Over half of the American people believe the country is on the “wrong track,” according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released back in February. And it’s not even close. Sixty-three percent expressed this concern. By comparison, just 24 percent are happy with the state of the nation. Republicans and Independents, 86 percent and 67 percent respectively, are most alarmed, but even 41 percent of Democrats can see that all is far from well.
This isn’t hard to believe. Rising crime, inflation, economic stagnation, cultural Marxism, “woke capitalism,” foreign entanglements, suppression of free speech, and a news media allergic to truth – all of these issues and more contribute to the unease. Americans are looking for someone, or something, to blame, and this year’s midterm elections are likely to be a bloodbath for the president’s party.
A huge factor contributing to that outcome will be Hispanic and Latino voters, who are rapidly moving away from the Democratic Party. Surveys last November by Bendixen & Amandi International, which was hired by the left-leaning organization, “Way to Win,” found that 50 percent of Hispanics in Texas, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Nevada are among those unhappy about current trends. Leftists in Virginia were stunned when Republican Glenn Youngkin won that state’s gubernatorial election, and it was Hispanics and Latinos who helped put him over the top. Since 2018, there has been a 42-point Hispanic swing toward Republicans nationwide. Even the New York Times sees the writing on the wall. “Latinos,” whined Politico, “have long been viewed as solidly blue Democratic voters.”
Whether foreign- or native-born, fair-minded people understand that the American Dream, however flawed in practice, is a dream borne out of reality. Limited government, the rule of law, property rights, free markets, and individual liberty made the United States the richest, freest, and most upwardly mobile country in the history of the world. That’s why Hispanics and Latinos, or their parents or grandparents, came here in the first place. That’s why virtually everyone comes here. Of all the countries on Earth, it is the United States that an overwhelming majority would come to if given the chance.
Democrats are facing the unpleasant fact that voting blocs cannot be taken for granted. Screaming “racism” at everyone who disagrees with socialist policies is like the boy who cried wolf. Denouncing the country most voters love as “white supremacist” is turning them away from the left-wing party because they live in a reality where unemployment, rising prices and crime, and abusive government are the biggest threats to their way of life, not a phantom Klansman hiding under everyone’s bed.
Another trend that is literally driving voters away from the leftist base is the lifestyle they face in states run by Democratic politicians. Deteriorating conditions in left-leaning states are taking a toll, and people are voting with their feet. A study by United Van Lines found that the top-five outbound states are all Democratic strongholds – California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Illinois. Fox Business reported that U-Haul in California actually ran out of moving trucks to rent, so high is the demand from people leaving. Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby wrote, “more people leave Massachusetts for other states than move to Massachusetts from other states,” and “Massachusetts has been on the losing team for quite a while.” Where are these Bay Staters going? Florida and New Hampshire.
Gun control, high taxes, stifling regulations, and barriers to economic entry are often points of pride in left-wing states, but the environment they create cannot be ignored forever. And those living in that world – especially those on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder – feel the pinch more than the elitists of the left who want the peasants to just go eat cake. All the demagoguery, race-baiting, and finger-pointing cannot prevent people from seeing what their government is doing to them. Ayn Rand once said, “reality is the final judge,” and the reality of life in a left-wing state is proving too much for too many. Whether it’s voters shifting their loyalty from one political party to another, or residents leaving Democrat states for Republican ones, the left is losing.