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July 30, 2010
William Galston: 'Shifting Political Ideologies Threaten the Democrats'
Topics: Political News and commentariesWilliam Galston, former policy advisor to President Clinton and presidential candidates, and an expert on domestic policy, political campaigns, and elections, is warning the Democrats that they ignore polling data at their own peril. Looking at the recent Pew poll, he explains:
[...] On the whole, 58 percent of voters see Democrats as liberal or very liberal, while 56 percent see Republicans as conservative or very conservative; no surprise there. But voters now place themselves much closer to the Republican Party than to the Democratic Party on this left-right continuum. Indeed, the ideological gap between the Democratic Party and the mean voter is about three times as large as the separation between that voter and the Republican Party. And, startlingly, the electorate places itself a bit closer to the Tea Party movement (which is well to the right of the Republican Party) than to the Democratic Party.As Jennifer Rubin points out, Galston advises Obama to think hard about "broadening his appeal beyond his core supporters," but that would require an acknowledgment of failure and a dramatic re-orientation in his big-government liberalism. As Rubin aptly suggests, perhaps the shock of an election wipe-out will do the trick. But for now, the Democrats remain stubbornly indifferent to all warning signs and reasoned advice - the operative attribute here being "reason" - something that Democrats have shown to have a serious lack of, having replaced it with a far-left, liberal-progressive ideology.[...] Shifts among Independents are especially notable. A Pew survey in June 2005 found that Independents considered the Republican Party to be twice as distant from them ideologically as the Democratic Party. Today, Independents see the Democratic Party as three times farther away than the Republican Party. In 2005, 51 percent of Independents thought that the Republican Party was more conservative than they themselves were, versus only 36 percent who thought that the Democratic Party was more liberal. Today, 56 percent of Independents see the Democratic Party as more liberal than they themselves are, compared to only 39 percent who see the Republican Party as more conservative.
Related: Michael Barone: House Democrats Head for a Thumping at the Polls (.. metrics -- the generic ballot results and polls in individual districts -- suggest that House Democrats are headed toward historic losses. Quite a swing in 18 months)
Posted by Richard at July 30, 2010 10:44 AM
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