Study: Republicans HAVE Gotten More Conservative

Surprise, right? Except this time it is backed up by political science research that shows pretty clearly the steady rightward shift of the GOP. Look at this graph (click for a larger version):

The two political scientists who have been plotting the ideological shifts and polarization of both parties are Keith Poole of the University of Georgia and Howard Rosenthal of New York University. From an NPR article on this study:

In a recent conversation Poole, who’s viewed by other political scientists as the go-to expert on this issue, explained that the data are very clear:

“This is an entirely objective statistical procedure. The graphs just reflect what comes out of the computer. Howard Rosenthal and I, we’ve been working on something called Nominate. This does all the Congresses simultaneously, which allows you to study change over time.

“The short version would be since the late 1970s starting with the 1976 election in the House the Republican caucus has steadily moved to the right ever since. It’s been a little more uneven in the Senate. The Senate caucuses have also moved to the right. Republicans are now furtherest to the right that they’ve been in 100 years.

The NPR article lets the usual suspects indulge in their “both sides do it too” handwaving — which in this case, looks particularly stupid with this graph right in your face. I was particularly struck by this bit by the AEI source:

Poole acknowledges that Democrats have contributed their share to the polarization of the political process, especially, he says, through their use of identity politics, appeals to race, ethnicity and gender.

This sounds like GOP tactics to me, really.

For the people who want a pox on all of the compromises, it is interesting that the period of time when parties (in the House at least) were closer together was after WWII, during the great growth of the middle-class and American industry. I would speculate that the rightward shift of the GOP is directly related to their abandonment of middle class issues in order to champion those of American industry. And while these GOP lights are busily talking about smaller government, dismantling the rights of people not like them, suppressing voters all the while making sure that businesses get the tax policy and regulatory oversight (none) they’ve bought. Not particularly conservative in the usual sense of the word, but very focused policy favorable to business and wealthy interests and policy focused on controlling and suppressing everyone else. It is the only way to explain how the GOP has abandoned the business of governing.