Because Democrats outnumber Republicans, the GOP is working hard to suppress voting in hopes that restricting Democratic power in the voting booth will help Republicans to win elections. That Democrats outnumber Republicans is obvious in the statistics: On December 17, 2020, Gallup polling found that 31 percent of Americans identified as Democrats, 25 percent identified as Republican, and 41 percent as Independent. A more recent Gallup poll (undated) finds that 49 percent of Americans consider themselves Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents, while 40 percent consider themselves Republicans or Republican-leaning independents. I suspect that given the atrocious record of the Republicans starting with Donald Trump’s election in 2016, running through the mob attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 that Trump incited (which the Republicans now refer to as “legitimate political discourse,”), and Trump’s great lie that he won the 2020 election despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, more and more Americans will be siding with the Democrats against the Republicans.
So now Republicans led by Mitch McConnell are trying to improve their election prospects by passing 489 voter suppression bills in 49 states. And it’s getting worse: as of January 14 of this year, legislators in at least 27 states have introduced, pre-filed, or carried over 250 bills with restrictive provisions, compared to 75 such bills in 24 states on January 14, 2021. Worst of all, these bills disproportionately impact voters of color. And the Republicans justify the introduction of bills suppressing the vote by claiming widespread voter fraud; all available evidence proves the opposite.
I suspect that these and other measures taken by the Republicans will over time reduce their popularity to the degree that the GOP will cease to be a major player in American politics. In the meantime, current polls favor the Republicans in the 2022 elections. As I have written here before, I suspect that the polls are misleading. We’ll find out in November.
Tom Glenn, Writer 