The Republican Base’s Candidates
Barack Obama hasn’t even taken office yet, so It’s ridiculous to consider the 2012 presidential race. But Gallup’s new poll identifies the right’s current candidates of choice for the nomination and the results are interesting because they fail to support Kathleen Parker’s recent assertion that social conservatives are on the way out.
So who do right of center voters want to have in the 2012 race? Read on to find out…
Per Gallup, the three leading Republican candidates are Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee, all of whom openly confess having strong religious faith. In fact, so strong is the preference for socially conservative candidates that no other candidate was desired by more than 50% of those polled.
Sounds like Ms. Parker is the one out of step with real Republican voters, not the social conservatives she mocks for their age, traditions, and Christian faith.
The “big tent” is an issue for Republicans of all stripes. Is it getting smaller? And if it is can we afford to “kick anyone out”?
I would suggest the Republican tent is getting smaller along ethnic lines (i.e. Blacks and Hispanics). You don’t want folks saying “reflexively”: “Well of course I’m a Democrat!”
We certainly don’t want to kick anyone out. There is a question of how far one can go to reach out to the middle while still being true to core principles. In 2008, independents’ response was reflexive, as you say. But that doesn’t mean that Republicans have to accept abortion-on-demand as a platform blank, for instance.
Former Republican congressional candidate Dean Scontras is right when he says that “…the Republican Party must reaffirm its commitment to the “three-legged stool” of fiscal restraint, national security and social conservatism.” Unlike some would affirm (Tim Pawlenty, et al.), the Republican Party does not need to “restructure”, but rather “return” to its roots.
These Gallup results demonstrate that Republican voters are going to make certain a return takes place in 2012.
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