Republicans have been doing so, fitfully and reluctantly, ever since Donald J. Trump began running for reelection, which is approximately two days after he was sworn in to the office of the President.
In 2017.
We saw it in the announcements of Republican officials, both obscure and prominent, proclaiming their refusal to support Trump, and often not to support Trump-aligned candidates and actions. While important symbolically, they only go so far, and polls didn’t really show them working, with the exception of special elections.
But now we’re seeing the beginnings of a wave of repudiation of the amateurism, extremism, and corruption that’s moved into the heart of the Republican Party.
President Donald Trump has never had worse poll numbers with his base than he does ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
And a growing volume of polls shows a significant portion of that base is preparing to cross over and vote for Democrats.
New York Times-Siena College polls released over the weekend showed between 9% and 16% of Republican likely voters said they favored the Democratic nominee in five key states: Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio and Texas.
And these aren’t the only polls to show a sizable crossover effect — especially in the middle of the country.
All told, Democratic candidates have led among GOP voters by double digits in four key Senate races, and they lead by an average of at least 9 points in seven of the top 10 races, according to a CNN review of polling in each state. [CNN/Politics via yahoo!news]
Now comes the painful scraping of the infection, full of pus and regret. I fear we’ll see some violence, but hopefully it’ll be isolated and quickly stifled.
And I expect the Republicans will do quite well in these elections. But will the independents, and what does that mean? That’s a question we may have to answer by ’28.
