Are Republicans Really This Crazy?
Markos (of Daily Kos fame) is writing a new book and wanted to find out if Republicans actually believed some of the things that Dems accuse them of, or if we were just believing our own poorly-drawn caricatures. So, he commissioned a poll of over 2,000 self-identified Republicans. The results are actually pretty startling.
Before I get to the poll results, let me say this: Even though I left the Republican party some years ago, I always believed that there were many Republicans of good will and gracious intent left within its walls. We all know that the party has been pulled to the right by its base, but even so, surely there's more to the Republican party than the wingnuts and crazies, right?
Well, let's see. Here's a table of some of the results. Don't forget to count the "Not Sure" folks; they are at least willing to entertain the ideas of the crazies:
By the way, the summary table is courtesy of Bruce Bartlett, who uses it to explain "why I am not a Republican":
I can only conclude from this new poll of 2003 self-identified Republicans nationwide that between 20% and 50% of the party is either insane or mind-numbingly stupid.
And if you think these numbers are cooked in some way, or that the younger Republicans surely aren't this crazy, Nate Silver at fivethirtyeight.com takes apart the cross-tabs and concludes
the results showed essentially no difference based on age, gender, race, or geography -- once we've established that you're a Republican, these differences seem to be rendered moot.
Look at those results. Consider these statements:
- Almost half the Republicans surveyed aren't sure they want to stay part of the United States.
- Four out of five think it's possible that ACORN somehow falsified ten million votes.
- The overwhelming majority believe gays are not fit to teach in schools.
- And over half think it's possible that the President of the United States actually wants the terrorists to win.
These are not policy differences. These are not disagreements about taxes. These are positions so devoid of reason, so full of hate, that it boggles the mind.
If your political opponent starts from positions like these, there is no room for rational debate, for bi-partisanship, for working for the common good. When both the representatives and the people they represent actually believe that the other party supports terrorism, it becomes impossible to even discuss a problem, much less work together to solve it.
RLG at the Economist notes that these numbers don't represent the entire electorate -- only the 24% that self-identifies as Republicans. So, he says, we should divide each result by 4 to see what part of the overall electorate believes this. Somehow, that doesn't make me feel much better about the import of these numbers.
What do we make of this? Well, when you combine this poll with the 24% figure, you are left with one unmistakable fact:
and they've lost the center. And if you try to be a rational, occassionally bi-partisan Republican,
you will get thrown out of the party, because you won't be able to win a primary.
Finally, there's a corollary to this that Democrats need to pay attention to:
Policy and Politics | tagged Poll, Republicans 
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Reader Comments (2)
It's interesting -- I know many Republicans of good will and sound mind -- but I don't see them calling out the crazies in their party. And I certainly don't see Republican leadership calling them out. Instead, many of the "normal" Republicans I know are quietly leaving the party. In some cases, they are becoming Libertarians. Most are becoming Independents, and hoping for a good Republican candidate they can support. But given a choice between a wingnut and a rational Democrat who doesn't hate gays and seems like a reasonable person, they will vote for the Dem. Not happily, mind you; but even unhappily, they just won't support the birthers, deathers, and Obama=terrorist crowd.
If the Republican leadership doesn't get a handle on this, the Glenn Becks of the world are going to finish driving the party over a cliff.
Wow Bruce. I heard about this earlier, but it definitely more crazy to actually see.
Interesting that he asks if gay's should be teaching, and not about gay marriage. Thankfully we don't see legislation trying to get the LGBT's out of the schools. Next thing you know, they are gonna try and bring DADT to the classroom.