Now the inevitable question Republicans will ask is: What went wrong?
There are certain to be rounds of recrimination and second-guessing as Republicans try to answer that question. Tea-party supporters will say the party erred by failing to nominate a standard-bearer who was a more reliable conservative than the once-moderate former governor of Massachusetts.
Moderates will say that the party’s primary process pushed nominee Mitt Romney too far to the right to win in the general election. And they will charge that tea-party foot soldiers in the House undermined the party's brand by refusing to back House Speaker John Boehner’s efforts to strike a grand deficit-cutting bargain with President Barack Obama, opening up the party to charges of obstructionism and extremism.
But the most significant critique will be the one that says the party simply failed to catch up with the changing face of America. Exit polls showed that Mr. Romney won handily among white Americans—almost six in 10 of them—but lost by breathtaking margins among the nation's increasingly important ethnic groups: By almost 40 percentage points among Hispanics, by almost 50 points among Asians, and by more than 80 points among African-Americans.
No solutions here, just something to consider.
How smart is it to be looking at the demographics instead of the message being communicated by the democrats, that is persuasive to most Americans?
ReplyDeleteThat will probably just make republicans want to crack down more on immigration, something that hasn't and won't work, or just look more racist in general.
Asking whether republicans made Romney too conservativ or too liberal also looks dumb. How about republicans figure out what their political theory is, why that's not persuasive to most of the voting public, and then focuse on offensive and defensive arguments.
Trying to play to bases (tea-partyers or moderates) isn't working apparently.
I think it's absolutely essential to consider the demographics. In politics, demographics is as foundational as real estate. Except it keeps moving.
DeleteI guess that depends on what you're doing with that information.
ReplyDeleteIt's useful for messaging. For example, if you are appealing to Hispanics, you won't want to lead with "crack done on illegal immigration". If you are committed to that crackdown, then you must know that you are going to alienate a whole demographic group that you possibly can't do without in a national election.
DeleteIt would have been nice if the One True Church would have actually been useful for once, and kept the Catholic faithful from voting for a wildly pro-choice president for a second term.
ReplyDeleteIt'll be interesting to see statistics on how Roman Catholics voted.
DeleteThe conventional wisdom that the GOP's alleged opposition to immigration is driving away Hispanics is, I think, wrong.
ReplyDeleteI read a poll that said 66% of Hispanics thought Obama was better on immigration. However, he won on economic issues by over 70%. People tend to vote their paycheck and, for the time being at least, that means Hispanics will vote Democratic.