Over the past year, more than 1 million voters have switched party affiliation from Democrat to Republican, a precursor move to the impending red wave in November. Some argue that the Supreme Court Dobbs decision, which overturns Roe v. Wade, should slow that wave down, but that top issues of inflation and economic unease remain at the forefront of voters’ minds.
While also true that some voters have switched from Republican to Democrat, the numbers are not nearly as eye-popping as the switch from left to right.
The change is being driven by suburban voters who tended to drift away from the GOP during the Trump years, but then returned in force in states like Virginia where Glenn Youngkin won the Governor’s race, the first time Republicans have broken through statewide since 2009.
As PBS Newshour notes, the numbers are raising alarms for Democrats:
More than 1 million voters across 43 states have switched to the Republican Party over the last year, according to voter registration data analyzed by The Associated Press. The previously unreported number reflects a phenomenon that is playing out in virtually every region of the country — Democratic and Republican states along with cities and small towns — in the period since President Joe Biden replaced former President Donald Trump.
But nowhere is the shift more pronounced — and dangerous for Democrats — than in the suburbs, where well-educated swing voters who turned against Trump’s Republican Party in recent years appear to be swinging back. Over the last year, far more people are switching to the GOP across suburban counties from Denver to Atlanta and Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Republicans also gained ground in counties around medium-size cities such as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Raleigh, North Carolina; Augusta, Georgia; and Des Moines, Iowa.
The trend has been heightened in states like Georgia, Pennsylvania, Iowa, and North Carolina, all crucial states needed for GOP success in the midterms and the presidential race of 2024.
The driving issue is the economy coupled with continued concerns among parents nationwide about the quality of education and children still feeling the effects of overbearing Covid-19 lockdowns:
Republicans benefited last year as suburban parents grew increasingly frustrated by prolonged pandemic-related schools closures. And as inflation intensified more recently, the Republican National Committee has been hosting voter registration events at gas stations in suburban areas across swing states like Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania to link the Biden administration to record-high gas prices. The GOP has also linked the Democratic president to an ongoing baby formula shortage.
“Biden and Democrats are woefully out of touch with the American people, and that’s why voters are flocking to the Republican Party in droves,” RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel told the AP.
It’s the economy, stupid! Democrats fret over social issues almost nonstop and that continues to make Biden look more out of touch than ever. When gas and groceries keep rising and food prices on staples are sitting at record highs, few people are paying attention to yet another White House pride event.
As the Democratic Party continues drifting toward becoming the progressive leftist party on every issue from health care to law enforcement, perhaps it’s more of the party leaving voters than the other way around.
Look at some high-profile ejections, like billionaire Elon Musk, someone who considers himself left of center but has been pushed to the GOP by a continually left-wing “woke” mob of Democrats.
In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party.
But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican.
Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold … ?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 18, 2022
Musk has almost 100 million followers on Twitter and a platform that reaches millions around the country and the world. When people like Musk begin rightly calling out the Democratic Party as the party of “division and hate,” it will start to resonate.
Democrats have a problem on their hands in November and it’s not clear that even some contained outrage over abortion can save them.
