Since the GOP’s populist turn in 2016, the party has steadily lost ground in the suburbs and among independents. They have not had a single positive election cycle since. And the electoral failures of 2023 are just another instance of the mythological populist realignment undermining their prospects.
The GOP has perhaps the strongest case to make for taking power in decades. The border is —well, just ask the Democrat mayor in a major city. Crime is a problem. The left has been defending the mutilation of children and pornography in schools. The president is a doddering, incoherent mess with a growing corruption problem. Those are all big issues. They matter.
But the top issue in virtually every poll, and it’s not even close, is the economy. The Democrats’ massive welfare expansion and self-destructive energy policy sparked inflation. According to Gallup, 53 percent of respondents say the GOP would do a better job at “keeping the country prosperous over the next few years” compared to 39 percent for Democrats. It’s the widest gap in over 30 years. A recent NBC News poll shows Republicans with a 21-point advantage on the economy, 49-28 percent.
Other than some platitudes about Bidenomics, what was the GOP’s economic message? They don’t have one. The right’s misplaced obsession with “working class” voters has led to a watered-down, leftist approach to the economy that creates a muddled, incoherent rhetorical mess on an issue Republicans should be dominating.
In most places, the working class is shrinking, and the
