A Gallup survey found that during 2021, Democrats went from a nine percentage point advantage in the first quarter, to Republicans holding a five-point lead in the fourth quarter.
“The GOP has held as much as a five-point advantage in a total of only four quarters since 1991. The Republicans last held a five-point advantage in party identification and leaning in early 1995, after winning control of the House of Representatives for the first time since the 1950s. Republicans had a larger advantage only in the first quarter of 1991, after the U.S. victory in the Persian Gulf War led by then-President George H.W. Bush.,” the pollsters reported.
“Democrat Joe Biden enjoyed relatively high ratings after taking office on Jan. 20, and his approval stayed high through the early summer as COVID-19 infections dramatically decreased after millions of Americans got vaccinated against the disease. A summer surge of infections tied to the delta variant of the coronavirus made it clear the pandemic was not over in the U.S., and Biden’s approval ratings began to sag. Later, the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan caused Biden’s ratings to fall further, into the low 40s. His ratings remain low as the U.S. battles rising inflation and yet another surge of COVID-19 infections, tied to the omicron variant of the virus,” the report states.
The report added, “with control of the House of Representatives and Senate at stake in this year’s midterm elections, party preferences will be a key indicator of which party will be better positioned to gain majorities in the next session of Congress.”
The results were based on data collected from telephone surveys conducted by Gallup and included more than 12,000 U.S adults, simply asking whether they identify as a Republican or a Democrat.
Americans have been abandoning blue States with an estimated 1 million people moving to different areas more favorable.
The high crime rate in blue States is also one of the biggest reasons they’re leaving, taxes being a close second.
The editorial board of pro-free market research firm Issues & Insights wrote:
“The mass exodus of more than a million Americans moving from largely blue States to red States expresses [their] dissatisfaction with high taxes, rampant crime, lockdowns, [Wuhan coronavirus] vaccine mandates, excessive state government regulations, a politically stifling ‘woke’ culture and the lack of economic opportunity and freedom.”
According to data from the Census Bureau, between 2010 and 2019, the top 10 Democrat run states lost close to 850,000 residents.
Most moved to red states, and the top picks were Texas, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina and Arizona.
“Americans are moving from high-tax, forced-unionism, business-unfriendly blue states like CA and NY with high housing costs to low-tax, right-to-work, economically vibrant, business-friendly red states with lower housing costs like FL and TX,” wrote Mark Perry of the American Enterprise Institute.
The pandemic also exacerbated the exodus, with residents, with residents wanting to escape tyranny in blue States.
“The picture painted by this population shift is a clear one of people leaving high-tax, high-cost states for lower-tax, lower-cost alternatives,” wrote Jared Walczak, an analyst for the Tax Foundation. “The individual income tax is only one component of overall tax burdens, but it is often highly salient, and is illustrative here.”
“The pandemic has accelerated changes in the way we live and work, making it far easier for people to move – and they have,” wrote Walczak. “As states work to maintain their competitive advantage, they should pay attention to where people are moving, and try to understand why.”
