One of the main currents running through several speeches I’ve heard at CPAC in the last few days is the idea that Republicans cannot just oppose the President and the liberal majority, we must actively offer our own alternatives and try to persuade voters of the superiority of our ideas.
Joe Scarborough told the story of how in 1993 he watched the debates in congress over the Clinton administration’s budgets and tax increases. He said that he remembers watching John Kasich go down to the floor and speak passionately about his budget proposals and why the Republican plan was superior. And he remembers thinking to himself: I want to go to Washington and help John Kasich pass his budget.
He was 29 years old. He ran for congress against an entrenched Democratic incumbent, and he beat him.
In the last few weeks, public opinion polling on the stimulus debate has been at times very confusing. In particular, it was very odd to see polling on one hand show that voters were very unhappy with the way Republicans in Congress acted on the stimulus. And yet other polls showed that voters actually supported most of the Republican positions.
So why did voters disapprove of Republicans yet agree with what they were saying? Part of it is likely that the Republican brand is still very tarnished, and will take some time to recover.
But an important point is that most of the focus of the media on the Republican response was that the GOP was unified in opposition, standing up and saying “no” to the President. Comparatively little attention was actually paid to the alternate proposals that Republicans were offering.
I’d be very interested to see some detailed polling on the reasons why voters felt like Republicans weren’t doing a good job on the stimulus. Particularly among those voters who said they wanted what the Republicans were proposing – more tax cuts, less spending – yet say they dissaproved of their performance. I’m reluctant to hypothesize without having the data to support it, but the lack of voter awareness that the GOP was offering specific alternative plans is a very plausible explanation for the odd numbers.
