Republican Party Loses Support Nationwide
Republican Party affiliation has decreased considerably in the first quarter of 2021, according to a new Gallup poll.
The poll found that 49 percent of Americans currently identify as democrats or democrat-leaning, while 40 percent identify as republicans or republican-leaning. The nine-percentage-point difference marks the Democratic Party’s largest advantage since 2012.
These national statistics are mirrored in Colorado, where the Republican Party has been losing popularity since the widespread democratic success in the 2018 state elections. Since then, the Colorado Republican Party has lost 63,000 voters, amounting to a 2.6 percent decrease. In comparison, democrats have lost 13,600 voters, or 0.7 percent.
The decline in republican voters in Colorado has been brought on by a number of factors. The most prominent influence was the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. 9News found that 4,576 Colorado republicans requested to change their party affiliation in the week following the insurrection, the vast majority of them changing to unaffiliated. Those who changed affiliations cited a negative perception of Republican Party values and an embarrassment to be associated with the party as a whole.
Other factors affecting the Republican Party include the removal of inactive voters from the electoral rolls and the growing numbers of Independent voters. Also notable is Colorado’s new voter registration system, through which new voters are automatically registered as unaffiliated and aren’t granted the option to choose a party until later.
The COVID-19 vaccine rollout and the recent COVID relief bill may have swayed voters to separate from the Republican Party as well. Morgan Carroll, the chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, spoke to the success of the Democratic Party on the national scale as a potential factor in the growing democratic advantage.
“At the federal level, Joe Biden and democrats are getting the job done and have reminded American voters what competence in government looks like after four years of incompetence and corruption with republicans in charge. With all that in mind, it’s no surprise to me that more and more people are affiliating with the Democratic Party, and less and less people are affiliating with the Republican Party,” Carroll stated.
As the nation looks forward to the 2022 elections, the chances of Republican Party control of the Senate or House of Representatives will rely primarily on the popularity of the Biden administration. If Biden’s approval rating remains high, republicans will struggle to attract independent voters and will likely fail to gain traction in Congress.
