USAToday covers a Gallup poll in which Americans were asked who speaks for the GOP. A majority of Americans couldn’t name anyone.
A 52% majority of those surveyed couldn’t come up with a name when asked to specify “the main person” who speaks for Republicans today. Of those who could, the top response was radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh (13%), followed in order by former vice president Dick Cheney, Arizona Sen. John McCain and former House speaker Newt Gingrich. Former president George W. Bush ranked fifth, at 3%.
So the dominant faces of the Republican Party are all men, all white, all conservative and all old enough to join AARP, ranging in age from 58 (Limbaugh) to 72 (McCain). They include some of the country’s most strident voices on issues from Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court to President Obama’s policies at home and abroad. Two are retired from politics, and one has never been a candidate.
The Republican party is the party of old white men, and the relatively youthful (compared to Gingrich and Cheney anyway) Rush Limbaugh was the number one vote-getter. Republicans, haven’t we been telling you that you’re lead by the “RNC” – Rush, Newt, Cheney?
I love this quote:
“We cannot be a party of balding white guys,” says former Republican Party national chairman Ed Gillespie, a White House counselor for George W. Bush. “We have to have a broader appeal, but there’s time for us to make that change.”
That’s what we’ve been telling the Republicans! Will the Republicans listen to Gillespie or is he being RINOed as we speak?
There was lots of interesting data in the poll. 63% of Republicans rated their party favorably and 33% rated their party unfavorably. In contrast, 8% of Democrats rated their party unfavorably.
Question: What comes to mind when you think of …
The Republican Party
1. Unfavorable 25%
2. Conservative 16%
3. Favorable 7%
4. No direction 6%
5. Cater to the rich 6%
6. George W. Bush 4%
7. Close-minded/Not open to new ideas 3%
8. Cater to big business 3%
9. Poor economic conditions 3%
10. Pro-military/Pro-war 2%The Democratic Party
1. Liberal 15%
2. Favorable 10%
3. For the people 10%
4. Socially conscious/progressive 10%
5. Big spending 8%
6. Unfavorable 6%
7. Self-centered/Out for themselves 4%
8. Big government 3%
9. Barack Obama 3%
10. Welfare 2%
UI’s serious advice is renounce the violent extremists, lessen the emphasis on social issues and find new economic ideas (more than tax cuts for the rich).