The laws of hydraulics are broken. Donald Trump’s approval ratings have dropped to second-term lows yet the Democratic party’s have fallen even further. They ought to be soaring. Just a third of Americans approve of them. Much the same can be said of centrist and centre-left parties across the west. The odd one out is Canada. That is because Mark Carney’s Liberal party is the staunchest defender of Canada’s sovereignty — the opposition having been too cosy with Trump. But Canada is the exception that proves the rule. Western liberalism is still on the retreat.
Where liberal democratic parties are in power, normal hydraulics still work. A year after taking office, Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour is lucky to poll at 25 per cent. Nigel Farage’s seven-year-old populist Reform party is meanwhile attracting almost a third of voters. Less than three months after taking office, Germany’s two big parties are neck and neck with far right Alternative for Germany. This is in spite (or maybe because) of the fact that German intelligence recently branded AfD as rightwing extremist.
In France, Marine Le Pen’s far right Rassemblement National likewise polls streets ahead of the other parties in spite of Le Pen having been debarred from running in the next presidential election.