The percentage of California voters who identify themselves as Republicans has fallen below 25 percent, according to a report Tuesday by California Secretary of State Alex Padilla.
The report summarized voter registration 60 days prior to the general election and provided historical data for registration 60 days prior to each gubernatorial election since 1998.
The “60-day close” report highlighted the long-term decline of the Republican Party in California and the rise of independents — those voters who list no party preference.
Of the record 19,086,589 registered voters on Sept. 7, 2018, 43.8 percent were Democrats, 24.5 percent Republicans, 5.0 percent other parties, and 26.8 percent no party preference.
On Sept. 4, 1998, the breakdown was 46.7 percent Democrats, 35.6 percent Republicans, 5.1 percent other parties and 12.6 percent no party preference.
Some of California’s most rural counties have the highest percentage of Republican voters, with Modoc County topping the list at 49.9 percent. San Francisco has the highest percentage of Democrats at 57.1 percent. Santa Clara County, the center of Silicon Valley, has the highest share of no party preference voters at 38.9 percent.
Not only are total registrations up this year, but the percentage of eligible voters who are registered reached 75.8 percent — the highest in 20 years.
“There are nearly 1.5 million more voters on the rolls than there were heading into our last Gubernatorial Election four years ago,” Padilla said in releasing the report. “The next step for our registered Californians is turning out to vote.”
