This poll is a cautionary note for MAGA.
In this moment of political darkness for Democrats, it is easy for us to gloat and engage in cringe mining, but it turns out most Democrats disagree with progressive activists.
“WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the wake of the 2024 election and Donald Trump’s inauguration for a second term as president, a plurality of Democrats would like their party to become more moderate, while a similar plurality of Republicans favor the status quo for their party.
Both party groups’ preferences have shifted significantly since 2021, at the start of Joe Biden’s presidency, the last time Gallup measured opinions on this question. Support for a more moderate Democratic Party among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents has grown by 11 percentage points, to 45%, since 2021. At the same time, Democrats’ and leaners’ desire for a more liberal party has declined five points, to 29%, and preferences for no change in party ideology have fallen nine points, to 22%. …”
Unsurprisingly, progressives want their party to become more liberal, but not as much as moderate Democrats who overwhelmingly want the party to become more moderate. There is a political space opening up for the next Bill Clinton, not the next Bernie Sanders.
Looking ahead, I think we could see the emergence of two MAGA parties in much the same way that by the 1950s we had a “mainstream” of two liberal parties under Dwight Eisenhower, or how the rise of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair were responses on the Left to Reagan and Thatcher.
Note: The Republicans radically changed their brand under Trump to compete with the Obama coalition. The Democratic establishment has also been fatally weakened by Trump’s reelection.
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