We have all seen the polls that put Bush's approval rating somewhere between New Coke and Michael Bolton Sings Your Favorite Childhood Songs CD. And we have all seen the polls where a majority of Americans feel the country would be better run by a democratic congress than Republican. The 15% lead Democrats have over Republicans is the largest since 1984. Democrats are recognized as the party who is concerned with real American issues 56% to 33%.
But what really struck me was these poll numbers: by 60% - 24% the American people feel that Democrats are more open to moderate ideas than Republicans are. This is what I have always believed, but I never would have thought that it would be such a wide difference. Perhaps I have spent too much time reading the conservative blogs that portray liberals as close minded "moonbats." But this poll really does hearten me, knowing that Democrats are recognized as a party that is more tolerant and moderate.
I have often said that the Republican attempt to squeeze out every idea and person who does not fall lock step into their talking points, was going to come back to haunt them. As much as the war in Iraq and corruption would tarnish their image, so would the constant partisan pandering to the farthest reaches of their base. Time and time again, when the Republicans get into trouble, they abandon the middle and run back to the fringe. This has created a party of out of the mainstream ideologues that have alienated the center of this country, which makes up the largest portion. We have seen this over and over again with Bush and top congressional leadership. Instead of trying to be leaders of the whole country, they choose to pick fights to divide us further. It has been been this perennial response to challenge that has made them be seen as less and less moderate. The traditional response of a hardcore Republican to me ever bring up that fact that their party's agenda may be out of the mainstream is to reply "well, we still control things, bitch, so we will do want we want." That is exactly the response that Americans are not looking for from the party in control.
While the Democrats may occasionally have fall outs with moderate Democrats like Lieberman, Democrats have not shown near the animosity that the GOP holds for the RINOs (Republicans in name only) as they call them, like Senator McCain.
I hope that the Republicans keep up their squeeze on moderates. Democrats may not win back control in 2006, but it certainly looks like they could hand us back control by 2008.
Poll: Issues Favor Dems in 2006 Elections
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2 comments:
These polls come out all the time and they are fairly meaningless because there are no names with them. That allows the responder to associate all the qualities they want to the parties and unnamed candidate.
It's when the candidate is an actual living person that things change. You get the sure I want to vote for a Democrat, but not that Democrat. And I don't think either party is in the main stream, and that the Democrats have paid a very heavy price for rejecting the conservative wing of the party, and until they find a way to accept them back they are going to continue to have a difficult time regaining a majority.
I agree with you some and disagree with you some. When it comes to overall feelings, 55% of Americans believe that Democrats should control. But when it comes to their own Republican Senator or Representative, they often think that their guy is doing ok and should be re-elected by a slim majority.
But the bigger picture, Democrats are seen as more moderate IS a very big deal. Only 24% thought that the Republicans are. That is less than the percentage of Republicans nationally, which means the moderate republicans are leaving camp. Additionally, 60% is greater than the percentage of Democrats nationally which means there are many independent siding with the Dems. I don't give much weight to polls, but this is something that is not "subtle."
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