President Donald Trump's favorability rating has reached its highest in seven years. His approval rating currently stands at 50%. Highest price since March 2017. This marks a significant recovery from earlier in his political career, when his numbers hovered in the low 40s.
While Republican pundits are celebrating these numbers as a major comeback, I'm not as impressed as others. Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama both entered and left office with much higher approval ratings. Comparing Trump's numbers to Joe Biden's provides little insight. Although Mr. Biden often appears incompetent and uninterested, his approval rating remains in the low 40% range. The surprising thing is not that Biden's numbers are bad, but that they aren't much worse.
At a time when Republicans have frequently retreated on social issues, Democrats have benefited greatly by catering to a large and enlightened base.
The broader point is one I've made before: Democrats don't seem to be hurting themselves by focusing on divisive intersectional politics. This despicable strategy successfully appeals to a base of angry, culturally radicalized voters while instilling racial and gender hatred.
Democrats easily maintained control of blue states. In the last presidential election, which seemed to have stalled, Kamala Harris lost to Trump by just 2 percentage points. This suggests that Democrats do not need to abandon their current approach to remain competitive in future elections.
Democrats achieved their results despite fielding a verbally questionable and tactically incompetent candidate who had to defend Joe Biden's largely indefensible record. Ms. Harris, a laughing stock who has never won a single primary vote, was thrust upon voters when party leadership hopelessly abandoned the aging incumbent.
This is without even mentioning her opponent. Vigorous populist candidates campaigned vigorously and held multiple rallies daily. What was striking about this election was how well the Democratic Party performed despite what appeared to be a dire situation of a failed presidency, a weak candidate, and a motivated and dynamic opponent. Still, he won close races in the Senate in Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin.
To their credit, Democrats had certain advantages that should not be underestimated. They had big business and Hollywood money, a sleazy legacy media, and the unwavering support of partisan educational institutions and government officials. Meanwhile, Trump's Republican Party has had to work vigorously against these forces with little money. Still, they achieved hard-won victories in presidential and parliamentary elections.
When it comes to social issues, Democrats have a huge advantage, as evidenced by their abortion success despite taking the most extreme positions possible. Kamala Harris advocated for unrestricted abortion rights nationwide during the nine months of her pregnancy. She also supported punishing doctors who refuse to perform abortions on moral grounds. Notably, Kamala led President Trump to: Questions about abortion are in double digits This is despite President Trump taking the weakest position on abortion by a Republican presidential candidate since the 1970s.
Clearly, there is a woke feminist vote, and the Democrats have complete control of it. They have the potential to escalate social problems, and in many cases expect Republicans to anxiously follow suit. Since the 1990s, Over 60% of American women Often defined by grievance politics, these voters align with the left on most social issues.
Sometimes Democrats go too far, like when they allowed biological men to participate in women's sports or have access to women's locker rooms and showers. But it rarely costs elections, and being “too progressive” is rarely a political liability, especially in blue states. On the contrary, Democrats have benefited greatly from catering to a large and enlightened base while Republicans have frequently suffered setbacks on social issues.
The culturally more left-leaning of America's two major political parties may be exactly what is needed for electoral success. The Democratic Party has abandoned its roots as a working-class party, but that change no longer seems to matter. They consolidated support among key constituencies, including government employees, most black adults, teachers' unions, and a majority of women voters.
The right can counter this advantage and fight back. The new administration should abolish the Department of Education, disperse federal wetland species, and eliminate subsidies to educational institutions except for scientifically useful programs. This strategy would reduce Democrats' dependence on a bloated public sector.
Defunding the deep state and reducing its population will further erode the left's influence. For decades, the Democratic Party has functioned as a “state party,” with much of its power tied to the growing public sector. Reducing its benefits would critically weaken fiscal resources and disrupt infrastructure.
Above all, the new administration must ignore the inevitable media outrage and accusations of “fascism” while pursuing this necessary counterattack. Let the left fund its own activities and personnel without taxpayer support.
