GW in Ohio
11-01-2007, 11:45 AM
One year before voters go to the polls to select the next president, the Republican Party is as weak as it has been in a generation, a detailed new poll from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press suggests.
Only 36 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say the GOP “does an excellent or good job” of “standing up for traditional GOP positions” on issues like reducing the size of government, cutting taxes and promoting conservative social issues.
That’s a decline of 25 points since July 2004. In fact, it’s the lowest Republican rating for the GOP since Pew began tracking the issue in 2000.
And while the Democratic Party had only a slight lead in July 2004 as the party “better able to manage the federal government” and as the party that is “more honest and ethical,” today Democrats lead both categories by double-digit margins.
By even larger margins, Democrats are seen as the party “more concerned about people like me” (by 29 points) and the party best able to bring about “needed change” (by 22 points).
Other polling has also showed that, for the first time in decades, Americans now see the two parties as equally qualified to face down national security threats — erasing the “security advantage” Republicans have long relied on.
Clinton would cream Giuliani, poll finds
The findings remain preliminary, considering even the primaries are still two months off.
But Pew questioned an unusually large number of voters to try to paint the most accurate picture possible of where the presidential contest — among other factors — stands today.
Should the White House race continue down its current trajectory, the poll finds Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) would defeat Rudy Giuliani by eight points.
In the hypothetical matchup, bloc after bloc of traditionally Republican voters break for Clinton.
She wins the South, polls evenly with Giuliani among voters who attend church at least once a week and splits families with a household income above $100,000. She loses rural voters and men — but only by a narrow margin.
All are constituencies Republicans have dominated for decades; George W. Bush won each by double-digit margins.
Source: Politico http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1107/6671.html
Only 36 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say the GOP “does an excellent or good job” of “standing up for traditional GOP positions” on issues like reducing the size of government, cutting taxes and promoting conservative social issues.
That’s a decline of 25 points since July 2004. In fact, it’s the lowest Republican rating for the GOP since Pew began tracking the issue in 2000.
And while the Democratic Party had only a slight lead in July 2004 as the party “better able to manage the federal government” and as the party that is “more honest and ethical,” today Democrats lead both categories by double-digit margins.
By even larger margins, Democrats are seen as the party “more concerned about people like me” (by 29 points) and the party best able to bring about “needed change” (by 22 points).
Other polling has also showed that, for the first time in decades, Americans now see the two parties as equally qualified to face down national security threats — erasing the “security advantage” Republicans have long relied on.
Clinton would cream Giuliani, poll finds
The findings remain preliminary, considering even the primaries are still two months off.
But Pew questioned an unusually large number of voters to try to paint the most accurate picture possible of where the presidential contest — among other factors — stands today.
Should the White House race continue down its current trajectory, the poll finds Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) would defeat Rudy Giuliani by eight points.
In the hypothetical matchup, bloc after bloc of traditionally Republican voters break for Clinton.
She wins the South, polls evenly with Giuliani among voters who attend church at least once a week and splits families with a household income above $100,000. She loses rural voters and men — but only by a narrow margin.
All are constituencies Republicans have dominated for decades; George W. Bush won each by double-digit margins.
Source: Politico http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1107/6671.html