I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The results of a Gallup poll released today show that most Republicans are white, conservative and religious, highlighting a trend that has been causing a great deal of angst and soul-searching within the Republican Party. In the face of recent losses and increasing defections, should the GOP stick to its guns or make room for moderates in a bigger tent?
The poll results show that most Americans who identify themselves as Republicans are white, conservative and religious.
As Gallup points out, this is a problem for a party that finds itself struggling for the “hearts and minds” of voters who seem increasingly allergic to the “R” word. A worried U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told U.S. News and World Report today: ”We’re not going to win presidential elections if we become increasingly a party of white, Southern men.”
From the poll:
The data reviewed here highlight an essential dilemma the Republicans face as they ponder their future. The Republican Party’s constituency is overwhelmingly white — and the significant majority of those whites are ideologically conservative, while a majority are highly religious, as defined by church attendance. The Democratic Party, on the other hand, has more than three times the percentage of nonwhites among its identifiers as does the GOP. And white Democrats are much more likely to be moderate or liberal than conservative, and are much more likely to be infrequent church attenders rather than frequent church attenders.
Does the Republican Party in essence “stick to the knitting” and cling to its core conservative principles? Or should the Republicans make an effort to expand their base — among whites who are moderate or less religious, and/or the various nonwhite groups who to this point are largely ignoring the Republican Party in favor of the Democrats? The decision the party makes in response to this question could be pivotal in helping determine its future.
An editorial in the Los Angeles Times yesterday addressed this point, advising the GOP to become more tolerant of its moderates:
Republicans interested in self-preservation would seem wiser to heed the appeal for inclusiveness. But big-tent politics by both parties serves an interest larger than membership; it’s good for the polity as a whole. Parties that must rely on voters with a range of views will be less in thrall to ideological interest groups. A diversity of opinion in both parties also encourages compromise and bipartisanship. Like the so-called Blue Dog Democrats, the shrinking cohort of moderate Republicans who once moved their party to the center are now less able to forge those compromises. Obviously, inclusiveness can be pushed to the point of incoherence. In general, however, political parties that aspire only to represent true believers run the risk of marginalizing themselves even if they benefit temporarily from the politics of polarization.
