So much for the vaunted blue wave.
After months of chatter about an anti-Trump groundswell that would sweep away the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, the latest poll by the mainstream news organization Reuters now has the GOP overtaking the Democrats on the generic ballot. Yes, boosted by the unmistakable signs of a reviving economy and job market, promising developments on North Korea, and perhaps investigation fatigue, Republicans are now actually in the lead with less than six months until Election Day.
Add to that Trump’s job approval rising to 45% after languishing in the 30s for many months, and this is a wake-up call for leftists so cocksure that the country shares their contempt for the 45th President. It is a shot across the bow to Democrats who are offering voters almost nothing beyond their unending opposition to all things Trump. It has reached the point where Nancy Pelosi actually went before the cameras last week to defend murderous gangs of illegal immigrants - because the president had called them animals, as most normal people would.
This shock poll interrupts or reverses the narrative built by the left in which they gain the majority in the lower chamber of Congress, and thus open the door to what has driven them from the day Trump was elected, the prospect that gets them out of bed every morning: impeachment.
The reason for this reversal of fortune is not rocket science. When people see their job fortunes and paychecks rise, and when consumer and business confidence is on the upswing, ideology falls by the wayside. The left’s contorted hatred for a president will hardly curry favor with voters when Trump is perceived as largely responsible for near-record low unemployment, less confiscatory taxes, fewer government regulations, and the associated benefits of free-market policies. A bold transformation of U.S. foreign policy doesn’t hurt either. Evidence of how real life trumps ideology is one particularly ominous sign for Democrats: black support for Trump has doubled over the last month.
Whether they support his policies or not, more and more people see that Trump’s position outside the political establishment means he is serious about something foreign to career politicians: actually doing in office what he promised as a candidate. What other president would pull the plug on the Iran nuclear and Paris climate deals, move our embassy to Jerusalem, trash “strategic patience” and engage directly with North Korea, and call out NATO to pay their fair share?
As last autumn turned to winter, with a few victories in one-off special elections and gubernatorial races, and with polls showing them with a consistent double-digit lead, Democrats were brimming with confidence. But as spring soon yields to summer, that has all changed.
Sure, a lot can happen between now and early November, and the GOP’s newfound advantage could reverse again. But with the economy on sound footing and Trump’s approval rising, it might take a shock from Special Counsel Robert Mueller even greater than the result of this latest poll.
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