The number of registered Democrats is dropping in Connecticut as more voters have chosen to register without a political party.
The Democratic share of Connecticut voters dropped almost 2 percentage points since 2020, the Republican portion increased 0.7 percentage points, and voters unaffiliated with any party increased by 1%.
But Democratic candidates aren’t necessarily losing votes as the party loses registrants — made clear after Democrats flipped control of 28 towns and cities in the Nov. 4 election.
Across the nation, more voters are straying away from political parties. According to Gallup polls, a record 43% of people across the nation self-identified as independent in both 2023 and 2024. Since 2000, the number of self-identifying independents has only reached 43% one other time — in 2014.
But within the state, towns and cities are split on this change. Just under half of towns saw a decrease in the percentage of all voters who were unaffiliated, while a little more than half saw an increase.
For Republican and Democratic registration, though, this is not the case. Nearly every town in the state saw a decrease in registered Democrats 2024 to 2025, with many seeing percent changes of over 1% in just one year.
Republicans got a big bump in party registration — accounting for 0.8% more of all registered voters 2023 to 2025. More than 100 towns saw percent increases in registered Republicans 2024 to 2025, and cities like Hartford and New Haven saw the largest percent increases, following a larger state-wide trend.
More than 20 towns held municipal primaries in 2025, which can affect party registration trends.
Despite having closed primaries, Connecticut is one of ten states that has a higher percent of unaffiliated voters than Democrats or Republicans, as of August 2025 data from Ballotpedia.
While the Republican party is gaining registrants state-wide, only two towns have more registered Republicans than any other party. Most towns had a plurality of unaffiliated voters, but in many places, registered Democrats and unaffiliated voters are neck in neck.
Sasha Allen is a data reporting fellow with The Connecticut Mirror.