Establishment pollster Gallup reported on Monday “a dramatic shift” from the Democrat Party to Republicans in 2021. There was a nine-percentage point Democrat advantage at the start of the year, with 49 percent of those polled identifying themselves as either Democrats or leaning Democratic, while just 40 percent claimed they were either Republicans or leaning Republican.
By the end of the year, only 42 percent now identify as Democrat or leaning Democratic, with 47 percent claiming to be Republican or leaning Republican.
That’s at astonishing shift in political affiliation that caught Gallup by surprise:
In early 2021, Democratic strength reached levels not seen in nearly a decade. By the third quarter, those Democratic gains evaporated as Biden’s job approval declined.
The political winds continued to become more favorable to Republicans in the fourth quarter, giving the GOP an advantage over Democrats larger than any they had achieved in more than 25 years.
This is no ordinary low-count, short-term poll, either. Gallup tallied the results of all of its polls since last January, recording the results from more than 12,000 respondents. The margin of error is a minuscule one percent. This is no “outlier” poll.
In the first quarter of 2021, Democrats enjoyed the largest lead over Republicans since the fourth quarter of 2012, nearly 10 years ago. The last time Republicans had anything like a five-point lead was back in 1995, propelling the GOP to take control of the House of Representatives for the first time since the 1950s.
Gallup ties the plunge to the cratering of Biden in numerous polls, the most recent from Quinnipiac University. That poll reported that barely a third of respondents approved of Biden’s job performance. Said Gallup, “Shifting party preferences in 2021 are likely tied to changes in popularity of … the president during the year.”
In January, Biden was riding high, but his popularity didn’t last long. It started its long slide thanks to his and his party’s feckless policies that have severely damaged the Republic and reversed so many of former President Donald Trump’s successes. That list is long and consistent:
The disastrous Afghanistan pullout;
The flooding of illegals over the country’s southern border;
Inflation touching every part of the economy, with many prices soaring more 100 percent or more;
Empty store shelves reflecting supply-chain disruptions;
Gas prices jumping thanks to Biden’s anti-oil exploration orders;
Violent crime increasing by 50 percent or more in major cities thanks to the release of criminals by progressive DAs and moves to defund the police; and
Masking and vaccine mandates that are just now slowly being repealed by the courts.
All of this portends a disaster at the polls for Democrats in November.
However, Republicans need to avoid complacency as the Democrat Party destroys itself. They must not squander the opportunity being handed to them by the Democrats. They should remember that Americans are not being drawn to Republicans because of their policies but are being pushed to Republicans by the insane policies of the Democrats.
Restoration of the Republic is going to take more than politicians taking advantage of the change in the political winds. It will take constitutional statesmen and women who take their oaths of office seriously and begin the long and arduous struggle to repair the damage being done to the Republic and restore the Constitution to its rightful place as the nation’s founding, and foundational, ruling document.
