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Editorial by: Zachary Chan
Editorial by: Zachary Chan
Featuring invasive murder hornets, raging wildfires on both sides of the Pacific, the deaths of such public figures as RBG, Chadwick Boseman, and Kobe Bryant, and, of course, a global pandemic that has wrecked global economies and killed over a million, 2020 has turned into nothing short of one of the most turbulent years on record. And here in the U.S., the reactions and actions of the two major political parties to some of these events have become the deciding factor in the voting process. In doing so, Americans have centered their election mindsets around the most recent political scandals and speeches, consequently leaving Republicans staggering in the polls. While both parties do maintain strong leads in their usual states (the Democrats with New York and California and the Republicans with Mississippi and Louisiana to name a few), polls show, come November, conservatives may be in for a rude awakening.
But to understand the conundrum the GOP finds itself in this election season, one must also understand the current political climate we have been living in for the past four years. President Trump (a Republican) started his administration out with, according to FiveThirty Eight, around a 4% lead of his approval vs disapproval ratings, however, things quickly went south from there. By early August in 2017, his disapproval ratings had plateaued at about 57% vs an approval rating of just 37%. But, these kinds of numbers don’t necessarily translate to high voter turnout. The U.S. would have to wait another three years to see if Trump’s brash personality had truly taken a devastating-enough effect on his reelection chances. And so, we waited. Today, over half of all Americans disapprove of the President with less than 45% approving of his actions and the Guardian reports seeing potentially the highest voter turnout since before the First World War. Objectively, President Donald Trump has lost the vote.
And yet, to this day, Republican candidates around the country continue to support the President and reinforce his beliefs, even when he is losing supporters by the thousands every week for his demeaning comments and failed policy proposals. Now, as a Democrat myself who grew up with a more liberal family, I cannot attest to what the Republican party or Republicans themselves actually think of Trump, even though 2015 interviews from the Washington Post with his GOP challengers (including his current Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson) show him being slammed for his relationship with Vladimir Putin and his proposal to ban Muslims from the country. But, I can tell you that the failure of many Republican legislators to distance themselves from him has led many of them who did not originally expect to have to fight for their seats to become embroiled in very narrow races in their home states. The Washington Post reported that included amongst those are Senator Martha McSally of Arizona, currently lagging behind former astronaut Mark Kelly by over 10 points, and Senator Joni Ernst in Iowa, right now losing by five points to Democrat Theresa Greenfield.
However, one must keep in mind that anything can happen, even in the last week or so of an election. But, the nonpartisan point still remains that Donald Trump has certainly changed the stance of the GOP. Otherwise, the same voting demographics that got him and a Republican Congress elected in 2016 would not have changed so much in the four years since. So while this election may well be one to determine the fate of our country, I believe it is also one to determine the future politics of the Republican party itself.
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