Close primary race could help GOP in general election

The highly watched Republican Gubernatorial primary had a lot more people heading to the polls and voter registration numbers are up especially for Republicans, according to a political analyst.

The close contest in the primary gives Republicans an advantage in the general election according to University of Kentucky political science professor Stephen Voss.

He says people engage more in the close races and more people want to vote, but first they have to register.

Over the past year he says Republican voter registration has increased by more than 40,000 new voters compared to about 13,000 new Democratic voters.

For the primary, he says 17% of registered Republicans voted compared to ten percent of democrats.

Voss says that was expected since Democrat Jack Conway was heavily favored to win his party.

Voss says leading into the general election in November, the boost of new Republican voters will help the GOP and he says Democrats may have to work a little harder to get new supporters to the polls.

“When you have voter registration first, it does make a difference to have that early excitement because you get people onto the polls and once they’re on there, they’re more likely to vote next time,” said Voss.

Kentucky’s Secretary of State says about 12% of all voters actually voted in Tuesday’s primary, a higher than expected amount.

Voss says it is still too low to predict if the increase in registered Republicans will be a win for them in November.

There are still more registered Democrats in Kentucky than Republican.