Sixty-three percent of Americans say a third U.S. political party is needed, up from 56% a year ago and by one percentage point the highest in Gallup's 20-year trend.
Story Highlights
Third time support has exceeded 60%, along with 2017 and 2021
Republicans primarily behind the increase, with 58% now in favor
Political independents remain group most likely to favor third party
You've touched on a major issue which is that many Republicans do NOT think that they are openly supporting a dictator, they don't realize the danger.
I'm guessing they're caught off guard by the fact that these acts (which resemble an attempt to establish a dictatorship) ARE being done fully in the open.
How else can you succinctly describe the brazen, persistent, and unprecedented attempts to overthrow the results of a democratic election? What about their published plan to fire employees of the federal government (who are not political appointees) and replace them with loyal sycophants?
It seems like a move towards some kind of dictatorship to me. If you're working to hold on to power despite the votes of millions of people we have a word for that: dictator.
I can only hope that this turns out to be some kind of clever plot by the Republican party and they don't actually still support Trump. Maybe the people who still say they support Trump despite his naked attempts to become a dictator are just trying to "own the libs" some more and don't actually want him as dictator? Maybe the party leadership knows that Trump is done and they just need him to throw his support behind someone else before he gets thrown in jail and they too recognize the danger?
At a certain point, it becomes hard to separate the fascists from the moderates, and it ceases to become a misrepresentation to call Republicans fascists.
It's the same as with the police… a few bad apples spoil the bunch. If these organizations don't start strongly denouncing the bad apples, then it's perfectly valid to regard the entire group as spoiled.
Let's see more moderate Republicans denounce Trump, and louder. Let's see some moderate Republicans willing to compromise with Democrats to get legislation passed instead of being held hostage by the extremists in their own party. Let's see more people like Romney and Liz Cheney calling it like it is.
When that starts happening on a larger scale, then maybe it will be a misrepresentation to refer to Republicans as fascists or supporting a dictator.
I think it's a good idea to separate the politicians and party leaders from the rank-and-file members.
The organization knows what it is they are doing. But the members… I think of lot of them are just completely deceived in various ways about various things.
So when someone says "republicans want a dictatorship" it can be true in one sense, and nonsense in another.
You've touched on a major issue which is that many Republicans do NOT think that they are openly supporting a dictator, they don't realize the danger.
I'm guessing they're caught off guard by the fact that these acts (which resemble an attempt to establish a dictatorship) ARE being done fully in the open.
How else can you succinctly describe the brazen, persistent, and unprecedented attempts to overthrow the results of a democratic election? What about their published plan to fire employees of the federal government (who are not political appointees) and replace them with loyal sycophants?
It seems like a move towards some kind of dictatorship to me. If you're working to hold on to power despite the votes of millions of people we have a word for that: dictator.
I can only hope that this turns out to be some kind of clever plot by the Republican party and they don't actually still support Trump. Maybe the people who still say they support Trump despite his naked attempts to become a dictator are just trying to "own the libs" some more and don't actually want him as dictator? Maybe the party leadership knows that Trump is done and they just need him to throw his support behind someone else before he gets thrown in jail and they too recognize the danger?
I can agree that Trump and those like him are moving towards that kind of power structure.
And yes that means that those who support trump and deny that want a dictatorship and at some level contradicting themselves.
But that is a different thing tham actually wanting a dictatorship.
Misrepresenting people will get us no where. It will dehumanize those we disagree with and will create enemies from those who could be allies.
At a certain point, it becomes hard to separate the fascists from the moderates, and it ceases to become a misrepresentation to call Republicans fascists.
It's the same as with the police… a few bad apples spoil the bunch. If these organizations don't start strongly denouncing the bad apples, then it's perfectly valid to regard the entire group as spoiled.
Let's see more moderate Republicans denounce Trump, and louder. Let's see some moderate Republicans willing to compromise with Democrats to get legislation passed instead of being held hostage by the extremists in their own party. Let's see more people like Romney and Liz Cheney calling it like it is.
When that starts happening on a larger scale, then maybe it will be a misrepresentation to refer to Republicans as fascists or supporting a dictator.
I think it's a good idea to separate the politicians and party leaders from the rank-and-file members.
The organization knows what it is they are doing. But the members… I think of lot of them are just completely deceived in various ways about various things.
So when someone says "republicans want a dictatorship" it can be true in one sense, and nonsense in another.