… We recently conducted a survey in ten competitive congressional districts in California to gain better insight into Latino voting behavior and how Republicans might appeal to this growing sector of the electorate. The most important finding in this data – and in other data we have seen – is [...] Read more »
Blind Rage: Republicans’ Hatred of Obama Blinds Them to Public’s Lack of Interest in ‘Scandals’
… One wonders how long Republicans are going to bark up this tree, perhaps the wrong tree, while they ignore their own party’s problems, which were shown to be profound in the most recent elections. Clearly none of these recent issues has had a real impact on voters yet. … [...] Read more »
Party opinion usurps public opinion
These days, more and more Americans are inclined to judge issues from a partisan viewpoint. In March, according to a Pew Research Center survey, twice as many Republicans (53 percent) as Democrats (27 percent) said the economy was poor. Yet, from everything we know, Republicans are not suffering more economic [...] Read more »
Here’s why the ‘scandals’ aren’t affecting Obama’s poll numbers
… The public is simply separating the scandals from Obama. They’re upset about the IRS, Benghazi, and DoJ stories. But most think the president has been truthful. Most think the IRS acted on its own. And the dissenters disapproved of Obama before the scandals, too. The public’s reaction to the [...] Read more »
Can Obama bridge the divide between the two Americas?
… While there has been some cross-party agreement over the past week — particularly on the IRS where many Democratic members of Congress have voiced their concern with how the agency acted — the general rule of Washington still held: How you think about things depends almost entirely on the [...] Read more »
Reason-Rupe Poll: Americans Want Senate to Drop Gun Control, But Oppose 3D-Printed Guns
President Barack Obama has vowed to keep pushing for new gun control measures and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the failed gun vote in the Senate was “just the beginning.” However, the latest Reason-Rupe national poll finds just 33 percent of Americans feel the “Senate should debate and vote [...] Read more »
The Latest Exercise in ‘Blue Texas’ Wishful Thinking
Texas electoral politics tend to elicit sensationalism. Jeb Bush has suggested the Lone Star state, which voted for Romney by 16 points in 2012, could somehow turn blue in 2016; Ted Cruz, who doesn’t even favor comprehensive immigration reform, similarly said that new Hispanic voters would turn Texas blue and [...] Read more »
Not Your Grandfather’s Pennsylvania Anymore
When asked to describe Pennsylvania, Washington political consultant James Carville, who helped elect Pennsylvania Gov. Bob Casey and U.S. Senator Harris Wofford, once declared that the state was “Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between.” … But the past may no longer be prologue for Pennsylvania. Indeed, much recent polling [...] Read more »
Targeting Texas
While the Republican Party struggles to resolve fratricidal conflict over gay marriage and immigration reform, there is another elephant in the room: Texas, the last big-state bastion of the right. Neglected by national Democrats since 1992, when Bill Clinton’s campaign decided to write it off, Texas has emerged as a [...] Read more »
As Virginia moves to the middle, Republicans face difficult choices
Virginia Republicans will gather in Richmond this weekend at a convention dominated by conservatives, even as fresh evidence shows them increasingly at odds with most voters in the commonwealth when it comes to key issues such as gay marriage, gun rights and immigration policy. A new Washington Post poll shows [...] Read more »