In order to argue that Democrats must politically outmaneuver Republicans because they can no longer rely on a numerical advantage to win elections, Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, falsely claimed on his September 2 show that "[t]here are fewer Democrats compared to how many Republicans there are."

USA Today founder and columnist Al Neuharth noted on January 22, citing Ballot Access News, that Democrats still have a significant numerical advantage over Republicans in the number of registered voters: “An estimated 201.5 million U.S. citizens age 18 or over will be eligible to vote Nov. 2. ... Of these, about 55 million are registered Republicans. About 72 million registered Democrats.”