A Georgia mystery: How many Dems voted in the GOP primary?

But a closer look at these voters paints a more complicated picture. Just one-fourth of those who voted for Republicans during last month’s primary cast ballots for Democrats in the 2020 general election, according to the data firm L2. And 70 percent of this year’s Democratic-to-Republican primary crossover voters had participated in both Democratic and Republican primaries over the last decade.

These voters, data suggests, are less Republican traitors or stalwart Democrats aiming to stop Trump loyalists than they are highly sought-after — and unpredictable — swing voters.

“I didn’t want any of the Trumpsters becoming a candidate,” said Frances Cooper, 43, who voted in Columbia County, two hours east of Atlanta.

A self-described moderate, Ms. Cooper said that she had voted in both Democratic and Republican primaries in the past, and that she could often vote “either way.” This time, she said, Mr. Kemp had been “pretty good, and was the best of our options.” She was undecided about the November general election for governor, but “if anything leaning toward Kemp.”