by MegAnne Leibsch

The Republican Party is rapidly losing touch with the American public this election season. Two weeks ago, Ted Cruz and John Kasich dropped out of the Republican primary race, basically cementing Trump’s position as the GOP’s official nominee for president.

Despite the fact that Trump has abysmal ratings with almost every demographic, he has managed to secure 1,053 of the 1,237 state delegates needed to win the GOP nomination because of strong commitments from his few supporters. Trump has built a small yet fiercely loyal following; 87 percent of his supporters plan to vote for him on Election Day, which is an extremely high turnout for any politician.

But those who oppose him are significant in number. Recent polls show that 77 percent of Hispanics, 70 percent of women and 68 percent of African Americans have unfavorable views of Trump.. Overall, less than 30 percent of Americans approve of Trump, compared with 41 percent approval for Hillary.

It’s no surprise why Trump’s approval rating is so poor. His views and political stances are bigoted, racist, sexist, homophobic and downright ignorant. He wants to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent immigration, overturn marriage equality and Roe v. Wade, repeal the Affordable Care Act and cut education spending – to name a few of his problematic stances.

Trump represents a terrifying future for the United States. In the past few decades, the U.S. government has become increasingly progressive, especially in its social policy. The Supreme Court has upheld marriage equality for gay couples; the Affordable Care Act has increased access to healthcare for all Americans regardless of income level. If Trump is elected president and Republicans gain control of Congress this fall, the United States stands to lose all that progress.

Trump is an extreme example of the Republican Party’s strict conservatism, and many Republicans, such as Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush, have condemned Trump’s unacceptable behavior. However, other Republicans continue to support him and similar ignorant and problematic political stances.

For example, in 2015, as a reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality, conservative state lawmakers across the U.S. introduced 115 anti-LGBT measures. Some of these proposals demand that the states be given the right to determine what constitutes a marriage. Other laws would allow businesses, individuals and institutions, including charities, to deny services to gay and transgender people in those states on the basis of religious belief.

On the other hand, 73 percent of Americans born after 1980 support marriage equality, and 55 percent of all Americans support it, according to the Boston Globe and Pew Research.

As a result, Republicans have a massive problem on their hands. Their social platform, as evidenced by Trump’s political stances, is out of touch with the American public and, frankly, reality.

The Millennial generation is increasingly liberal, especially in terms of social issues, which Republicans continue to ignore or exacerbate. As Millennials begin to graduate from college and move into the private and public sectors, they will begin to threaten the Republican’s hardened establishment.

If Republicans continue to reject social progress, Millennials will easily outnumber them as Democrats, both voters and government representatives. With no new voters joining the party and their established numbers dwindling, the Republican party will be at risk for collapse, especially if extremists like Trump continue to alienate most of the American electorate.

Therefore, the GOP needs to evolve its social platform. It needs to start accepting social change and adopting more modern and progressive views on basic human rights issues. Most importantly, the GOP should condemn Trump, not support him. His ignorant and bigoted views will further alienate the Republican Party from the rest of American politics, and at worst, Trump and the Republican Party’s power could reverse progress the United States has already made.

MegAnne Leibsch just finished her Sophomore year at La Salle University where she is studying journalism. She is currently an intern at the Local.