The 82-year-old retired hardware store owner, Joe T, was receiving chemotherapy when he glimpsed a segment from a Donald Trump campaign rally being shown on the muted TV in the treatment center. “I’m so sick of seeing this guy,” the retiree said to his daughter, who was shocked to hear it.
Joe T was a reliable Fox News consumer and a reliable Republican voter — indeed, he was a reliable voter period, having voted in every presidential election since 1960. “You’re sick of seeing Donald Trump?” his daughter asked, unsure she had understood his complaint correctly. “Yeah,” he said, “that guy. Blah blah blah he never shuts up.”
In the car ride home after treatment Joe T volunteered, unprompted: “I think I will vote for the woman.” His daughter gasped. It was as if her father, a white man who held very mid-20th century views on gender equality, had just announced he was going to run a marathon.
She wondered if Joe T was an anomaly or was his sentiment — “sick of this guy” — more common than she had been led to believe. It was true that in his neighborhood there were fewer Trump lawn signs than in 2020 — that was obvious — but polls kept saying Trump and Kamala Harris (“the woman”) were even. Who were these polls asking?
Joe T’s admission aligns anecdotally with the notion — popular among hopeful Democrats — that the significant percentage of registered Republicans who backed Nikki Haley in the primaries, even after Haley had dropped out, represent a protest vote by people who are “quiet quitting” on Trump.
Haley received more than 77,000 votes, 13.2% in Georgia’s Republican primary race, despite dropping out of the race six days prior. – All those R early votes are not for Trump. It will be a coalition to soundly defeat him this time.
— Dana in Georgia (@DanaStarr18) October 25, 2024
Quiet quitting, as the website for Paychex informs, “refers to employees who disengage from their roles for an extended period before eventually leaving their positions. This trend is also known as silent quitting, silent resignation, soft quitting, and quiet resignation.”
Political quiet quitting is similar: there is no public declaration of a change in loyalty or party; instead a voter switches candidates in silence or just fails to do the work of supporting their former candidate.
So is there quiet quitting on Trump? Only November 5 will tell.
But for all the loud Trump voters at rallies, there are signs that among “normie” Republicans, Trump — especially due to his conduct on January 6, 2021 — has worn out his welcome, just as he has for Joe T.
Certainly there are big name Republicans like Liz Cheney who have supported Harris, and others like Mitt Romney and Mike Pence who have said, at least, that they don’t support Trump.
But on the level below those with a megaphone, are more Republican voters “quiet quitting” Trump? Does he lose more retired police, army vets, and hardware store owners as he threatens and berates his opponents, calling Harris “dumb” and “unhinged” and saying she should “be in jail” rather than engaging her respectfully and trying to win a battle of ideas?
If it is true, I have no idea about the silent ones for obvious reasons, but if what you claim is true, it is not a groundswell in support of Kamala but in repulsion to Trump.
— Marine Veteran 1st Gulf War (@USMarineVet1969) October 25, 2024
Anti-Trump former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh, who ran for President in 2020, claims that the quiet quitting is happening across the country — and the polls are missing it. When Walsh puts his ear to the ground in swing states, he reports, the thrumming sound of the Trump quiet quitting by Republicans isn’t so quiet at all.
“At every stop in every battleground state I hear from Republicans who tell me they’re voting for her,” Walsh says of Harris, “but they’re keeping quiet about it.”
I’m going to keep beating this drum: For two months, I’ve been in the battleground states almost nonstop encouraging Republicans & Independents to vote for @KamalaHarris. And at every stop in every battleground state I hear from Republicans who tell me they’re voting for her, but…
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) October 25, 2024