To blindly label someone with a political label when you really don’t understand what the label you are throwing out actually means is either lazy or mean spirited. It doesn’t hurt to try and act with a more mature approach, you usually end up with a little more respect for your viewpoint when you don’t mindlessly demonize another’s view just because it is different than your own.


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You are correct, in our two party system, anyone who is not a D or an R is an I.


Stil, I view Sanders as the most honest Democrat in Congress, that is, he is not wearing a mask or pretending to be something else. I don’t agree with him (as Socialism is the worst failure our planet has seen).


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” … (as Socialism is the worst failure our planet has seen).”


You probably aren’t aware of it, but there are many different types of socialism, but most people, conservatives especially, only think of the type of Marxist socialism that was operating in the USSR. That type of socialism was actually much closer to fascism, but in reality was a totalitarian state that ruled with an iron fist.


Northern Europe has several countries that operate with a Democratic Socialist model, even though they are actually monarchies or other forms of democracies, and they have been very successful in keeping the standard of living high for a huge percentage of their populations.


For the countries that still do identify as Socialist, like Cuba, China and North Korea, one really needs to study how their models work; most of them may provide a bare standard of living for all of their citizens, but they also still operate in a more totalitarian mode, not allowing much, if any dissent, and with very little protections for the citizens to express themselves if they have issues with how their government operates.


Your assertion is false, IMO, if you include the countries that include a Democratic Socialism as a model of how they operate. Low unemployment, free education, healthcare, low numbers of homeless and very few bankruptcies. Their societies work for most of their citizens to the point that even the most die hard conservatives of those countries don’t want to see any changes or dismantling of their current systems at all.


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Now that is what I call Hope and Change!


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Yes, I know lots of registered Independents and they are good people who support good candidates


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