‘There’s Nothing Left’: Why Thousands of Republicans Are Leaving the Party
Voting registration data indicates a stronger-than-usual flight from the G.O.P. since the Capitol riot, with an intensely fluid period in American politics now underway.Nick CorasanitiAnnie KarniIsabella Grullón Paz
By Nick Corasaniti, Annie Karni and Isabella Grullón Paz
Feb. 10, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ET
In the days after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the phone lines and websites of local election officials across the country were jumping: Tens of thousands of Republicans were calling or logging on to switch their party affiliations. In California, more than 33,000 registered Republicans left the party during the three weeks after the Washington riot. In Pennsylvania, more than 12,000 voters left the G.O.P. in the past month, and more than 10,000 Republicans changed their registration in Arizona. An analysis of January voting records by The New York Times found that nearly 140,000 Republicans had quit the party in 25 states that had readily available data (19 states do not have registration by party). Voting experts said the data indicated a stronger-than-usual flight from a political party after a presidential election, as well as the potential start of a damaging period for G.O.P. registrations as voters recoil from the Capitol violence and its fallout. Among those who recently left the party are Juan Nunez, 56, an Army veteran in Mechanicsburg, Pa. He said he had long felt that the difference between the United States and many other countries was that campaign-season fighting ended on Election Day, when all sides would peacefully accept the result. The Jan. 6 riot changed that, he said. “What happened in D.C. that day, it broke my heart,” said Mr. Nunez, a lifelong Republican who is preparing to register as an independent. “It shook me to the core.”
I'd vote for a 3rd party no matter what their politics. We need a 3rd party more than another democrat or republican, the divisive polarity of the parties is just a thin veil over a game of keep away by the rich, and we're in the middle. I'd hoped the 2016 race was the time but we're truly fucking stupid sheep who just keep chasing that ball from one end of the lot to the other.
David Murphy
same here
Cameron Hernandez
I have read the entire article and nowhere does it say that a new party (let alone a progressive party) is forming.
Elijah Lopez
They're scared of Biden's purge.
Eli Ortiz
its too late to be scared - its already well known who they are and where they live. its all just a matter of time.
Julian Jones
Even if our current voting system wasn't biased towards a two party system, the current 3rd parties (i.e. Libertarians and Greens) are far too insane or just plain naive to hold office. Reforming voting to be ranked as Maine did would enable independents to have a chance.
Ayden Miller
>Republicans Win: They got the government for two years before losing the house, and salty democrats
>Democrats Win: They got the government, excuses to punish Trump, and their opponents fracturing before their very eyes
Julian Fisher
Trump left the GOP in a better position today than Obama did in 2016.
Your understanding of politics is quite shallow.
Nathaniel Hill
>Trump left the GOP in a better position today
You mean tearing itself apart and infighting and trying to oust non-Trump loyalists while going party over country? You're telling me I'm shallow?
Colton Roberts
>“What happened in D.C. that day, it broke my heart,” said Mr. Nunez, a lifelong Republican who is preparing to register as an independent. “It shook me to the core.” For fucks sake, how dramatic can you get. It was nothing, a bunch of angry Trumptards ran into the Capitol building. So wha? How is that anything crazier than the previous months of burning, looting, protesting and rioting?
Jason Taylor
I mean by the number of seats they hold at all tiers of government and by their performance in 2020. Especially when compared to what happened to the DNC at all tiers from 2010-15. So yes, your understanding of politics is exceptionally shallow.
But I get it, 2016 was the first election you paid attention to so for you that is year zero.
Eli Cooper
Its a bullshit story. People changing their registration in 2022 would mean something - but people changing their Registration right now? In California, AZ and PA? Its people who dont want to deal with the heat of being associated with the GOP right now.
t. Someone who is registered as a democrat because they run a business in Atlanta.
Caleb Perez
By all means, never vote republican again. I want to see a repeat of 1912 in my lifetime.
Gabriel Gonzalez
Doesn't matter anyway, As soon as we make DC and Puerto Rico into states, the GOP will be finished as a party. Shit we may ban them at a hate group. Statehood for PR and DC is coming up as soon as we're done grinding tRump into a fine powder.
Grayson Wright
Looks like I was right, Trump was the death knell of the Republican party.
John Adams
>I mean by the number of seats they hold at all tiers of government and by their performance in 2020. This mean fuck all until they win the only seat that matters which is the majority seat
Chase Kelly
Given republicans are working overtime to steal in the midterms, don't count your chickens before they hatch.
Wyatt Lewis
All you have is hope
Logan Harris
Gabbard / Yang 2024 (don't give a fuck which one is POTUS - both better than any current Dem or Republican)
Ayden Gonzalez
>New York Times You mean the ones that lied about people being killed at the capitol riot and quietly retracting the story without an editor’s note or anything? Yeah sure I believe them.
David Cook
BRING BACK THE WHIGS
Owen Adams
Have they ever reported more than two people being killed? Has that changed? Has even who killed who changed?
Not that the NYT isn't crap, but this seems a very odd thing to be harping on them for.
James Morales
Bring back Jefferson's Democratic-Republican party, and maybe we can finally get these two horney bastards a room.
Isaiah Cook
Couldn't agree more. Apart from an actual IRL Purge of DC top to bottom, getting behind a third party is the best chance we have of anything actually getting done in this country.
