
<p>Why DO Republicans win elections? ; That seems to be a reasonable question when you look at the numbers. ; The American public is demographically 31 percent Democrat and 25 percent Republican. ; That is a significant difference – about 20 million potential voters. ; But the biggest voting group is neither. ; Forty-one percent of us are non-affiliated – independents. ; That leaves a few folks belonging to marginal third parties – Libertarian, Socialist, Green and even Communist.</p>



<p>There is a general assumption that the independents tend to lean Democrat when it comes to voting. ; That narrative is perpetrated by the elitist media <em>ad nauseum</em>. ; It is wishful thinking. ; You know … trying to make it true by saying so. ;</p>



<p>If it were true, then Republicans would most certainly get trounced for elective offices up and down the ballot. ; It would harken back to the 1930s when Democrats dominated virtually every major branch of government. ; Republicans cannot win with out a sizeable chunk of the non-affiliated voters.</p>



<p>But every pollster caring enough to ask the right questions shows that the independent polarity is composed of a lot of “leaners” – folks who do not wish to join either party but have beliefs more in line with one or the other. ; And at the core of the independents are those who switch back and forth between the parties.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-but-why-do-the-switch">But why do the switch? ; </h4>



<p>That should be obvious. ; Since the independents are – by nature – not partisan loyalists, they select candidates who best represent their philosophic views –conservative or liberal.  ;They vote their beliefs. ; And that is where it gets interesting.</p>



<p>It seems that most independents tend to favor conservative values. ; So, they are inclined to vote with the Republicans more than not. ; This is where the GOP closes the gap between the 102.3 million Democrats and the 82.5 million Republicans.</p>



<p>State elections can be concentrations of one-party voters. ; That is why we talk about red states and blue states. ; It is in the presidential elections where we see the GOP pick up independent voters. ; If independents leaned left – as we are led to believe – there is no way a Republican candidate for president could even come close – not even close enough to win the Electoral College vote.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-because-of-the-controversy-over-the-2020-presidential-election-i-shall-eliminate-it-from-this-analysis">Because of the controversy over the 2020 presidential election, I shall eliminate it from this analysis.</h4>



<p>You may have heard from media pundits and reporters that Republicans have not won a majority of the voters since President Reagan. ; That is provably not true. ; In fact, every winning Republican presidential candidate since 1960 has won with a majority of the vote. ; The only exception on either side was President Clinton who won both of his elections with less than 50 percent of the vote.</p>



<p>We also must remember that going into the 2016 presidential election, the party with the lowest demographic membership – excluding the marginal parties – had control of two-thirds of the governorship and state legislatures, both house of Congress and thousands of state and local offices. ;</p>



<p>There was even pundit speculation at the time that should the Democrats lose the White House in 2016, they would be relegated to a regional bi-coastal party anchored in New York and California. ; And the GOP took the White House with one of the most controversial and unlikely candidates since Abraham Lincoln. ; Not bad for a party with allegedly no grassroots support.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-one-of-the-explanations-why-so-many-conservative-oriented-individuals-do-not-become-republicans-is-the-constant-demonization-republicans-get-from-the-biased-media">One of the explanations why so many conservative-oriented individuals do not become Republicans is the constant demonization Republicans get from the biased media. ; </h4>



<p>Republicans – and especially conservative Republicans – are deemed to be heartless, racists, xenophobes, homophobes, misogynists, etc. in the grind of daily news narratives. ; It is the values … the issues … that drive their vote. ; So, they avoid the party label, but vote for the GOP candidates. ; Some have labeled them the “silent majority” – or at least the majority makers.</p>



<p>That may also be true of those signed up as Democrats. ; We know from past elections that there is a significant number of Democrats who hold conservative values – and cross party lines to vote those values. ; They were once called the “Reagan Democrats,” and they helped propel the former Hollywood actor into the Oval Office. ; They have been part of the Republican coalition since then – despite the best efforts of union leaders to keep their members in the donkey party.</p>



<p>In 2020, Republican candidates did far better than the media pundits predicted – and even the most Democrat media pundits are saying that the GOP favored to take back the House.</p>



<p>Trump is an important player in the future of the GOP. ; He has a loyal following. ; He needs to make sure they stay in the ranks of the GOP – along with those conservatives who make the issues the primary motivation. ; That excludes the apostates who jumped ship because of Trump only to aid and abet the radical liberal democrats. ; As far as I am concerned their Republican/conservative membership is cancelled. ; When a soldier deserts to the other side, we do not call him a patriot.</p>



<p>So, what is the lesson to be learned? ; It is the issues, Stupid. ; If Republican candidates concentrate on mainstay conservative issues and the future – not personalities and the past – 2022 will be a great year for the Grand Old Party.</p>



<p>So, there ‘tis,</p>