The Nebraska Democratic Party is touting a “blue wave” of support and “astounding increase” in Democrats requesting vote-by-mail ballots. But voter registration numbers from the Nebraska Secretary of State’s office point to a much less positive trend.

There are 355,753 registered Democrats as of this week. A review of a half century of voting records shows that’s the lowest total since the 1972 primary. And Democrats now account for 29.7 percent of all Nebraska voters, the lowest since voter registration numbers were added to voting reports in the 1960s. This continues a gradual decline from 50 years ago, when Democrats were 46 percent of Nebraska voters.

About 48 percent of Nebraska voters (577,438) are registered Republicans, and that’s been fairly steady for decades, generally ranging between 52 and 48 percent of voters,

The difference is an increasing number of Nebraskans registering as non-partisan (252,907 or 21.1 percent) and although still small, the Libertarian Party is growing significantly. There are now 13,499 Libertarians, 1.1 percent Nebraska voters and almost double the number from the 2016 primary.

Overall, 1,199.660 Nebraskans are registered to vote, the most ever for a primary.

Nebraska Primary Election Voter Registration Since 2000

Year Republicans Democrats Non-Partisan Libertarians Other Total 2018 577,438 48.1% 355,753 29.7% 252,970 21.1% 13,499 1.1% 1,199,660 2016 564,718 48.5% 359,821 30.9% 233,355 20.0% 7,414 0.6% 1,165,308 2014 556,523 48.3% 358,965 31.2% 231,622 20.1% 5,034 0.4% 1,152,144 2012 547,366 48.2% 368,129 32.4% 218,804 19.3% 2,054 0.2% 12 1,136,365 2010 546,309 48.1% 382,239 33.6% 207,624 18.3% N/A 1,136,172 2008 550,582 49.3% 372,866 33.4% 184,438 16.5% N/A 1,117,495 2006 578,916 50.7% 371,037 32.5% 184,119 16.1% N/A 1,140,741 2004 544,979 50.1% 378,157 34.8% 157,021 14.4% 4,206 0.4% 1,087,842 2002 537,870 50.2% 379,583 35.5% 149,724 14.0% 2,992 0.3% 1,070,479 2000 517,347 49.5% 381,155 36.5% 144,564 13.8% 1,197 0.1% 1,044,348

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