Solar power is the cheapest form of electricity to set up in most parts of the world. Tariffs are paid by U.S. importers, who pass along the costs to consumers. And noncitizen voting is extraordinarily rare.
These three statements are facts. You can verify them by looking at scientific research, listening to experts or just reading reliable news outlets.
Recent polls, however, show that substantial numbers of Republican voters simply don’t believe these statements. That’s bad for the country, because it’s harder for us to solve problems and decide how to move ahead when we can’t agree on the facts. It’s also bad for Republican politicians — and they have only themselves to blame.
Led by President Donald Trump, many members of the GOP in recent years have made their case by attacking the underlying facts, making baseless claims and undermining the credibility of independent experts who could contradict them. The result is a party that is increasingly out of touch with voters outside its ideological bubble and unable to come up with good arguments or practical solutions.
Just look at the numbers:
- In a January poll by Morning Consult, 51% of Republicans said tariffs are a “fee foreigners pay for selling products to the United States,” while 38% more accurately said they are “a tax on foreign products that Americans buy.”
- In a March poll by the Pew Research Center, 43% of Republicans said that solar power is more expensive to consumers than most other energy sources, while only 24% said that it’s cheaper.
- In an April poll by Ipsos, 82% of Republicans said that large numbers of noncitizens cast fraudulent ballots in U.S. elections, compared to just 38% of independents and 18% of Democrats.
The sheer number of Republicans who believe things that aren’t true distorts the political landscape. As problems arise, they effectively box Republican politicians out of making certain arguments or trying specific solutions. When Trump’s broad-based tariffs lead to increased prices, how can Republicans in Congress push back if their own supporters don’t see the link?
Republicans would have a hard time making the case for solar so long as their own voters incorrectly believe it is more expensive.
In Australia, cheap solar power is now so abundant that every household will soon get three hours of free energy every day. Promoting solar here would surely help Americans at a time of rising energy prices, but even if they wanted to, Republicans would have a hard time making the case for it so long as their own voters incorrectly believe solar power is more expensive.
Meantime, Trump’s persistent arguments about voter fraud have left Republican politicians chasing phantoms. But when state lawmakers look to curb mail-in voting or introduce onerous voter ID requirements, their own elections directors and strategists have to pull them aside and warn that these restrictions might backfire on their own party.
As just one example, Trump has repeatedly demanded that Congress pass a law that would require married women who have changed their last name to produce both birth and marriage certificates to register to vote, among other provisions. But a 2023 Pew survey found that 25% of liberal Democratic women kept their own name after getting married, compared with only 7% of conservative Republican women. So which party would that restriction hurt?
None of this is necessary. Trump could have stuck with his argument that any cost of the tariffs will be worth it in the long run. He could make a somewhat principled argument that government support for solar power distorts the marketplace and it should stand on its own. Or he could have stuck with the clever Republican line that it should be “easy to vote and hard to cheat.”
But that would be hard. It would require knowing some facts, having a consistent political philosophy and engaging with ideological opponents who would have counter-arguments of their own.
Instead, Trump chose the easy way, making wild claims and trying to shut down debate, and Republicans largely fell in line behind him. The result is a party whose debating skills have grown rusty, preaching the same tired sermons to an ever smaller choir of supporters as the day of reckoning grows closer.
Ryan Teague Beckwith is a newsletter editor for MS NOW.