Plurality of Republicans Say the GOP Should ‘Take a Different Kind of Approach’ in 2024

A plurality of Republicans believe the Republican Party should “take a different kind of approach” in 2024, a recent YouGov survey found.

The survey, which followed the midterm elections, asked respondents, “In its 2024 campaign, would you like to see [the Democratic Party / the Republican party] take the same kind of approach you saw it take in 2022, or take a different kind of approach next time?”

A plurality of Republicans, 42 percent, expressed the belief that the GOP must take a different kind of approach in the next election cycle — a sentiment that 41 percent of independents agree with. 

However, it is not just Republicans who are unsatisfied with their party’s strategy, tactics, and performance this election cycle, as a plurality of Democrats, 43 percent, agree that the Democrat Party needs to take a “different kind of approach” as well. Thirty-eight percent of independent voters agree with that.

The YouGov survey was taken November 9-11, 2022, among 1,500 American adults, and comes as the United States faces the likely prospect of a divided Congress for the next two years. 

Democrats secured at least a 50-seat majority in the Senate (with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie breaker) following Democrat Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s (D-NV) victory in Nevada. This means that even if Herschel Walker (R) emerges victorious in the Georgia runoff against Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), it will not alter the balance of power in the Senate. 

Republicans, meanwhile, secured a majority in the United States House of Representatives, as forecasts showed the GOP winning enough outstanding races to reach or exceed 218 seats in the lower chamber — the magic number needed to secure a majority.

On Tuesday, Trump-backed Kevin Kiley’s (R-CA) win secured a victory of Republicans in the House, reaching a majority. 

While Republicans saw positive trends, such as roughly 6 million more votes in U.S. House races nationwide and GOP gains in states such as Florida, it was not necessarily the red wave many hoped for. 

Some, such as Tucker Carlson, have used this opportunity to question GOP party leadership. 

During his FNC program, Tucker Carlson Tonight, he elaborated:

The Republican Party in the end may take control of the House and the Senate, but only by a tiny margin at best. That’s great. But it was not the plan. The plan was really simple. It seemed easy a week ago — an unpopular President, a faltering economy, an open border, the looming risk of nuclear war. How about that? Put all those together, how could there not be a massive Republican win nationally? It wins everywhere.

He noted, “Joe Biden was not punished.”

He added that Republican leadership should not reward mediocrity.

“The people whose job it was to win but did not win should go do something else now. We’re speaking specifically of the Republican leadership of the House and the Senate and of the RNC,” Carslon reasoned. “It is nothing personal. Some of them are no doubt nice people, but they took hundreds of millions of dollars to paint the map red and they didn’t,” he said. “It doesn’t mean they’re evil, it doesn’t mean they should be jailed. It does mean they shouldn’t be promoted. No one should ever be rewarded for failure.”

“If there is a truly conservative principle in life, it is the principle of the meritocracy. You reward excellence, you do not reward mediocrity, and when you do, things fall apart,” he added.