Future Right: Forging a New Republican Majority

Critchlow (American Political History: A Very Short Introduction) uses data pulled from the last few presidential and mid-term elections, as well as anecdotal profiles of independent and right-leaning Americans from all walks of life, to point at a better future for the party of Lincoln and Reagan despite losses in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections. That future is contingent on the party navigating the various demographic roadblocks in its way, as epitomized by the Democratic lead with the growing, increasingly vital non-white vote. Critchlow notes that the mid-term elections during Obama’s presidency have skewed Republican, and Democratic charges that Republicans have led a “war on women” have fallen flat in red and swing states. Critchlow argues that a majority of voters are focused on leadership and the economy, rather than on the “culture war,” and that Republicans can win on these issues. Well-researched and detailed to the point of repetitiveness, Critchlow’s study—in which Donald Trump’s name goes conspicuously unmentioned—may be just what Republican loyalists need to realize that a different approach is needed. Agent: Alexander Hoyt, Alexander Hoyt Associates. (May)