Americans have had enough of the GOP's ideological agenda. Republicans are simply out of sync with where America is today, and the polling proves it.
Republicans continue to push additional anti-abortion bills, even though 68% of Americans think that it is time for state legislatures to stop their attacks on abortion rights. Clear majorities of voters in red and blue states oppose GOP legislators blocking expanding health insurance options for working people, and they are tired of the Republican legislators blocking legislation that would ensure that people cannot be fired from their jobs because of the person they love. Democrats are fighting to increase the minimum wage, but the GOP continues to oppose them and the majority of voters whom they claim to represent.
Meanwhile, Democratic priorities are popular with voters, and Democrats are ready to build on the gains they made in the 2012 elections in the upcoming elections this year and in 2014.
Florida: Florida legislators have the opportunity to expand Medicaid and provide health insurance to over one million working people. Increasing access to health insurance is not only common sense, but it is also a very popular proposal. Polling from the Florida Hospital Association found well over 60% of Sunshine State voters agree with the state's Democratic legislators that they should work to improve the lives of these Floridians.
But Florida's Republican legislative leadership is standing in the way of helping over a million people and the direct will of a majority of their state's constituents.
Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford (R-Wesley Chapel), whose family once relied on Medicaid, even slammed the popular and successful program saying, "Medicaid has been proven to be one of the worst forms of insurance you can get in America."
North Carolina: Republicans took control of the North Carolina legislature in 2010 and since then they've advanced one of the most divisive and unpopular legislative agendas in the state's history.
A majority of North Carolina voters are united in their opposition to the GOP-controlled legislature's decision to pass a budget that cuts education funding, ends the back-to-school sales-tax holiday, forces 70,000 Tar Heels off unemployment benefits, shortens early voting by a week and eliminates same-day voter registration.
North Carolina voters are ready for change. Fifty-four percent of North Carolina voters disapprove of their Republican controlled legislature, and Democrats enjoy a seven-point generic lead for control of the legislature in the state.
New Jersey: Voters in the Garden State and state Democrats agree on core ideas--even though legislative Republicans in the state have stood with Governor Christie in blocking them.
When it comes to marriage equality, 60% of New Jersey voters think allowing gay and lesbian New Jerseyans to marry should be the law of the land.
Last year New Jersey's legislative Democrats united to pass marriage equality legislation, only to have Governor Christie use his power to veto the legislation and contradict the express will of a vast majority of New Jersey voters.
And New Jersey voters are standing with legislative Democrats to raise the state's minimum wage. Over 75 percent of New Jersey voters support Democrats and their work to raise the state's minimum wage, even though Governor Christie vetoed the proposal.
Standing up for equal rights and working families is a core reason why Democrats hold a double-digit lead over Republicans for which party New Jersey voters want to control the state's legislature.
Texas: There is a reason why Democrats are optimistic about making gains in the Lone Star State: Republicans are out of touch with the values of Texas voters.
Fully three-quarters of Texas voters support legislation that would ban employers from being able to fire employees based on sexual orientation. Unfortunately, those Texans opposed to this are Republicans in the state legislature, who refused to act on legislation that would make it illegal for employers in Texas to be able to fire someone because of the person they love.
And Texas GOP legislators' opposition to expanding Medicaid in their state, which would provide health insurance to 2.5 million Texans, openly flies in the face of a majority of Texans' views.
Even though a clear majority of Texans support providing additional health insurance to their fellow citizens, Republican legislators are blocking this access--and bragging about it.
In a letter to Texas' United States Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, seventy-four Republican legislators boasted they "have done all that we can to help stop Obamacare" because they had "refused to expand the Medicaid program."
Virginia: The radical Republican legislative agenda is proving to be an anchor for the GOP in the upcoming November elections.
Although a majority of Virginia voters support marriage equality for the state's gay and lesbian couples, the GOP's nominee for governor called LGBT Virginians "soulless" and "self-destructive."
And even though fully 80% of Virginians believe employers should not be allowed to discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation, Republicans in the Virginia legislature have consistently blocked legislation that would accomplish this goal.
In 2013 and 2014 Democrats and Republicans will have a record to run on, and voters are ready to provide victories to the party that has stood up for them.