Not Just Defense and Values
by Chris Bowers, Thu Jul 28, 2005 at 09:12:15 AM EDT
Democracy Corps has an interesting new poll out that shows the weaknesses of the two parties can be characterized by a lot more than the typical one and two-dimensional views bandied about by us armchair consultants since the election. First, look at Democratic weakness (starting on page 18):Q.86 Now I'd like to read you some phrases that Republicans use to characterize Democrats. After each phrase please tell me whether it makes you feel very negative about the Democrats, somewhat negative, a little negative, makes you feel positive about the Democrats, or makes no difference in how you feel about the Democrats.
(number of people who responded either "very" or "somewhat" negative Putting special interests ahead of the public interest 44 Out of touch with American values 43 The party of big government 41 Tax and spenders 40 Weak on defense 39 Just tells people what they want to hear 38 The party of empty promises 38 The party of Hollywood values 37 Tries to please everyone 30 The party of No 29It would actually appear that the old stereotypes back from the days when Democrats were in power--special interests, big government, tax and spenders--are still a little bit more damaging to the Democratic image than the comparatively newer lines Republicans use to attacks us: defense, values, etc. The concept of the Party of No doesn't seem to resonate with many people at all, which is something that I wish a few more Democrats would realize when they grow weak in the knees about being in the opposition.
Democratic problems are clearly multi-faceted, and cannot be solved simply by looking like you are strong on defense are trying to speak the language of "values." Here were the Republican negatives (starting on page 20):
Q.102 Now I'd like to read you some phrases that Democrats use to characterize Republicans. After each phrase please tell me whether it makes you feel very negative about the Republicans, somewhat negative, a little negative, makes you feel positive about the Republicans, or makes no difference in how you feel about the Republicans.Serving corporate lobbyists at the expense of working families 55 Deceiving the country 53 Putting corporate interests ahead of the public interest 53 Cheating working Americans 51 Pursuing a partisan agenda at the expense of American families 51 Unethical 49 Captives of special interests 49 Selling out America 49 Dividers not uniters 49 Power hungry 47 Out of touch 47 Extremists 46The line that tests the best is not surprising, since it contains two buzzwords Americans dislike: corporate and lobbyist. Deceiving the country certainly seems to be high on the list right now--I wonder if it will stay that way. Overall Republican Party negatives seem to be very high right now, and the Democratic Party has drawn even with Republicans in terms of national image. Republicans in Congress under-perform their party by around four points, which is the main reason why Democratic candidates currently hold a not-unimportant 48-41 edge in the generic ballot test.
There is no silver bullet on either side. The political landscape remains complex, multi-faceted and thickly interwoven. On the bright side, right now it appears as though Demcorats are clearly making progress toward 2006.
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