On a recent episode of The Five the hosts did what real journalists used to do: they looked at the facts and called out a media and political class that still refuses to face reality. A fresh wave of polling shows ordinary Americans increasingly say they trust Republicans more than Democrats to handle the issues that keep them up at night — crime, the border, and the economy — and The Five rightly pressed that point hard.
The numbers themselves are hard to spin. New surveys report lopsided GOP advantages on border security and crime, with voters substantially more likely to say Republicans have the better plan. Those findings help explain why conservatives who actually talk to voters feel the energy on the ground swinging back to commonsense solutions rather than elite virtue signaling.
This is not an isolated blip: long-form national polling from respected firms shows the GOP leading on core pocketbook and safety issues even while Democrats tout cultural talking points. Voters tell pollsters they trust Republicans more on immigration, crime and handling the economy — the very issues that determine whether a mother can feel safe walking to her car or a business can keep its doors open.
So why haven’t the Democrats and their media enablers learned anything? Because they are addicted to narratives that flatter their coastal donors and elite institutions instead of solving problems for working Americans. When the debate is about identity and ideology, they win applause in Manhattan; when it comes to real-world bread-and-butter matters, they lose the voters who show up at town halls and vote with their feet.
Conservatives shouldn’t gloat — we should act. The polls are a warning and a roadmap: emphasize public safety, secure the border, and lower costs for families. That means policy that works, relentless messaging that connects to everyday struggles, and candidates who refuse to pander to the Washington consensus that produced the mess in the first place.
The Five’s blunt assessment — that many in the political and media class have “learned nothing” — is a patriotic challenge, not an insult. If Republicans seize this moment with muscle and ideas, they can turn voter distrust of the elites into durable gains; if they relax, the same tired narratives will creep back and the country will pay the price. The choice facing conservatives is simple: fight for real solutions or watch the next cycle be stolen by the same incompetence dressed in new slogans.
