The Economist - USA (2022-02-12)

22 United States TheEconomistFebruary12th 2022

Voters’allegiance

Signs of less

Trumpy times

C

racks arestartingtoshowatthetopof

the  Republican  Party.  The  Republican

National  Committee  last  week  censured

Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, two of Do­

nald Trump’s chief critics in the House, for

taking part in the congressional investiga­

tion of last year’s attack on the Capitol and

aiding  the  “persecution  of  ordinary  citi­

zens  engaged  in  legitimate  political  dis­

course”. On February 8th Mitch McConnell,

the  party’s  Senate  leader,  hit  back,  calling

the events of January 6th 2021 a “violent in­

surrection for the purpose of trying to pre­

vent the peaceful transfer of power after a

legitimately certified election from one ad­

ministration to the next”. 

A  few  days  earlier  Mike  Pence  took  a

similarly firm stance against his ex­boss’s

claims  of  election­rigging.  “I  heard  this

week  that  President  Trump  said  I  had  a

right  to  overturn  the  election,”  Mr  Pence

said.  “President  Trump  is  wrong...And

frankly, there is no idea more un­American

than the notion that any one person could

choose the American president.” 

These spats highlight a growing rift be­

tween  some  senior  party  figures  over  Mr

Trump.  And  there  are  other  signs  that  Mr

Trump’s grip on Republicans is slipping.

According  to  an  analysis  by  the  New

York Times of  candidates’  reports  to  the

Federal Election Commission (fec), in the

last quarter of 2021 all seven House Repub­

licans  who  voted  to  impeach  Donald

Trump  and  are  seeking  re­election  out­

raised  their  primary  opponents.  One  of

them,  Fred  Upton  from  Michigan,  raised

$726,000 in the last quarter; Steve Carra, a

challenger whom Mr Trump has endorsed,

raised only $134,000. 

To follow the money here is to peer into

the  psychology  of  Republican  voters.  Do

they  still  support  their  former  president?

Some public­opinion polling points in the

same  direction  as  the  fecdata,  and  sug­

gests  that  Mr  Trump  is  in  his  worst  posi­

tion since at least early 2019.

For the past two years pollsters working

for nbcNews have been asking Republican

voters if they “consider [themselves] to be

more  of  a  supporter  of  Donald  Trump  or

more of a supporter of the Republican Par­

ty”. At the end of October 2020, 54% of re­

spondents  who  identified  themselves  as

Republican said they were more a suppor­

ter  of  Mr  Trump,  whereas  38%  said  they

were  more  loyal  to  the  party.  In  their  first

poll  this  year,  nbcfinds  a  near­complete

reversalofthosepatterns:56%proclaim

moresupportforthepartyand36%say

theyaremoreforMrTrump(seechart).

FiguresreleasedlastweekbyEchelon

Insights, a Republican­aligned polling

firmandconsultancy,alsohadtroubling

newsforMrTrump.EchelonaskedRepub­

licanvotersnationwideif theywouldpref­

ertheformerpresidentorRonDeSantis,

theFloridagovernor,astheirnomineefor

presidentin2024.AmongallRepublicans,

theyfound57%preferredMrTrumpand

32% supportedMrDeSantis. AmongRe­

publicanswhohadheardofbothcandi­

dates, Mr Trump’s lead shrank from 25

pointsto16.

None ofthis means Republicans are

done withtheir formerpresident. A16­

pointleadversusMrDeSantisinthe 2024

nominationwouldtranslateintoaland­

slide primary victory. Most Republican

votersstillrateMrTrumpaspopular,and

heisbyfarthebiggestfund­raiseronthe

right,abletodirectmoneytoloyalcandi­

datesandholdhugeralliesforthem.But

attitudesdoappeartobechanging,if slow­

ly.TheseedsarebeingsownfortheRepub­

licanPartytomoveonfromMrTrump.n

WASHINGTON, DC

Donald Trump’s grip on Republican

voters is starting to slip

Up, up—and away

“Are you more of a supporter of Donald Trump or

the Republican Party?”

