Features

SACRAMENTO – Californians continue to drift away from the two major political parties, with 14 percent of voters now registered as independents, figures released Friday show. 

That compares to 11 percent four years ago. In all, 15.7 million Californians are registered to vote Nov. 7, a record high, according to the report by Secretary of State Bill Jones. 

The figure is only 45,184 voters higher than it was for the 1996 presidential election, but Jones declared it a victory. 

County elections officials wiped more than 1.5 million names of voters who had died, moved away or were otherwise ineligible to vote from the rolls in the last four years, he said. 

The increase in independents comes directly at the expense of the Republican and Democratic parties, which both saw their slice of the electorate shrink slightly. 

Democrats still hold a sizable registration advantage over Republicans, 45-35 percent, roughly the same spread as in 1996. 

And they registered 449,920 new voters since the March 7 primary, compared to 344,516 for the GOP and 223,648 for decline-to-states. 

The Green Party has 0.88 percent of the California electorate, up slightly from 1996, and the Reform Party 0.5 percent, down a bit. 

“It’s just incredible, that despite all the efforts of the major parties, the voter group that is expanding at the fastest rate in California continues to be people who choose neither major party,” said pollster Mark Baldassare. 

“It’s one of the two most powerful political trends in the state, the other being the growth of the Latino vote,” he said. 

Bob Mulholland, a spokesman for the California Democratic Party, said the defection from the parties mirrored a general decline in loyalty. 

“It’s the baby boomers, plus the X Generation, have little loyalty to institutions — they change car dealerships, spouses, jobs,” he said. “Parties are one of last bases they’re hanging in with.” 

“California is an independent state,” said Stuart DeVeaux, a spokesman for the state GOP. “And when young people are registering to vote, they’re registering independent, and saying, ’Work for my vote, work for my participation.”’