More than 8,000 new voters joined N.J. rolls in January, but Dems still declined

New Jersey added 8,362 new voters in the first month of 2022, rising to a voter registration total of 6,599,226 – but that robust growth didn’t stop Democratic registration from sliding backwards, continuing a trend also present in December.

There are now 2,575,648 Democratic voters in New Jersey, down 754 from last month; Republicans, meanwhile, gained 1,902 voters and now have 1,512,648 in total. Unaffiliated voters remain the state’s second-largest group and accounted for most of January’s growth, adding 7,144 new voters for a total of 2,429,637.

The electorate is currently 39.0% Democratic, 36.8% unaffiliated, and 22.9% Republican, while the remaining 1.2% of voters are members of one of the state’s seven minor parties.

For now, Democrats maintain their million-voter advantage over Republicans, and don’t appear to be in danger of losing it anytime soon. But as last month’s close gubernatorial election showed, the party’s overwhelming advantage on paper doesn’t always translate to electoral dominance.

Under the state’s current congressional lines, Democrats hold the registration edge over Republicans in all but one congressional district, the 4th. In the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, and 11th districts, unaffiliated voters outnumber voters of either party.

On the legislative level, Democrats lead Republicans in 29 of the state’s 40 legislative districts, including in every district they currently represent. But ongoing legislative redistricting – and completed congressional redistricting – will likely shift these numbers significantly.