SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ As California's June 5 primary election approaches, Democrats still dominate the state's voting rolls and the percentage of independent voters continues to rise, according to new figures provided by the secretary of state's office.
Just shy of a quarter of the state's voters now forgo any party label, registering as "no party preference," a slight increase from last year. If the trend continues, as expected, California's pool of independent voters could soon surpass the number of Republicans in the state.
Democrats account for 45 percent of California's registered voters, giving the party a 19 percentage point advantage over the GOP, the state registration figures show.
The Democratic Party's slice of the electorate in nonpresidential election cycles has remained relatively stagnant for two decades, while the Republican Party's registration slipped by 10 percentage points.
The percentage of independents, meanwhile, has more than doubled since 1997.
Paul Mitchell, who runs the data firm Political Data Inc., said California could have more independent voters than Republicans by the November general election.
Voter registration trends for Democrats, while better, are not exactly rosy. Mitchell said more and more millennials, college students, young Latinos and Asian-Americans are registering as independents.
"Democrats are celebrating Republicans losing registration. But they should be mourning," Mitchell said. "This new registrant population looks like Democrats but they are registering as independents."
However, in past elections, "no party preference" voters in California have leaned heavily Democratic at the polls.
As of January, just under 19 million Californians were registered to vote _ 76 percent of those who are eligible.
