Republicans Vote Their Anger, Democrats Don’t, Study Finds

Frustrated Democrats are boycotting their primaries in droves while angry Republicans are turning out to cast protest votes, a study released Monday said.

“We have a very unhappy electorate. But we have very different dramas being played out in the different parties,” said Curtis Gans, director of the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate.

The Democrats showed an 18.4% drop in turnout through April 7 in states that held primaries this year and in 1988. New record lows were recorded in Florida, Georgia, New York, Tennessee and Texas.

“The choices are propelling people to the sidelines,” said Gans, whose committee is a nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization.

On the Republican side, turnout has been down 4.1%--not far below the 1988 level, when there was a hot primary race between Bush and Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole of Kansas.

Despite the virtual certainty of President Bush’s renomination and the lack of a strong opponent, a consistent third of the GOP electorate “seems angry enough to go the polls and vote against the President,” Gans said.

New Hampshire bucked the turnout trend. Overall turnout was up 21.5% from 1988 and set a record of 41.3% of eligible voters coming to the polls. Massachusetts, Illinois, Oklahoma, Maryland and Rhode Island also posted increases.

By contrast, 10 states recorded decreases: New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Connecticut, Texas, Georgia, Florida and Wisconsin.