California Voters Increasingly Disenchanted with the Major Parties, Especially the GOP

Maybe it’s not so surprising that the ‘antiestablishment’ candidates are taking the 2016 presidential race by storm.

The latest statistics released by California Secretary of State Alex Padilla show voters in California are increasingly disenchanted by the two major parties and the Republican party, in particular.

According to Padilla, nearly a quarter of registered voters in California eschew party affiliation all together. That’s almost as many no-party voters as there are Republicans. Between 2012 and 2016, Republican party affiliation dropped by nearly 3 percent or 400,000 voters. Republicans make up 27.6 percent of registered voters in California.

Registered Democrats make up 43.1 percent of the California electorate. That’s down slightly from 43.6 percent in 2012.

The shift away from party affiliation is likely to continue, according Eric McGhee of the Public Policy Institute of California.

“New, young registrants are heavily independent and to a lesser extent Democratic, while elderly people are much more likely to be Republican,” he told The Los Angeles Times. “Since people tend to stick with their party registration even if their politics change, this means we should expect these registration trends to continue.”

Here is the breakdown of major party affiliation in Patch counties.

• Alameda: 783,564 registered voters, 56 percent Democrat, 13 percent Republican
  
  
• Contra Costa: 527,610 registered voters, 49 percent Democrat, 23 percent Republican
  
  
• Los Angeles: 4,834,496 registered voters, 50 percent Democrat, 20 percent Republican
  
  
• Marin: 144,728 registered voters, 54 percent Democrat, 17 percent Republican
  
  
• Napa: 68,965 registered voters, 46 percent Democrat, 26 percent Republican
  
  
• Orange: 1,434,058 registered voters, 31 percent Democrat, 40 percent Republican
  
  
• Placer: 202,186 registered voters, 27 percent Democrat, 45 percent Republican
  
  
• Riverside: 844,795 registered voters, 36 percent Democrat, 38 percent Republican
  
  
• Sacramento: 675,582 registered voters, 43 percent Democrat, 30 percent Republican
  
  
• San Diego: 1,416,878 registered voters, 35 percent Democrat, 33 percent Republican
  
  
• Santa Cruz: 138,375 registered voters, 53 percent Democrat, 16 percent Republican
  
  
• San Mateo: 349,906 registered voters, 51 percent Democrat, 18 percent Republican
  
  
• Solano: 205,617 registered voters, 47 percent Democrat, 23 percent Republican
  
  
• Sonoma: 239,676 registered voters, 52 percent Democrat, 21 percent Republican
  
  
• Yolo: 94,743 registered voters, 47 percent Democrat, 23 percent Republican