With the 2024 presidential election just months away, data trends provide further evidence of major shifts occurring across America’s electoral districts. It is clear that this realignment is firmly entrenched in our politics, and that both parties have been slow to align policy decisions with the political preferences of their respective bases.
It’s no secret that working-class voters are currently gravitating towards the Republican Party, while educated, wealthier voters form the base of today’s Democratic Party. It accelerated. Now, with Trump potentially serving one more term in office, Republicans in Congress must legislate to win the support of working-class Americans, a key group of voters who still hold the keys to the presidency. It depends on whether or not you run the engine. The Oval Office and the majority in Congress.
2023 turned out to be the least productive year for Congress in more than 50 years, with the least number of bills passed. Add to that the overly dramatized ouster of the Speaker and the threat of expulsion of the current speaker, and it’s hard not to understand why Congress has a 15% approval rating.
Nevertheless, Republicans have an advantage and an opportunity to implement policies for non-college-educated voters who live paycheck to paycheck. These people don’t care about tax cuts for big businesses, elusive stock market indicators, or erratic policy programs that have no measurable impact on tight pockets. And for President Trump and his Republican allies, relying on pre-pandemic tax cuts is not enough. Things have changed, the ship has set sail, and it’s time to look wider.
Republicans need to stop complaining about the minority and improve their policy output to gain greater policy advantage.
New Republican voters are most concerned with the here and now of life. They need immediate relief from both the government and the private sector. They need more money and flexibility to take care of their families and loved ones. They need members of Congress to do this, and they want a president strong enough to make sure it happens.
It couldn’t be simpler. The data backs it up. For example, a national poll in January found that voters supported or opposed Congress enacting “national legislation regarding paid family leave for qualifying reasons such as newborns, recovering from an illness, or caring for a seriously ill family member.” I asked.
More than 75% of people responded that they supported it. What’s even more impressive is that it gained widespread support across political lines at a time when it seems like the political parties can’t agree on anything.
Encouragingly, two bipartisan working groups in the House and Senate have developed policy frameworks that seek to increase paid leave through a variety of state-based and public-private partnership structures. No one expects these solutions to be in place by Election Day, but if Republicans were to pass such a bill, it would give non-college-educated voters that positive change is possible and that It would be a huge benefit if we could show that we are on the way. They elect a Republican to the White House.
Democrats undoubtedly have more to gain than Republicans in the current political climate, but Republicans have the momentum in this key group of voters. Trump secured victory in the Republican primary, pivoting away from the upper-class party’s decades-long focus on policies and returning to things that make working-class lives better, such as paid family leave. It’s time to focus.
This election is so close that policy planning cannot keep up with the electoral environment. Republicans need to stop complaining about the minority and improve their policy output to gain greater policy advantage. If they can do that, voters may reward them again.
Brent Buchanan is a pollster and president of National Signal.‘The fastest growing and most accurate Republican polling company.
