Data Guru Marvels At Stunning Increase In Voter Registration Since Kamala Harris Took Over: ‘You Just Don’t See That’

CBS News’s Chief Washington Correspondent Major Garrett spoke to political data firm Target Smart’s Tom Bonier on Tuesday about new numbers showing a stunning increase in voter registration among key Democratic Party voting blocs.

“We’re tracking something really interesting going on right now. It’s a surge in voter registration in key groups ahead of the November election. Among young Black women, registration is up more than 175%. You heard that right. More than 175% in 13 states. That’s compared to the same time in 2020. This, according to the data firm Target Smart, registration has also increased among young Latinas and Black Americans,” Garrett began, adding:

Tom Bonier joins us now. He’s a senior advisor at Target Smart. Tom, it’s great to see you. Thanks for coming in. 175%. Could that possibly be right? If you must have triple-checked this or many more times than that.

“You’re right to repeat the number because I more than triple-checked it. It’s incredibly unusual to see changes in voter registration that are anywhere close to this. I mean, there might be 175% is almost tripling of registration rates among this specific group. You just don’t see that sort of thing happen in elections normally,” Bonier replied.

“And what does that tell us, if anything, about either enthusiasm, attention, propensity to vote for these newly registered participants?” followed up Garrett.

“Tells us a lot. The reason that we look at this voter registration data is because the polls will only tell us so much. The polls tell us how people are going to vote. They don’t tell us if or who is going to vote. It’s a big question,” Bonier answered, adding:

The best indicator of that is the actions that people are taking. Number one, registering to vote. Someone who says, I want to participate in this election. And so as we’ve seen these questions of which side has the advantage and intensity and enthusiasm, we look for changes in voter registration like this. People who are newly registered to vote are much more likely to vote on Election Day.

So it not only means that there’s a bigger pool of voters for either campaign to draw from and turnout on Election Day, but generally it’s an indicator of a broader enthusiasm among that specific group. So people who are already registered to vote, who look like those voters who are registering to vote, tend to vote at higher rates. When you see those surges in registration.

“What do we know about Republican registration and men?” asked Garrett.

“Well, for the longest time, really, from 2000 and forward, we were seeing Republicans winning the registration battle, so to speak, especially in key states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and elsewhere. You were seeing them register more voters. They had more intensity and enthusiasm. And so this is important because our analysis started on July 21st, which is the day that President Biden announced that he’ll be withdrawing from the race. And Kamala Harris, announced her candidacy. And so that moment seems to be a potential tipping point in this race where we’re seeing suddenly Democrats saying, I’m fired up, I want to participate. And since then, you’ve seen Democrats out-registering Republicans,” concluded Bonier.

Watch the clip above via CBS News.