Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The GOP and Its Future

This article from CNN discusses the feuds between the right-wing of the party, specifically Limbaugh and Cheney, and one of the few current moderate voices, Colin Powell. What I thought most interesting was the popularity figures for the three. Powell has a positive rating of 70 percent, while Limbough has a favorable rating of 30% and Cheney 37%. The unfavorable ratings for Cheney are 55 percent and Limbaugh 53%. That's for all voters, of course. Among Republican voters all three rank in the 60s for positive views. There's also the poll result that showed the numbers of Americans identifying as Republicans is down to a low of 22%. See also my previous post on young people not identifying with socially conservative views. None of this speaks of good times ahead for the GOP, and in my view, they've earned every trouble they have.

However, I do agree that we need two healthy parties to be a viable democracy... but would not mind a viable new party arising to the left of the Democratic party. It might get the support of a lot of people, as many people in polls identify with progressive positions, even if they don't call themselves liberal or progressive. But I guess such a party would never attract enough money to survive. It might happen if we had public financing of campaigns.

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