GOP Doldrums

According to a Gallup/USA Today poll first written about yesterday, many Republicans are unhappy with their own party--38 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, in fact, view the GOP unfavorably.

Gallup has a more detailed breakdown of the numbers today.


This, of course, speaks badly of Republican morale and proves many agree that the GOP needs a new direction. GOP voters either don't like the GOP's platform of opposition to government spending and Guantanamo's closure, or the execution of that platform, or they blame the GOP for its own failure to compete--similar to Democrats' past complaints that their party was too weak to stand up to the GOP.

Gallup's number don't tell us why that 38 percent doesn't like the GOP, but nine percent of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents said "Lost their way" or "No direction" is the first thing to come to mind when they think of the Republican Party.

If there's a bright side for the GOP in Gallup's study, it's that Republicans are strongly united in their opposition to Demcorats: 85 percent view the Democratic Party unfavorably (12 percent view it favorably), and that's a more united front than Democrats are presenting, according to Gallup--Democrats view the GOP unfavorably by a 78/17 split.

So it's possible the GOP isn't losing many more voters to the Democratic Party--at least not more than Democrats are to the GOP.

If there's a down side, it's that George W. Bush is more closely associated with the GOP than Barack Obama is with the Democratic Party: four percent of all respondents listed Bush as their top association with the GOP (just behind "caters to the rich"), whereas three percent listed Obama as their top association with the Democratic Party.