Over the past few weeks, Democrats from Kamala Harris to Tim Walz to Joe Manchin have united around a new line of attack against Republicans: calling them weird.
A new Data for Progress survey finds that voters largely agree that recent statements and actions made by Republicans are indeed very weird. Likely voters, including Independents, also say that Republicans are extreme, creepy, and off-putting, while Democrats are seen as normal in comparison.
The survey first asked voters whether discussion of Harris, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and JD Vance on social media has been mostly positive or negative. A majority who have heard about Harris on social media report mostly positive discussion, while a majority have seen mostly negative posts about Trump and Vance.
Voters were then shown a list of actions taken by Republicans and asked whether they think the actions are weird or normal. For all of the actions, a majority say they are either “very weird” or “somewhat weird.”
Seventy-nine percent of voters, including 78% of Independents, think that “insulting women and couples who don’t have children” is weird. Vance, the Republican nominee for vice president, has frequently disparaged people who don’t have kids.
A significant majority of voters also say it is weird to call for library books to be banned, to give the federal government power to monitor pregnancies, to say that Harris “doesn’t like Jewish people,” to monitor your father or son’s internet usage to ensure they are not watching pornography, and to claim that Harris only recently became a Black person.
Furthermore, a majority of voters say it’s weird to claim that immigrants are taking Black jobs, to intentionally mispronounce Harris’ name, and to say that Trump has done more for the Black community than any president since Lincoln.
A majority of voters, including 54% of Independents, say that “extreme” better describes Republicans than Democrats. A plurality of voters also say that “creepy,” “weird,” “off-putting,” and “strange” better describe Republicans.
Democrats are seen as more “normal” than Republicans by a +6-point margin.
Furthermore, by a +26-point margin, voters agree that Republicans are weirder today than they were 10 years ago. This includes Democrats by a +81-point margin and Independents by a +38-point margin.
The results indicate that voters are aligned with Democrats when they describe Republicans as weird or extreme. In particular, recent statements and actions made by Republicans, from disparaging childless adults to questioning Harris’ race, are perceived as “very weird” by a strong majority of voters.
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Written by Abby Springs, the press secretary at Data for Progress. Cross-posted from Data for Progress.
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