WASHINGTON, DC – According to a Gallup poll released earlier in January, the year 2021 served as an interesting period for political party preferences within the United States – with the onset of the year showing more adults leaning toward a Democrat preference and the year closing out with more adults leaning toward the Republican party.

In the Gallup poll released January 17th titled “U.S. Political Party Preferences Shifted Greatly During 2021,” the data that shows how self-identifying Republicans and Democrats changed throughout the year is certainly interesting, and begs the question as to what changed to cause this sway.

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In the first quarter of 2021, data showed that self-identifying Democrats carried a nine-point lead to Republicans, with 49% of respondents saying they leaned more Democrat and only 40% identifying as leaning more Republican.

This initial disparity could likely be explained by the incident at the Capitol last January, as the fallout from that undoubtedly caused some to abstain from proudly embracing the Republican party.

But by the second quarter of 2021, the percentage of self-identifying Republicans started creeping up, with Democrats remaining at 49% and Republicans showing 43% – making the Democrat lead only by six points.

Come third quarter of 2021, the divide between the two political parties by way of self-identifiers closed dramatically, with 45% leaning more toward Democrat and 44% leaning more toward Republican. This could have likely been influenced by a few things, such as the abysmal Afghanistan exit coupled with waning overall support of Joe Biden.

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By the end of 2021, the number of self-identifying Democrats dropped again, and self-identifying Republicans gained another increase – with only 42% of respondents claiming to lean more toward Democrat and 47% having said they lean more Republican.

One of the key takeaways from this polling data is not just the uptick in people leaning more Republican, but those who are now distancing themselves from the label of Democrat – which suggests that either Republican messaging or policy proposals are reaching across the political aisle in terms of attractiveness.

This polling data seems to back up many of the predictions circulating regarding the 2022 midterms where pundits have speculated Republicans taking back control of the House and the Senate, where Democrats only hold a razor thin majority in both.

This piece was written by Gregory Hoyt on January 17, 2022. It originally appeared in RedVoiceMedia.com and is used by permission.

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