Aggregating data from all U.S. Gallup telephone surveys in 2021, the Gallup poll revealed on Monday that between the first quarter of 2012 through the last quarter of the year, a radical and massive shift occurred in the American electorate, as what had been a nine-point lead for voters identifying or leaning toward the Democratic Party morphed into a five-point lead of voters identifying or leaning toward the Republican Party.
Gallup wrote:
In the first quarter of 2021, 49% of U.S. adults identified as Democrats or leaned Democratic, while 40% identified as Republicans or leaned Republican. In the second quarter, 49% were Democrats or Democratic leaners, and 43% were Republicans and Republican leaners. In the third quarter, 45% were Democrats and Democratic leaners, and were 44% Republicans and Republican leaners. In the fourth quarter, 42% were Democrats and Democratic leaners, and 47% were Republicans and Republican leaners.
The five-point edge for the Republican Party in the fourth quarter ties the largest lead the party has held in the Gallup poll since it began measuring such data in 1991. The only other quarters the GOP held a five-point lead were in early 1995, after the GOP seized control of the House for the first time in four decades, and the first quarter of 1991, after the U.S. victory in the Persian Gulf War.
“Gallup began regularly measuring party leaning in 1991, and in most years, significantly more Americans have identified as Democrats or as independents who lean Democratic than as Republicans or Republican leaners,” Gallup noted.
President Joe Biden’s approval rating plunged to 33% last week. “Americans give President Joe Biden a negative 33 – 53 percent job approval rating, while 13 percent did not offer an opinion,” Quinnipiac University reported. “In November 2021, Americans gave Biden a negative 36 – 53 percent job approval rating with 10 percent not offering an opinion.”
The Daily Wire noted:
Biden’s approval rating from Democrats sank by double digits from 87% in November to 75% in the new poll. The percentage of Democrats who now disapprove of him doubled from 7% to 14%. Only 1 in 4 Independents approved of Biden’s job performance while only 2% (not a typo) of Republicans approved of Biden’s job performance.
An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in early December found that fear of the coronavirus is no longer Americans’ prime concern — the economy, with fear of inflation and rising cost of living, dwarfed the fear of the coronavirus.
The poll found a huge 68% of respondents mentioned the economy in some way as a top worry for 2022, as opposed to 37% naming the coronavirus. AP stated:
Just 37% of Americans name the virus as one of their top five priorities for the government to work on in 2022, compared with 53% who said it was a leading priority at the same time a year ago. The economy outpaced the pandemic in the open-ended question, with 68% of respondents mentioning it in some way as a top 2022 concern. A similar percentage said the same last year, but mentions of inflation are much higher now: 14% this year, compared with less than 1% last year.
“Consumer prices jumped 6.8% for the 12 months ending in November, a nearly four-decade high,” AP noted adding, “Meanwhile, roughly twice as many Americans now mention their household finances, namely, the cost of living, as a governmental priority, 24% vs. 12% last year.”