UPDATE: This report is probably wrong. More here.
The Associated Press reports that about 1.7 million voters switched to a different political party in 2021:
Over the last year, roughly two-thirds of the 1.7 million voters who changed their party affiliation shifted to the Republican Party. In all, more than 1 million people became Republicans compared to about 630,000 who became Democrats.
Why so many new Republicans?
Ben Smith, who lives in suburban Larimer County, Colorado, north of Denver, said he reluctantly registered as a Republican earlier in the year after becoming increasingly concerned about the Democrats’ support in some localities for mandatory COVID-19 vaccines, the party’s inability to quell violent crime and its frequent focus on racial justice....“It’s more so a rejection of the left than embracing the right,” said Smith.
....39-year-old homemaker Jessica Kroells says she can no longer vote for Democrats, despite being a reliable Democratic voter up until 2016....“The party itself is no longer Democrat, it’s progressive socialism,” she said, specifically condemning Biden’s plan to eliminate billions of dollars in student debt.
I don't know if this is typical, but it jibes with my personal experience. Among people who are a little fuzzy about their party ID, many of them find the Democratic Party scarier than the Republican Party. Given the state of the modern GOP, that's quite an indictment.
It says a lot about people who think universal health care is scarier than perpetuating racism and misogyny.
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