Democrats reportedly are becoming concerned that voter registration efforts aimed at minority voters and young people could benefit former President Donald Trump in this year's general election.
An influential data scientist who helps direct progressive spending at OpenLabs ignited private disagreements among major Democrat donors after sending a memo challenging past voter registration efforts.
"Indeed, if we were to blindly register nonvoters and get them on the rolls, we would be distinctly aiding Trump's quest," Aaron Strauss wrote in the January memo, which was obtained by The Washington Post.
Strauss also suggested to donors that they should donate to groups that focus voter registration spending on "specific, heavily pro-Biden populations" like Black Americans.
For years, outside groups have helped the Democratic Party's efforts aimed at increasing voter registration among people of color and young people — who tend to lean Democrat but traditionally have voted at lower rates than older and white Americans.
The last two New York Times/Siena College polls showed Biden leading by less than a percentage point among voters who say they voted in 2020, but trailing by 23 points among those who say they didn't vote in 2020, the Times reported.
One third of those who did not vote in 2020 are new registrants, according to the Times.
Gallup polling last year and this year has found that about 42% of unregistered voters identify as Democrats or lean Democrat, compared to 40% who identify as Republican or lean Republican.
The trend is worrisome to Democrats because Gallup in 2016 found that about 51% of unregistered voter identified as Democrats or leaned Democrat, compared to 31% who identified as Republican or leaned Republican.
A Pew Research Center survey in 2023 found nonregistered voters favored Democrats over Republicans by 8 points (45% to 37%).
Recent polls also have shown Biden below 2020 levels among Black and Latino voters, the Post reported.
Still, Strauss' memo was not welcomed by some Democrat supporters.
"If you'd ask me what keeps me up at night, it's not that young people of color are going to defect to the Republican camp. My worst case scenario is that memos like this create a disinvestment — and that makes our job very hard," Voto Latino CEO Maria Teresa Kumar told the Post.