Is There Still A “Silent Majority” In America?

In November 1969, President Richard Nixon gave a well-known televised address to the nation about the Vietnam war. In his speech, Nixon used the now-ubiquitous phrase “silent majority” to drum up public support for his administration’s Vietnam policy.

In the wake of Vietnam War, vehement opposition to the war by leftist activists rattled the nation. Average Americans watched in horror as widespread anti-war protests rocked the nation in late 1969—including some violent protests on college campuses.

Here is an excerpt from President Nixon’s speech where he refers to America’s “Silent Majority”:

“So tonight, to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans, I ask for your support. I pledged in my campaign for the Presidency to end the war in a way that we could win the peace. I have initiated a plan of action which will enable me to keep that pledge. The more support I can have from the American people, the sooner that pledge can be redeemed …”

Now, think of the “Silent Majority” as representing the tens of millions of hard-working, law-abiding traditional people in Middle America. These folks do not loudly voice their opinions and generally want to live quiet, normal lives. However, the views of a vocal minority of people often get the media attention that Middle America does not receive.

The “Silent majority” was well alive in the 1970s and 1980s. In fact, over 75% of American’s favored Nixon’s Vietnam War policy.

Can you now imagine 75% of Americans agreeing on anything these days?

This “Silent Majority” of traditional Americans elected Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan to landslide elections in 1972 and 1984—in which both Presidents won 49 of 50 states. In fact, both Presidents won over 58% of the popular vote in 1972 and 1984.

Moving to the current time, the “Silent Majority” slogan has seen a revival in recent years—especially with the 2016 election of President Donald Trump.

President Trump has frequently labelled his ardent followers of the MAGA Movement as the “Silent Majority”. Indeed, many right-of-center political pundits, Republican politicians, and conservative voters have frequently utilized this phrase over the past several years.

However, I have wondered whether the “Silent Majority” of the Nixon and Reagan years still exists.

To cut to the chase, I do not believe that a “Silent Majority” exists in America anymore. This view is unorthodox in conservative circles, but the reality and data back it up.

To start, let’s look at Presidential election results since 1996. In the past seven Presidential elections, Republican presidential candidates won a majority of the popular vote only one time—specifically in 2004 by President George W Bush.

On a broader note, America in 2022 is vastly different compared to the days of Nixon and Reagan. Our nation has seen a massive shift in its voting electorate due to fifty years of mass immigration.

For instance, once solidly Republican strongholds have started voting Democrat due to the effects of immigration. For example, states such as California and Virginia have not voted for a Republican presidential candidate in decades due to increased immigration from the Global South. Even the state of Arizona –which voted Republican in every Presidential election from 1952 to 2016 except for one (1996)—flipped to the Democrat party in 2020.

In essence, the vast transformation in America’s demographics, voting patterns, and social values demonstrates the evaporation of the “Silent Majority.”

Nevertheless, this article does not mean that traditional Americans should despair about the future. Despite how tough times are at the moment, we still should have hope for the long-term future of this nation. Thankfully, there are still many America First patriots out there working to resuscitate our declining nation.

That being said, we can no longer depend on a “Silent Majority” of Americans to save our nation as in years past. We cannot realistically expect a recreation of Reagan’s 1984 coalition in the 2020s and 2030s.

Instead, view this article as a wake-up call. We still have time to turn things around in America, but the clock is ticking.

We don’t need an overwhelming majority of Americans to revive our nation. We just need a sizable group of highly-dedicated, highly-intelligent patriots willing to sacrifice their time, treasure, and talent to saving their nation. This band of America First patriots needs to staff the halls of State and Local government, run our cultural/educational institutions, and eventually win elected office.

The path to victory is clear, but only time will tell if we are successful.