MONROE - Republicans hold a firm voting majority in Union County, and the gap has grown since 2001.

Of Union’s 59,849 affiliated voters, 34,187 are Republican and 25,577 are Democrat; there are 19,257 unaffiliated voters. Only three towns — Marshville, Monroe and Wingate — have a Democratic majority.

“This county is pretty conservatively run, and people like that,” county Republican Party Chairman Jim Bention said.

Union County Democratic Party Chairman Harry Crow said he would have expected there to be a higher percentage of Democrats.

“I think if they will stop and think and examine the facts, they will see that where they were taken over the past eight years, in the Bush administration, was the wrong direction,” he said. Then he surmised that it “might have a lot to do with the information people are willing to consider.” If Democrats could convince Republicans “to examine the issues themselves and try to determine the facts,” Crow said, Union County residents would come to their own conclusions and “not what a radio host says the conclusion is.”

Bention took a more local approach. He said voters were tired of the Democratic leadership in Raleigh and wanted to see a

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change at the state level.

“The citizenry is getting smarter,” he said, citing the growing number of Republicans as proof.

As for the increasing gap between Republicans and Democrats, Bention said he and his party bear the burden of responsibility to be good leaders.

“I think people are coming here because they know that Union County is a place where conservative and Republican philosophies are held in high regard,” he said.

Crow, on the other hand, saw it as an indicator that people are not basing political ideologies on reason.

“You can look at what happened to the economy and foreign policy and what happened over the past eight years and see that decisions were made that weren’t based on facts,” he said. “You would have to ignore foreign policy mistakes and financial mistakes.”

Since 2001, Union County has added 35,683 registered voters to bring the total to 79,106 on June 30, an increase of more than 82 percent. The total population in 2000 was 123,677. An 82 percent increase would have brought Union County’s total population to 225,092, but U.S. Census Bureau figures have estimated the total population to be less than 200,000. The 2010 census will be conducted next year, and the results will be delivered in December.

As expected, the western part of the county saw the most growth, with four municipalities — Indian Trail, Wesley Chapel, Waxhaw and Marvin — more than doubling their number of registered voters. Marvin increased by more than 365 percent to 2,921 voters over that time.

Female voters still hold an edge over men, with 41,816 registered, 5,161 more than male voters. The 6.5 percent edge is consistent with 2001 figures.

According to the county Board of Elections, 27,975 people voted a straight-ticket Republican ballot in 2008, compared to 16,863 for Democrats. Presidential hopeful John McCain won Union County with almost two-thirds of the vote. U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell, D-N.C., and N.C. Rep. Pryor Gibson, D-Anson, were the only Democrats to receive more votes in Union County than Republican opponents; both represent eastern Union County, where there is a Democratic majority.