In Oklahoma, Republicans continue 50-year gains in voter registration

The percentage of registered Republicans is at an all-time high at 41.4 percent, according to the latest voter registration figures from the state Election Board.

Democrats account for 47.2 percent of registered voters, the lowest in state history.

Registered independent voters make up 11.4 percent.

The percentage of Democrats in Oklahoma has decreased almost every year since 1960, records show.

Democrats then made up 82 percent of the registered voters. Republicans numbered 17.6 percent and independents numbered 0.4 percent.

“I'm not surprised,” Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman Matt Pinnell said.

“A majority of Oklahomans are realizing that the Republican Party is a much more friendly home than the Democrat Party.”

Pinnell said he expects GOP registrations will continue to pick up before the presidential election in November.

Democratic President Barack Obama failed to win a single county in the state four years ago, and he hasn't made many gains in popularity since then.

“This is a president that doesn't have a conservative bone in his body and is clueless when it comes to job creation in this country,” Pinnell said.

“What we're hoping for is a historic year in closing that gap between Republican and Democrat registration,” he said.

“We're hoping for a banner year.”

Oklahoma Democratic Party Chairman Wallace Collins said he expected Republicans to continue to make inroads against Democrats during the past year.

“It's a carry-on of a trend, but it's something that I'm certainly working hard to reverse,” he said.

“Given this sort of uncertain conditions coming out of Washington, D.C., and with the economy and different things, that's kind of lending toward that trend.”

Collins said it appears the national economy is beginning to improve, and if that should happen, Democratic registrations could outpace Republicans.

“It gives me hope, and I think as people come to realize things are getting better they will have more confidence in President Obama, and therefore more confidence in the Democratic Party,” he said.

Republicans have been making gains since 1960, said Keith Gaddie, a University of Oklahoma political science professor.

The last Democratic president to carry Oklahoma was Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

“The Democrats are still on the slide,” he said. “The thing with these trends is that barring some kind of event that sort of freezes it, reverses it and causes voters to move away from the GOP, the trend continues.

“The big problem for the Democrats is their voters keep dying,” Gaddie said.