73% of GOP Voters Say Congressional Republicans Have Lost Touch With Their Base
by PubliusPresident Obama told an audience at a Democratic Party fundraiser Wednesday night that Republicans often “do what they’re told,” but GOP voters don’t think their legislators listen enough to them.
Just 15% of Republicans who plan to vote in 2012 state primaries say the party’s representatives in Congress have done a good job of representing Republican values.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 73% think Republicans in Congress have lost touch with GOP voters from throughout the nation. Twelve percent (12%) are undecided.
These numbers are basically unchanged from a survey in late April.
Republican women are nearly twice as likely as men to say their representatives in Congress have done a good job of representing GOP values. Younger voters tend to be less critical than their elders.
Thirty-one percent (31%) of likely GOP primary voters rate economic issues as the priority in determining how they will vote, followed by 25% who see national security issues that way. Fiscal issues are most important for 15%, while 12% cite domestic issues and seven percent (7%) cultural issues.
Nationally, 29% of Republican voters say former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is their pick to represent the GOP in the 2012 presidential campaign, while 24% prefer former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and 18% like former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
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31 Comments
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by DRIP USA, AZ grassroots. AZ grassroots said: 73% of GOP Voters Say Congressional Republicans Have Lost Touch With Their Base http://bit.ly/1jWHbx #dripusa #ocra #tcot [...]
We need a new crop of Republicans. Not the current crop of tax and spend, "do as they're told" RINO's. John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Kay Bailey Hutchison all ought to leave, or cross the aisle and become Democrat.
Yeah, the Republicans just grow government and spend at a slightly slower pace than the democrats.
Is Palin about to start a new party? Her recent Facebook entry is prety interesting.
I rarely trust polls, even when they say what I want them to say. In this case, I think they pretty much nailed it. Everything I have read or have heard from various different sources indicates exactly what the poll shows.
I agree, there needs to be some serious house cleaning before i support the GOP. I'll vote 3rd party, if the candidate most closely represents what i believe.
If they really want to reform the party they should embrace libertarianism and constitutionalism. This is why young people are flocking to people like Ron Paul, Rand Paul, and Peter Schiff. They actually stand for something and they tell the truth.
Are young people really flocking to these people?
This is no surprise, and by word of mouth, I understand that this is the root cause of current (and less than stellar) GOP fundraising efforts. People are indeed sick and very tired of sending hard-earned money and receiving a press-on target for their backs and more corruption in return…
There is no substitution for not being actively engaged. People need to show up at their local GOP committee meetings. They need to help identify and vett good candidates on a local and state level. Local and state politicians are the farm teams from where talented people move on to the national stage. Marco Rubio hopefully will move from the Florida state legislature to the Senate. Recruiting new talent on the local level is important.
We all share some blame in this mess. It's easy to vilify the GOP. Too many of us weren't paying close enough attention. There is no substitution for rebuilding the GOP, not unless you want to see the Democrats as the majority locally and nationally for decades. Carving out votes that need to stay with Republican candidates will give the Democrats the numbers that they need in every election.
And you'll assist the Democrats win every election for decades. In most elections there is only a margin of a few percentage points. Take that away and the Dems win every time. There is no substitution for not rebuilding the GOP.
They don't want you as voters anymore. They ban Michelle Malkin.
The GOP is transforming itself into a palatable alternative to wild eyed leftist extremist like Obama and Pelosi.
If they can accomplish this, it wouldn't surprise me to see Hillary Clinton returning to her GOP roots and running on the Republican ticket.
The new GOP will never let Sarah Palin get near a ballot.
So I know what you're thinking:
Who's going to vote for them?
Answer:
All the Democrats who are not wild eyed leftists (PUMA, etc.)
In case you haven't noticed, there are a lot of Democrats who think their party has lost touch.
In the near future, conservatives and liberals are going to be out.
People are sick of the partisan garbage.
You are right.
It is not about Party, it is about values.
oh boo hoo
in case you missed the past 8 years, THE GOP SUCKS. The GOP is obama-lite, and i won't support them until they clean house. I will not vote for something i don't believe in.
Its pretty insulting to suggest that i vote against the democrats, rather than FOR my beliefs. What a lame argument.
When they are informed, yes, i think so. Getting young people informed is a tough thing, though.
The RNCorrupticans think that they can win without the base, which seems insane but they are betting that we will be so PO'd about Obama by the time 2010 rolls in that we will vote for anyone with an R behind their name.
What they always miss is that tepid support from the base means at best tepid turnout for the party, do they want to make a few gains or do a 1996 sweep? Seems like they just want to survice vs. thrive, sickening cowards.
We need to take back our country, and to do that we need to take back the RNC, a 3rd party just isnt viable yet, though I beleive if the RCN get's their way it will be post 2010 when we see the usual suspects.
I like a lot of GOP politicians, but I dislike even more, it has to change or B-Daddy is going ruin this country more than he alread has, think about that for a moment.
