Party Politics and Issues

The recent naval-gazing within the Republican Party has allowed an interesting study by the The Hill to emerge. It shows the problem that both political parties are having.

Respondents in The Hill Poll were asked to choose which of two approaches they would prefer on the budget, but the question’s phrasing included no cues as to which party advocated for which option.
Presented in that way, 55 percent of likely voters opted for a plan that would slash $5 trillion in government spending, provide for no additional tax revenue and balance the budget within 10 years — in essence, the path recommended by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) last week.
This was almost twice as many voters as opted for a proposal that would include $1 trillion in added tax revenue as well as $100 billion in infrastructure spending, and which would reduce the deficit without eradicating it.
Only 28 percent of voters preferred this option, which reflects the proposal put forth by Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) last week.

So, Paul Ryan for the win? The answer is no. The same poll found that once voters were told which party supported which idea, the voters pulled the old switcheroo and backed the Democrats.

A plurality of voters, 35 percent, said they trust the Democrats more on budgetary issues, while 30 percent said they trust the Republicans more. A full 34 percent said they trust neither party.

To state the obvious, this is a real problem for Republicans. The people tend to agree with Republicans on the issues, but dislike them as a Party. That will make it hard to get elected. However, Democrats have the issue that once in power, they are promoting policies that the people  do not want. Granted, the poll was the narrow issue of the budget. I am not sure that you could extend it to other issues. Such a poll would also be interesting.

What this does suggest is that if Republicans are in step with a majority of the American people on the issues, they will need to figure out a way to surmount a rather large problem. The Democrat Party has successfully united with large portions of the Education establishment in universities, a large portion of media (ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, New York Times and many other major city papers), unions, the multi-cultural agenda, progressive religion, and so on, to convince people to look at the Republican Party in a certain way. As I have personally experienced it, the attempt to convince people that the party that stands for individual freedom and limits on the federal government is immoral and therefore worthy of disgust, has been quite successful. What this means is that much work needs to be done by Republicans to go over the heads of the leaders of these groups and find ways of appealing directly to  the individual. The technology we have today makes this possible, but it will not be easy.