Julian Cook
And who gives a fuck what you believe or don't. You are an anonymous poster. Get your head out of your ass and stop sniffing your own shit.
Nathan Ross
>t. Someone who is registered as a democrat because they run a business in Atlanta. Why? Is there a public list of who voted for who?
Brody Barnes
>but this seems a very odd thing to be harping on them for.
>invent bogus story about capitol officer getting killed by Trump supporter with a fire extinguisher >claim it came from an "anonymous source close the police" >zero evidence to back this claim up otherwise >still push it as fact >use it for weeks to justify imprisoning Trump supporters for terrorism murder >use it for weeks to justify impeaching Trump for inciting terrorism and murder >impeachment trial fails, again >massively embarrassing failure for Dems, again >now that the story has no more use, quietly issue a retraction almost no one sees, stating it was 'incorrect' >make no apologies or strong attempts to actually correct the record
The NYT and other MSM outlets have been doing this for a great number of years- peddling obviously bogus stories and propaganda pieces who's only source are unverifiable anonymous people close to the matter. When it gets exposed as BS, they issue a quiet retraction and correction that most people don't see, ensuring most people still believe the lie they peddled. Having angry internet posts directed at them because of it, is the least they deserve for intentionally deceiving the public for political purposes.
This is not an isolated incident. This is a pattern of behavior that people have been calling out for the same number years, especially here on Dab Forums, and no one makes more excuses for it than the resident R*ddit propagandists who have no problem spreading the but go completely silent and refuse to correct the record when the lie is exposed.
This is what people mean when they talk about fake news. If this is journalism, then journalism is fucking dead.
Caleb Young
They are all controlled opposition. Both the parties will work tirelessly to prevent a third common Sense party from becoming a real Challenger. Democrats control nearly all of the flow of information in the country and any information that they don't control is controlled by the Republicans.
If an actual challenging party arises all of their propaganda outlets will find either a retard who is a member of the party or they will put a retard in the party and then use their propaganda outlets and give him a soapbox for him to sound retarded on. They will do this under the guise of being unbiased. But it's the same thing every propaganda outlet does now.
Oliver Cruz
yes. in every conservatives' mind, even if it exists nowhere else.
Logan Nelson
>yes. in every conservatives' mind, even if it exists nowhere else. Voter record are FOIL-able, retard.
Landon Jackson
>non-Americans dont understand how elections work in America
Juan Davis
Nice movie plot, but the reality is that current 3rd parties choose awful candidates or just have retarded tenets. Look at any of the last 5 libertarian and green candidates, they're all horrible choices, worse than Dems or repubs.
We have only two main parties because of our first past the post voting system. It's the inevitable result because voters won't waste their one vote on someone they feel has no chance of winning, or even worse, they'll vote against someone by picking their most viable rival. It's a terrible way to gauge public opinion.
If you want to see more independents or 3rd parties, work at a local level to push for alternative voting systems like ranked voting. The more states adopt that system, the more viable non-dem, non-repub candidates become.
Ayden Cooper
voting inspector here. your vote is anonymous and connecting names to specific votes is against the law. moron.
Kayden Taylor
>non-American emphasizes that he does not understand how American elections work
Lucas Watson
Go ahead. where's this list with my name on it and votes? where faggot?
Jonathan Clark
Go read the original post, foreigner. >life long Republican >Registered Democrat >because I live in Atlanta >Atlanta is in Georgia
Bentley Butler
>The NYT and other MSM outlets have been doing this for a great number of years- peddling obviously bogus stories and propaganda pieces who's only source are unverifiable anonymous people close to the matter. But that's not what happened.
A cop was indeed killed by a protestor.
The only fact that changed, was a fire extinguisher was involved. That does not in any way make this one of those "bogus stories".
Lincoln Hill
No third party has ever come up with an option as bad and inexperienced as Trump. (Okay, Rosanne Barr, maybe.)
You can have the most rational, experienced, and talented candidate in the world, and you won't get anywhere. People don't vote for rationality, they vote for charisma, how the candidate makes them feel, not what they can do for the nation, but how much they see their love in them.
It's a Hollywood popularity contest, not a philosophical debate club, and the contest is as fixed as any Oscars.
"The Thinker" might be able to be Prime Minister in Japan, US president in anime, but in reality, never in anti-intellectual and anti-technocratic America: youtube.com/watch?v=OpHpCskOW8M
The two parties exist to serve the role that the electoral college no longer does - to filter for experience and qualification over popular rage.
The GOP has broken its system out of desperation, favoring principles without understanding the reasons behind them. The Democrats will do the same as soon as they get as desperate. So, unless the two parties suddenly respect one another's critical role in politics, it's only a matter of time, before one of these parties selects a candidate that will bring the dream of burning the nation to the ground to fruition, as extermination of opposing philosophy is their shared goal, while each contains the entire range of opposing philosophies within themselves.
The only way to break that deadly cycle, and maintain democracy, is an experience ladder. No one should be president who does not owe their whole career, the majority of their adult lives, to democracy. State senators graduate to governors, governors graduate to POTUS . Few, if any, private organizations allow just anyone to take power at the highest levels - you need a grand resume for those positions. Surely, the leader of the free world, should need to meet more qualifications than a McDonalds employee, or a Tiktok thot getting upvotes from the frustrated.
