January 1, More Than 1 Million Voters Have Switched to This Party in Last Year

More than 1 million U.S. voters have switched to the Republican Party in the last year, according to a new report.

The Associated Press found “a political shift” is happening across the country as more than 1 million voters across 43 states have switched to the GOP.

Some voters say they defected to the Republican party to reject the Democrats.

“It’s more so a rejection of the left than embracing the right,” said Ben Smith, who joined the Republican Party earlier this year.

Over the past year, 1.7 million voters changed party affiliations. More than 1 million joined the GOP, while only 630,000 became Democrats.

​“The party itself i​s no longer Democrat, it’s progressive socialism,” said Jessica Kroells, a 39-year-old homemaker previously a reliable Democratic voter.

Emily Seidel, president of the Koch brother-founded conservative political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, said the organization is seeing suburban voters move away from Democrats who espouse “extreme policy positions.”

“But that doesn’t mean that they’re ready to vote against those lawmakers either. Frankly, they’re skeptical of both options that they have,” Seidel ​said.

“The lesson here: Candidates have to make their case, they have to give voters something to be for, not just something to be against.”