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Political dislocation feels as though it’s a growing phenomenon, and among groups you might not expect.
A survey from May of this year found that 71% of Mormon voters, typically one of the most conservative voting blocs in the country, believed “neither party represents my views anymore.” Reporting for The New Yorker, Tammy Kim repeatedly found young voters — for ages the most reliably progressive bloc — ”who swore that they could vote for neither Biden nor Trump” as a result of issues like the environment and Israel’s efforts to eliminate Hamas.
The number of people who identify as independent has skyrocketed over the last two decades: whereas Gallup found an almost equal number of people described themselves as “Republican” (33%), “Democrat” (32%), and “independent” (34%) in January of 2002, by June of this year independents had skyrocketed to 51%, while 25% identified as Republicans and 23% as Democrats.
Those numbers have reversed a bit following President Joe Biden’s decision not to seek reelection and Vice President Kamala Harris’ ascension to the top of the Democratic ticket, though 41% continue to identify as independents.
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The so-called double haters — that is, voters who disliked both former President Donald Trump and Biden — had been poised to play a pivotal role in the election, hitting a full quarter of the electorate earlier this year.
While the number has fallen as Harris offers a sharper contrast to voters than a replay of the dueling elderly dudes who duked it out four years ago, there remains a sizable bloc who simply don’t love the choices they have in front of them.
I’m certainly one of them; I’ve joked a handful of times that the thing I resent most about Trump is forcing me to vote for someone I disagree with on 90% of the issues. (I can practically hear my libertarian friends out there scoff at this dilemma, muttering “Welcome to the party, pal,” like they’re John McClane looking over the side of Nakatomi Plaza in the 1988 film Die Hard.)
The sense of dislocation is only magnified by the fact that the GOP has shifted so hard and so rapidly on so many issues. I can only speak for myself here, but it’s been jarring. On foreign policy, Republican leaders have soured on vital institutions like NATO and cozied up to Eastern European strongmen like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Hungary’s Victor Orban. Domestically, the party’s biggest proposal seems to be exempting tips from taxation and hoping no one mentions the word abortion. Given the addition of longtime anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist and confessed bear-corpse defiler Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the Trump team brain trust, I don’t feel as though I’m betraying anything I once believed in by withholding a vote for that platform.
But for folks like myself, it’s been comforting to find a community that believes in the importance of defending democracy and upholding election integrity.
I always get a little nervous before meeting readers of The Bulwark, a center-right and anti-Trump news and opinion website. We are hosting a live event today at the Wyly Theatre. Despite the generally happy vibes at these conferences — part live show, part meet and greet — I remain a bit more conservative than many in our audience, and they do sometimes get a bit cranky when I, say, don’t get as mad at the Supreme Court as they do.
But there’s something more important at stake. It’s the message I hear time and again from folks who find themselves shocked to be on the same side as refugees from the in-flight magazine of George W. Bush’s Air Force One. There’s space to argue about guns or abortion or immigration or other matters of policy; there’s little space to argue over the importance of ensuring that the guy who watched as a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol, assaulted cops, hunted down elected officials, and chanted for the death of his own vice president is kept out of the White House for a second term.
Again, I can speak only for myself, but watching what’s happened to my party as it fell under the sway of Donald Trump — as elected officials and former primary opponents like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio fell in line — one stat from last year’s Pew poll about the nation’s mood has stuck with me.
Fifty-five percent of voters say they’re angry when thinking about politics. Not surprising when you see all the yelling on social media, on TV, on the campaign trail. But an even higher percentage — 65% — say they’re “exhausted.” More people are tired than mad. I don’t agree, precisely, though I get it.
One of the great benefits of the internet is that it allows those who feel uncomfortable with the two largest political organizations to find and form smaller support groups. And I’m glad to have found a group of people committed to keeping its eyes on the biggest threat facing an already crumbling political system.
Sonny Bunch is a culture editor at The Bulwark and a Dallas resident. The Bulwark will be hosting a live event featuring former Congressman Adam Kinzinger at the Wyly Theatre.
Part of our series The American Middle. This essay discusses the state of disillusionment of many conservatives with the current state of the GOP
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