Some conservatives may have found some sense of hope from yesterday’s Gallup poll (featured on Drudge): “GALLUP: ‘Conservatives’ Are Single-Largest Ideological Group…”
A full 40%, when polled, claim they are “conservatives.” That’s the best conservatives have done since 2004. Does this augur well for Republicans in 2010? Unlikely.
When independents are pressed to say which party they lean toward, 51% of Americans identify as Democrats, 39% as Republicans, and only 9% as pure independents.
The Washington Times offers an analysis from John Zogby:
Independent pollster John Zogby saw little, if any, political significance in the latest numbers beyond the fact that they remain “relatively stable” and show “that the election of 2008 was not a liberal victory or a liberal mandate.”
“Basically, it is a personal victory [for Mr. Obama] and a repudiation of the Republican Party,” Mr. Zogby said. “It doesn’t mean Americans turned liberal but rather that they wanted problem-solving and consensus-building. As for conservatives, 40 percent is not a winning number,” he said.
How should Republicans view the Gallup poll? We need to understand that if 40% of Americans are conservative and 21% are liberal, our election prospects are strong. Since we haven’t been very successful, we must be doing something wrong.
If we want to win over the 35% of self-described moderates, we should carefully reconsider some of our policies and rhetoric. We need to build consensus and rise above politics.