FACT BRIEF

In recent years, have the electorates in Texas and Florida become more Democratic?

Wednesday, July 28, 2021

By Austin Tannenbaum

Copy link

Copy featured image

While the voter base in Texas has become more Democratic in recent years, Florida’s electorate has become less so.

According to a study of Texas demographic data from 2009 to 2019, “party change is occurring in Texas,” with “evidence that Democratic identification...is increasing.” Researchers attribute the shift to demographic change, as the growing ranks of racially diverse younger voters offset the influence of older whites, who are more likely to identify as Republican. (Texas doesn’t ask voters to register a party preference.)

In Florida, registered Democrats still slightly outnumber registered Republicans. However, Pew Research reported last year that the Democrats' advantage has been shrinking, from 658,000 in 2008, to 327,000 in 2016 and then to 134,000 in 2020, suggesting Florida's population is shifting more Republican.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

American Political Science Association Red to purple? Changing demographics and party change in Texas

Texas Secretary of State Party affiliation questions and answers

Pew Research Democrats’ advantage over Republicans among Florida registered voters has shrunk since 2016

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR

Gigafact

Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.