What are the top 5 states with the largest increase in Republican voter registration since 2020?

1. Battleground states get the most attention — why that matters

Journalists and analysts focused on states where small registration shifts change the political map: Nevada, Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and New Jersey are repeatedly cited as places where Republican registration rose or Democratic margins shrank since 2020, and reporters link those registration patterns to the GOP’s 2024 electoral gains in some of the same places ^{[1] [3]}. That focus reflects an implicit news agenda: outlets cover where registration changes are most likely to affect competitive elections, not necessarily where raw numeric gains are largest ^[1].

2. Specific states repeatedly flagged in the reporting

Nevada is often singled out: data through early 2025 showed Republicans nearly tied with — and in some snapshots briefly ahead of — Democrats in active registrations, shrinking a prior Democratic edge ^{[1] [4]}. Florida reporting describes “dramatic” Republican increases and Democratic decreases since 2020 ^[3]. Pennsylvania shows sustained weekly Republican registration increases that have narrowed Democrats’ historical advantage ^[3]. North Carolina and New Jersey are also named among states showing significant shifts toward Republicans in 2024–2025 coverage ^{[2] [1]}.

3. National aggregates and methodological caveats

A broad analysis cited in later reporting asserted Democrats lost about 2.1 million registered voters across 30 states from 2020–2024 while Republicans gained roughly 2.4 million — but that figure comes from a specific data review limited to a subset of states and to the firms conducting the analysis, and the source notes many states do not publish comparable, up‑to‑date registration snapshots ^[2]. That limitation matters: some states do not track party on registration, others update at different cadences, and roll maintenance (purges, removals) can distort comparisons over time ^{[2] [3]}.

4. Conflicting signals: registration vs. turnout vs. political control

Registration shifts do not automatically translate into permanent political realignment. The MIT Election Lab coverage shows Republicans gained registrations in states such as Arizona and Florida while Democrats’ 2024 registration activity appeared muted relative to 2020 primary dynamics — but the lab warns comparisons are complicated by differing release schedules and primary competitiveness ^[3]. Likewise, AP and other outlets noted that some states swung back toward Democrats in 2025 local contests even after 2024 Republican advances, demonstrating that short‑term registration gains can coexist with mixed electoral outcomes ^[5].

5. How to answer “top 5” responsibly with available material

Because the document set includes multiple state examples and one broad aggregate but not a single, consistent ranked table of “largest increases by state since 2020,” a definitive top‑five ranking cannot be sourced here. The responsible approach is to say: reporting most consistently highlights Nevada, Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and New Jersey as places with notable Republican registration increases or narrowing Democratic margins since 2020, and a multi‑state analysis cited large net GOP gains overall — but a verified numeric top‑5 list is not presented in these sources ^{[1] [3] [2]}.

6. What you should check next (data sources and steps)

To build a rigorous top‑five list by absolute increase you should consult state election offices or centralized datasets that publish historical party-registration snapshots (the MIT Election Lab and the New York Times/L2 analyses are models for this), download consistent state‑level counts for the same dates in 2020 and the most recent comparable date, and control for roll cleaning and methodological differences before ranking ^{[3] [2]}. Available sources do not provide a single downloadable ranked dataset in this packet (available sources do not mention a downloadable, authoritative top‑5 table).

Summary: reporting converges on a set of battlegrounds demonstrating notable GOP registration gains — Nevada, Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and New Jersey — and on an aggregate claim of millions of net Republican registrations in select states, but the sources provided do not supply a definitive, cited top‑five ranked list by absolute increase ^{[1] [3] [2]}.