Over the past 12 months, more than one million U.S. voters have switched their party affiliation to the GOP, painting a grim picture for Democrats in the 2022 midterms.
According to an analysis from The Associated Press, the GOP is benefiting in the suburbs of large and medium cities mostly, where voters who supported President Joe Biden in 2020 are struggling with inflation and growing increasingly critical of Democratic social issues.
Over the past 12 months, roughly 1.7 million Americans have changed their party affiliation. According to the report, two-thirds of those have gone to the GOP, while just 630,000 have switched to the Democratic Party.
While for Democrats, this is not the final nail in the coffin, the voter trend is yet another indicator that Republicans stand to make large gains in Congress and state governments across the country in November.
Ronna McDaniel, a Republican National Committee Chair, attributed the big gains for her party to “Biden’s gas hike, the open border crisis, baby formula shortage and rising crime.”
McDaniel said in a statement that “Biden and Democrats are woefully out of touch with the American people, and that’s why voters are flocking to the Republican Party in droves. American suburbs will trend red for cycles to come.”
The skyrocketing gas prices were never fully addressed by the Biden administration, as well as inflation that sits at a 40-year high and shows no signs of slowing down.
Saying he is being too passive, members of Biden’s own party have criticized the White House’s response to the economic crises.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times earlier in June: “I support the president’s efforts, but we need a bolder vision and faster action.” Khanna added, “To meet the moment, Mr. Biden should convene an emergency task force empowered to lower prices and address shortages. We need an all-out mobilization, not just a few ad hoc initiatives reacting to headlines.”