L.A. Times:
...50% of those surveyed identified with or leaned toward Democrats, whereas 35% aligned with Republicans.
What's more, the survey found, public attitudes are drifting toward Democrats' values: Support for government aid to the disadvantaged has grown since the mid-1990s, skepticism about the use of military force has increased and support for traditional family values has decreased.
Is it the war that's causing this widespread dissatisfaction with the GOP? Not according to the poll. While war in Iraq plays a large part, the GOP is losing people on other issues as well.
Democrats have wondered what the deal was for a long time. Poll after poll had shown that voters agreed with democrats on many core issues, such as domestic policy, health care, and the environment. It's been kind of a headscratcher as to why that hasn't translated into votes in the past.
It's still a little unclear as to why these issues are suddenly resonating with voters, when the fact that they didn't actually agree with republicans wasn't a hurdle before. One man who thinks he has the answer is that towering intellect, Rush Limbaugh.
Transcript from Limbaugh Online (emphasis his):
I've always said that one of the things that happened in the last election, the November election, was that Republicans lost the so-called center, the undecideds. I think that is the partial explanation for this, but there's more. "The survey found the public attitudes are drifting toward Democrats' values: Support for government aid to the disadvantaged has grown since the mid-1990s. Skepticism about the use of military force has increased and support for traditional family values has edged down. Those findings suggest that Republicans' political challenges reach beyond the unpopularity of the war in Iraq and Bush." Let me tell you something, Jeff [a caller]. There's no surprise in this to me. I've been saying this for I don't know how long: When you have a president who will not articulate conservative principles, who will not lead a conservative movement as Reagan did, this is what you get.
Yeah, that's it. Bush doesn't talk about conservatism enough. If only he could do all the crazy stuff that conservatives want -- like declare a 'culture of life,' explain why tax cuts are the answer to every economic problem, and crack down on out of control civil liberties...
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