The lead Republicans have over Democrats when it comes to economic prosperity has reached its largest in 32 years, polling from Gallup showed Tuesday.
Fifty-three percent of Americans said the think the GOP is more likely to “do a better job of keeping the country prosperous,” Gallup said. Just 39 percent say they favor Democrats on the issues facing the economy.
That 14-point gap is the widest for Republicans since 1991. It is also a significant increase from the 10-point lead Republicans enjoyed a year ago, suggesting that the Biden administration’s efforts to sell the public on the alleged benefits of “Bidenomics” has backfired.
In other words, the GOP polling advantage has not been this large since the country was still basking in the glow of the Reagan era’s prosperity.
The economy is the top issue for around one-third of Americans, according to Gallup’s most recent poll. The next highest issue—”government/poor leadership”—comes in at 22 percent. Immigration is the top issue for nine percent of the public.
Forty-four percent say the Republican Party is better on what ever issue they think is the top issue facing the U.S. Thirty-six percent say they prefer the Democrat Party on their top issue. The rest say they have no preference.
“Although Republicans periodically enjoyed strong leads on this party preference measure between the 1940s and 1980s, today’s eight-point advantage for the Republicans is fairly uncommon in the context of the trend since 1992. In addition to its 11-point advantage last year, those exceptions include a seven-point lead for the GOP in 2011 and a slight edge in 2015 and 2016,” Gallup said in its report.
Republicans also have a historically large lead over Republicans on the issue of national security. Fifty-seven percent of Americans say the GOP will do a better job protecting the nation from terrorism and military threats, compared with 37 percent who say Democrats will. That is the second widest margin on record, just behind 2014’s 23 point GOP lead.
The huge Republican lead does not, of course, guarantee electoral wins in the elections next year. A year after the GOP’s 1991 record lead, Democrat challenger Bill Clinton unseated George H.W. Bush by running largely on economic issues.
Comments are closed.