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Voters may say they’re Independents, but are actually just lost Republicans
Pew releases a new assessment of party identification, pointing out that the spike in the number of voters saying they are “Independent” doesn’t necessarily mean that they will be voting any differently than before:
The proportion of independents now equals its highest level in 70 years. Owing to defections from the Republican Party, independents are more conservative on several key issues than in the past. While they like and approve of Barack Obama, as a group independents are more skittish than they were two years ago about expanding the social safety net and are reluctant backers of greater government involvement in the private sector. Yet at the same time, they continue to more closely parallel the views of Democrats rather than Republicans on the most divisive core beliefs on social values, religion and national security.
These voters are the legions of “soft” Republicans who are more concerned with fiscal issues and could care less about abortion, guns, and gay marriage. As I’ve written about before, these voters know that Republicans are the pro-life, pro-gun, pro-traditional marriage party, but want to know what else we can provide. This doesn’t mean that we have to moderate our views. It simply means that Republicans have to start connecting with these voters about economic and kitchen table issues they care about.
Related posts:
Can Republicans Win by Moderating?
2010 Looking Better for Republicans as Independents Lean Right
Tags: 2010 Election, campaign messaging, Polling Analysis, Republican message, Republican Party
June 15th, 2009 at 7:21 am
[...] Voters may say they’re Independents, but are actually lost Republicans [...]