United States, % responding

Source:NBCNewspolls

60

50

40

30

2020 21 22

Republican Party

Donald Trump

What’sfordinner?

Street food

A

new delicacy is available in  Wyo­

ming. It is fresh and cheap—but proba­

bly a little gamey. Last month it became le­

gal for Wyomingites to collect roadkill that

they  accidentally  hit  themselves,  or  that

they  happened  upon.  Not  all  animals  are

fair game. Grizzly bears, some grey wolves

and endangered species are off­limits. 

Wyoming  is  not  the  only  state  that  al­

lows  residents  to  collect  roadkill.  In  fact,

the  Cowboy  State  is  late  to  the  party.

Around 30 other states have some kind of

roadkill­salvage  programme,  but  the  idea

seems to have taken hold in the West only

recently.  Montana,  Oregon,  Idaho  and

Washington  state  have  all  jumped  on  the

bandwagon  since  2012.  Officials  are  not

sure  how  many  Wyomingites  will  take

part. But Montana’s Fish and Wildlife Com­

mission issues roughly 1,000 roadkill­sal­

vage permits each year. 

Although  some  may  cringe  at  the  idea

of  hauling  a  deer  carcass  off  the  road  and

onto  the  dinner  table  (venison,  anyone?),

the law has several benefits. First, roadkill

is  a  source  of  fresh  meat  for  poor  rural

communities  who  may  not  otherwise  be

able  to  afford  it.  State  officials  in  Alaska

distribute roadkill to charities. peta, a rad­

ical  animal­rights  group,  argues  that  eat­

ing  roadkill  is  healthier  and  more  ethical

than buying meat raised for slaughter. Sec­

ond, allowing residents to harvest roadkill

themselves may cut down on the time the

creatures  spend  on  the  road.  In  large,

sparsely populated states like Wyoming or

Montana,  it  may  take  days  for  transport

workers to collect a dead animal. 

Lastly,  roadkill­salvage  programmes

provide  states  with  important  data,  says

Fraser Shilling, director of the Road Ecolo­

gy  Centre  at  the  University  of  California,

Davis.  Wyomingites  must  report  the  loca­

tion of their find, showing officials where

crashes  with  wildlife  happen.  Wyoming

Game and Fish reckons there are 6,000 ve­

hicle  collisions  with  big  game  each  year,

accounting  for  about  15%  of  all  crashes.

Roadkill data may help the state figure out

where to build highway overpasses or put

up “wildlife crossing” warning signs.

Not everyone is licking their lips. Some

opponents fret that people will end up eat­

ing  rancid  meat.  “It’s  really  the  burden  of

the person who chooses to collect roadkill

if they eat it or not,” says Sara DiRienzo, of

Wyoming  Game  and  Fish.  Others  worry

that the laws will embolden hunters to use

the roadkill programme as cover for killing

animals they should not. 

After almost a decade of failing to pass

the bill, Dan Zwonitzer, its frequent spon­

sor,  credits  his  success  to  recent  support

from his right­wing colleagues in the legis­

lature. State lawmakers from staunchly Re­

publican rural Wyoming managed to turn

the roadkill­harvest programme into a lib­

ertarian  cause célèbre.  “There  were  some

complaints  from  people  who  had  hit  ani­

mals or had seen other people hit animals,”

says  Mr  Zwonitzer,  “and  they  were  like,

‘Well, heck, it’s dead...I don’t want the gov­

ernment telling me I can’t take something I

accidentally  hit  if  the  meat  is  good’.”  He

adds that he is not about to collect roadkill

himself. But for those so inclined,there are

cookbooks  offering  ways  to serve  up

moose or mule deer. Bon appétit.n

D ENVER

Roadkill is now on the menu

in Wyoming