The republican party is a failure not for ideology, not for desire, not for policy but because the leadership of the party has decided that they are part of the elite and that they and they alone should provide the path of the party to democrat lite. The conservatives have been quiet for way too long; we have allowed the party to go down the democrat lite road and with few acceptations have been quiet. The gross moral failures, policy failures, foreign failures and corruption of this administration has revived the conservative elements and we have realized what we allowed the party leadership to do and we despite the warnings of the few, have become angry. The republican party may be too far down the road of elitism and lack the moral courage to return to republican values to be saved, maybe a new party of conservatives with moral, values, and courage is the future. The republican party over the next few years will either change to more responsible leadership and republican values or will divide into lesser parties. This will allow the democrats more opportunities to ruin our country but I do not see another road.
[...] Palin has endorsed NY-23 Congressional candidate Doug Hoffman. Perhaps Palin can help assuage the 73% of Republicans that feel their party leadership has lost touch with its [...]
Skeeter is spot on. Perhaps we would have a better government all around if people voted for something rather than against.
As part of the 73% who has no faith in those that represent us in Washington, I know the feeling of having my Senator Lamar Alexander tell me that he opposes Big Government but then turn around and encourage Obama to reform our Education System as his next endeavor. What could go wrong? Also, does anyone know how to contact the RNC direct?
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by DRIPusa: 73% of GOP Voters Say Congressional Republicans Have Lost Touch With Their Base: President Ob.. http://bit.ly/1jWHbx
#tcot #ocra #tlot…
if john mcCain had walked on the rep. nation convention with conni rice as his vp. we would not be in the crapper now…..that may sound like bs to a lot of you, but think about the good things both accomplished.
[...] 8. Big Government reported 73% of Republicans think congressional Republicans have lost touch with its …. [...]
I am a Conservative hanging loosely onto the GOP, but uncomfortable with doing that. I wrote a book called THE CHANGING FACE OF DEMOCRATS, on Amazon as well as my site http://www.claysamerica.com. In that book, I compare 19th century Democrats, beginning with Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, of course, all the way to Grover Cleveland to the 20th century Democrats. The 19th century party was more libertarian than are the current crop who calls themselves libertarians. The 20th century Democrat is in lockstep with Rousseau and Marx, rejecting the Jefferson crowd. They believe, and demonstrate it, that a few elite like themselves should rule the many, like us. I have developed a soft spot in my heart for the Jefferson Democrats of libertarians who fought so hard to retain the sovereignty of individuals, their local governments and the rights of the states that formed the Union. I simply wish we could have them back in charge, and at that time I would drop the Republican Party like a red hot piece of coal. How can we get those early Democrats back?
At the rate in which the GOP is moving farther toward the far-right lunatic fringe, there may not BE a Republican Party for you to vote for by 2016.
Actually, the GOP has no choice. . .The base has shrunk to 20 percent of the electorate, which means the party has no hope whatsoever of winning back either the White House or Congress without the support of independents — many of whom are ex-Republicans fed up with the party's drift toward the far-right lunatic fringe — just as many Democrats got fed up with their party's drift to the far-left lunatic fringe 30 years ago.
The 19th century Democratic Party was the Southern-dominated PRO-SLAVERY party, lest anyone forget. The GOP was founded in 1854 as the Northern ANTI-SLAVERY party. If you really want to know who's to blame for starting the GOP's decline, you need to look back to the 1968 election, when Richard Nixon hatched his "Southern Strategy" of appealing to angry Southern white voters who were fiercely opposed to the civil rights movement. In a sense, Nixon had little choice, as his campaign was threatened by the third-party candidacy of George Wallace (The arch-segregationist former Alabama governor ended up taking far more votes away from Nixon than from Democrat Hubert Humphrey and almost cost Nixon the election).
Nixon's "Southern Strategy" betrayed what up until then had been the Republicans' — the party of Lincoln's — most loyal constituency: African-Americans, who bolted the GOP in droves after that. The party has been playing the "Southern Strategy" ever since, expanding it to the entire country. Today's GOP more closely resembles the Democrats of the 19th century.
"Palatable"? To whom?
It's interesting to note that those who most loudly decry "partisan" politics never define their own highly partisan positions as "partisan".
Patisanship is precisely what politics is all about. Defeating Leftist attempts to take over healthcare, the banks, the auto industry and to impose draconian energy costs will require LOTS of loud, obnoxious partisan energy. As evidenced by the polls which indicate that Obama is being abandoned by previous moderates, you Ace, find yourself occcupying a shrinking middle between two highly partisan camps.
"In most elections there is only a margin of a few percentage points. Take that away and the Dems win every time."
And therein lies the problem.
If we wait until the general election to make change, we'll never have the best candidate to vote for. The primaries should be where we focus our resources and separate the chaffe from the wheat.
If we don't, it'll be the same story in 2010. Put a Democrat in office to send a message to the Republicans or hold our nose and vote for a RINO because the alternative is unacceptable.
The primaries are the Conservative's secret weapon.
I'm pleasantly surprised by this survey and would love to believe it! Perhaps the american people have FINALLY awakened to the mess they are surrounded by. Now we just have to take back the party and take back the country!
It is my fervent hope that the current crop of weasels (all of them) in power is on their last tour of duty!
I'm more surprised that 27% of GOP voters think the party is on the right track. Who are these mystery GOP voters? Every single conservative I know is fed up with the Republicans.
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