We saw this massive party-switch trend everywhere, including Massachusetts, during the GOP primary season. And good news regarding the GOP: after never really having a ground game the GOP seems to have come a bit out of their coma.
After being out-hustled by Democrats in the last two presidential elections, Republicans say they’re making up ground in the voter registration and absentee-ballot battles that will be critical to winning in swing states such as Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Florida.
Republicans have invested heavily to catch up to the kinds of data-driven efforts that carried President Obama to an easier-than-expected re-election in 2012.
“We have the resources. We have the volunteers. We have the offices. So this is essentially a matter of executing at this point,” said Jeff Kaufmann, who chairs the Republican Party of Iowa — a state Mr. Obama carried twice, but where GOP nominee Donald Trump leads in recent polling.
Republicans still trail in absentee ballot requests in Iowa, but the gap is smaller than it was at this point in 2012.
In Pennsylvania, meanwhile, Democrats still greatly outnumber registered Republicans, but the GOP has closed the gap by more than 200,000 voters compared to where things stood in 2012. That was fueled in part by party-switchers — more than 97,000 people switched from Democrat to GOP this year…
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