It's not just Trump: Midterms show the religious right is an albatross around the GOP's neck

[marmar]

It's not just Trump: Midterms show the religious right is an albatross around the GOP's neck
Republicans went hard with anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and abortion bans in 2022. Even their own voters don't like it

By AMANDA MARCOTTE
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 22, 2022 6:00AM (EST)


(Salon) Acouple of weeks out from a midterm election in which Republicans dramatically underperformed, one major theme has emerged in the post-mortems: Donald Trump is to blame. Turns out that voters do not like efforts to overthrow democracy, like Trump's attempted coup or the January 6 insurrection. As data analyst Nate Cohn at the New York Times demonstrated, Trump's "preferred primary candidates" — who usually won a Trump endorsement by backing his Big Lie — fell behind "other G.O.P. candidates by about five percentage points." The result is a number of state, local and congressional offices were lost that Republicans might otherwise have won.

Republican leaders are struggling with this information because dumping Trump is easier said than done so long as he has a substantial percentage of their voting base in his thrall. But, in truth, Republican problems run even deeper than that. It's not just Trump. The religious right has been the backbone of the party for decades, but this midterm election shows they might now be doing the GOP more harm than good at the ballot box.

As with Trump, Republicans are in a "can't win with them/can't win without them" relationship with the religious right. Fundamentalists remain a main source of organizing and fundraising for the GOP, as well a big chunk of their most reliable voters. They can't afford to alienate this group any more than they can afford to push away Trump. Doing so risks the loss of millions of loyal voters. But by continuing to pander to the religious right, Republicans are steadily turning off all other voters, a group that's rapidly growing in size as Americans turn their backs on conservative Christianity. That's doubly true when one looks at the youngest voters, the ones Republicans will need to stay viable as their currently aging voter base starts to die off.

New data from the progressive polling firm Navigator Research shows how dire the situation is for Republicans. On "culture war" issues like reproductive rights and LGBTQ equality, the voters broke hard on the progressive side of things. Among Democratic voters this midterm, 48% said abortion was an important issue for them, showing strong pro-choice sentiment. But among Republicans, only 13% ranked abortion (and the banning of it) as a driving factor in their vote. When Democratic voters were asked their main reason for their voting choice this year, abortion rights was the most popular, cited by 49% of voters. But among Republican voters, only 24% cited support for abortion bans as a major factor. .................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2022/11/22/its-not-just-trump-midterms-show-the-religious-right-is-an-albatross-around-the-gops-neck/

[republianmushroom]

1. I like it

[3catwoman3]

2. They willingly hung that albatross there, so too damn bad.

May it drag them down. They've earned it.

[lees1975]

3. The irony of the whole issue is that Trump isn't even Christian by their definition.

He openly denies having the kind of experience conservative Evangelicals claim is necessary to conversion. His "Turning Point" seminars include attempts at changing or getting Christians to ignore salient points of Christian faith and practice to be more "worldly."

It is really playing havoc within the Evangelical circles. People are leaving churches where extremist politics have infiltrated the congregation and influenced the preaching and teaching. Pastors and church leaders, growing weary of trying to keep the peace in contentious congregations where militant far right extremists have been radicalized and demand their church preach politics, are retiring and leaving in droves, literally, as are many of the members of the churches who see things realistically.

[rubbersole]

4. I.Don't.Get.It.

Evangelicals worshipping the most flawed unholy pos that has ever held such a high office. I'm "flummoxed", Wilbur.

[certainot]

5. "religious right" means nutballs with a 1500 radio station political arm ignored by dems

[rubbersole]

6. Probably not ignored, underfunded.

Many of the radio stations lose money. But for propaganda purposes, cheap at twice the price.

[certainot]

7. totally ignored

by chance i saw stephanie rule had someone on talking about RW radio and then she put on charlie sykes, who made a living as rw radio blowhard in wisconsin getting gov walker et al elected

rule totally blew it they changed the subject. typical

the ignored won't get funded!

and it's really not about 'market value' or the radio biz. that's for paying rent and salaries. they sell trillions in global warming, war, deregulation, supremes, and tax breaks for billionaires

[Abolishinist]

8. On the other hand, they ARE great when it comes to the art of dancing!

[DallasNE]

9. Two Largest Groups Of Trump Votere

Are from the Reagan Revolution of 1st time voters for Reagan and Vietnam draft dodgers like himself. Oddly, those two groups don't have that much in common so strange bedfellows.

[UTUSN]

10. K&R

[raising2moredems]

11. republicans (note small r)

Crawled into bed in the raygun days in order to win. And as others have noted, the bloc of voters is dying off, likely faster than I can type. The days of speaking in code (welfare queen) and dog whistles are over. Caucasians are a dying bloc of voters, barely the majority these days. What are states like texasistan going to do when the 95% of their population growth gets to be of voting age? Gonna be hard to suppress those that "don't vote right".