Ideological Fractures Plaque Republicans

[Havakasha]

http://politicalwire.com/

Ideological Fractures Plague Republicans
The latest Pew Research poll shows a growing divide between the Republican Party and the Tea Party, as the GOP's favorable numbers have declined in congressional districts represented by members of the House Tea Party Caucus to nearly those of the Democratic Party.

Key numbers: "Currently, 41% say they have a favorable opinion of the GOP, while 48% say they have an unfavorable view... currently about four-in-ten (39%) say they have a favorable view of the Democratic Party, while 50% offer an unfavorable view."

Chris Cillizza: "What happened? To put it bluntly: governing. Establishment Republicans smartly wrapped their arms around the tea party during the 2010 election... But once the tea party helped elect a Republican majority, the expectations of what that majority would do were unrealistic... The establishment wing of the GOP is, ultimately, playing within the pre-written rules of the current political system... What Republican strategists have to bank on is that the distaste for President Obama among tea partiers is great enough to overcome any qualms they might have about voting for Republican candidates who they don't believe entirely represent their interests."

[Havakasha]

http://www.people-press.org/2011/11/...c=prc-headline


More Now Disagree with Tea Party – Even in Tea Party Districts

Since the 2010 midterm elections, the Tea Party has not only lost support nationwide, but also in the congressional districts represented by members of the House Tea Party Caucus. And this year, the image of the Republican Party has declined even more sharply in these GOP-controlled districts than across the country at large.

In the latest Pew Research Center survey, conducted Nov. 9-14, more Americans say they disagree (27%) than agree (20%) with the Tea Party movement. A year ago, in the wake of the sweeping GOP gains in the midterm elections, the balance of opinion was just the opposite: 27% agreed and 22% disagreed with the Tea Party. At both points, more than half offered no opinion.

Throughout the 2010 election cycle, agreement with the Tea Party far outweighed disagreement in the 60 House districts represented by members of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus. But as is the case nationwide, support has decreased significantly over the past year; now about as many people living in Tea Party districts disagree (23%) as agree (25%) with the Tea Party.

GOP Loses Favorability Advantage in Tea Party Districts
The Republican Party’s image also has declined substantially among people who live in Tea Party districts. Currently, 41% say they have a favorable opinion of the GOP, while 48% say they have an unfavorable view. As recently as March of this year, GOP favorability was 14 points higher (55%) in these districts, with just 39% offering an unfavorable opinion

Among the public, 36% now say they have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party, down from 42% in March.

By comparison, opinions of the Democratic Party have shifted less – from 50% favorable last summer to 48% in March and 46% in October. The party’s image has remained in negative territory among those living in Tea Party districts throughout this period– currently about four-in-ten (39%) say they have a favorable view of the Democratic Party, while 50% offer an unfavorable view.

But the steep decline in GOP favorability in Tea Party districts means that these constituencies now view the Republican Party about as negatively as the Democratic Party. As recently as March, GOP favorability exceeded Democratic Party favorability by 15 points (55% vs. 40%). Today, both parties receive about the same rating from people in Tea Party districts (41% favorable for the GOP, 39% for the Democratic Party).

[Havakasha]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...VDDO_blog.html
A fracture between tea party and Republican party?
Posted by Chris Cillizza at 01:15 PM ET, 11/30/2011

As the tea party rose to political prominence in 2010, it became abundantly clear that the vast majority of those who identified themselves as members of the movement also saw themselves as Republicans.

The tea party then was best understood in that election not as the early stirring of a third party but rather a different way of describing the smaller government, lower taxes adherents that had been a part of the GOP coalition for ages.

New polling out of Pew — conducted in 60 districts currently represented by members of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus — suggests that a rift may be forming between the tea party and the GOP, however.


The numbers are stark. As recently as this spring, 55 percent of people living in these 60 tea party House districts had a favorable view of the Republican party while 39 percent viewed the GOP in an unfavorable light.

Now, just 41 percent of people living in these 60 districts have a favorable opinion of the Republican party while 48 percent have an unfavorable view.

Those numbers are remarkably similar to how people in these 60 tea party districts view the Democratic party; 39 percent have a favorable opinion of Democrats while 50 percent see the party unfavorably.

What happened? To put it bluntly: governing.

[Havakasha]

Editorial Board Opinion
Republicans are fencing with the truth on immigration
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinio...y.html?hpid=z3

NEARLY ALL THE Republican presidential hopefuls are now on record as wanting to build a 2,000-mile-long fence on the U.S. border with Mexico — a wildly expensive, staggeringly wasteful project that would do little to deter illegal immigration. The candidates have coalesced around this chimera even though illegal crossings, as measured by apprehensions by U.S. Border Patrol along the Southwestern frontier, are at their lowest level in 40 years.

Consider the profligacy. About a third of the Mexican border has been fenced, and the price tag for finishing the remaining 1,400 miles or so is variously estimated at $22 billion (the New York Times); $30 billion (Texas Gov. Rick Perry); or much more, according to government projections based on maintenance and repairs over the fence’s 25-year life expectancy. In general, those estimates exclude the cost of land acquisition, as well as the potentially severe environmental damage that fencing would inflict in some areas.

Now consider effectiveness. Last year, U.S. officials reported more than 4,000 breaches of the existing 650 miles of fencing. A video posted on YouTube illustrates the vulnerability, showing two young women scaling the fence in less than 18 seconds. And the Border Patrol considers hundreds of miles of frontier to be virtually impassable as it is, owing to remote, difficult terrain and deep river canyons.

Mr. Perry, a border-state governor, grasps the futility of trying to barricade every mile. Lately, though, he has played to immigration hard-liners by saying he’d “shut down” the border within 12 months of taking office, whatever that means. He’s also distinguished himself as a flip-flop artist, telling a New Hampshire crowd Tuesday that he would deport every illegal immigrant detained in the country. Never mind that he said in September that it was heartless to deny opportunity to illegal immigrants who grow up in the United States.

Perhaps Mr. Perry was trying not to be outdone by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who says she’d deport all 11 million illegal immigrants, in stages. Presumably, that includes the 8 million who make up more than 5 percent of the U.S. work force, meaning Ms. Bachmann would likely cripple the nation’s hospitality industry and trigger a food crisis by robbing farms and processing plants of workers.