Since 2008, nearly every state moved right in both presidential and state politicsBy Philip Bump February 28 at 1:37 PM
After President George W. Bush won reelection in 2004, there was a rumbling that the Republican Party had permanently broken the back of its opponents. Bush was underwater in his approval rating before the election, and his administration was hobbled by a slew of problems. But he won, convincingly — as did a majority of Republican House and Senate candidates. Bush started his second term with big majorities on both sides of the Hill.
Two years later, it was over. The Democrats retook the House and split the Senate. Two years after that, the Senate was in Democratic hands and Barack Obama was elected president. Over four years, the Republican lock had become a Democratic rout.
The picture was the same at the state level, as we noted in 2015. That blue bump right before 2010 was the turnaround.
But that graph shows what happened next: The bottom fell out. Not only did the Democrats give up their gains in state legislatures, they hit a new low.
The problem wasn’t just an electoral one. Gallup polling showed Americans in nearly every state identifying more heavily as Republican.
The only state between 2008 and 2014 in which people were less likely to identify as Republican? Alaska.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/02/28/since-2008-nearly-every-state-moved-right-in-both-presidential-and-state-politics/?utm_term=.bb1d0145cbeaMOD Note: Please excerpt the articles.
