Enthusiasm gap: Dems won turnout battle in congressional District 19 primaries
by George Bennett | February 3rd, 2010If outnumbered Republicans in Palm Beach-Broward congressional District 19 were fired up by Republican Scott Brown’s upset victory in heavily Democratic Massachusetts, they didn’t show it Tuesday.
About 7.4 percent of Republican voters cast ballots in the special GOP congressional primary.
Democratic turnout was about 12 percent.
Democrats have more than a 2-to-1 registration edge in District 19, where “fire-breathing liberal” Robert Wexler’s resignation to head a Middle East think tank created the need for a special election to fill the seat. The general election is April 13.
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February 3rd, 2010 at 9:48 am
How did you count turnout? I counted 8173 Republican votes out of about 79K registered (10%) and 28079 Democrat votes out of about 163K registered (17%) – so your conclusion is correct but understates the turnout
February 3rd, 2010 at 9:57 am
FredJS — You also need to count Broward County, where there are 31,676 Republicans and 71,141 Democrats. Total Republican turnout was 8,173 out of 110,761, or 7.4 percent. Democratic turnout was 28,079 out of 234,293.
February 3rd, 2010 at 10:44 am
The 2000 Census data shows a higher than the national avg of retirees in District 19. Would be interesting to see what percentage of registered or voting Democrats are retired versus Republicans. These special elections are heavily promoted among retiree groups, but most working folks have little awareness.