Monday, February 22, 2010

GOP mandate?

North Carolina voters are continuing to lean slightly toward the GOP for this year's elections, with the party leading 44-41 on the generic ballot for both Congress and the legislature this month.

Republican gains in North Carolina are likely this year but the party shouldn't take it as too much of a mandate. The same poll found that only 32% of North Carolinians have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party with 48% viewing it negatively. That makes the GOP roughly as popular as Bev Perdue with the state's voters.

The Democratic Party is actually slightly more popular, with 38% of voters viewing it favorably to 51% with a negative view. The Republicans are winning right now though because people who don't like either party say they'll vote for the GOP by a margin of 24-26 points. That's indicative of a 'throw out the bums' mentality- when you don't like either party you'll vote for the one out of power.

The dim view North Carolinians have of both parties means this fall's elections will be more about repudiation than mandates- the results may reflect which party voters dislike the most to a greater extent than the one they like the most.

3 comments:

  1. I voted for Ike. I'd poll "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in his district, because he has the ability to hold it up in the House as Chair of the House Armed Services Committee.

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  2. Not liking any of the parties is akin to the tea party people. Very conservative so a little misleading.

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  3. Entirely too much is being made of how unpopular, in the polls, the Republicn Party is. Where the real political power lies is with the independents and conservatives. For the most part, it is those folks that are essentialy fed up with what the GOP, as a political entity, has become over the course of the past couple of decades or so. The consevatives in this country feel as though the Repulican Party has largely abandoned the core values and principles to which it, at one time (supposedly) stood for and, as such represented. That being fiscal responsibility, smaller government, lower taxes, a stronger national defense,
    adherence to family values and in general, absolute compliance with the Constitution, as intended by it's founders. Scott Brown's recent victory in Masachussetts was predicated upon the fact that he referred to himself , first as an independent / connservative, then and only then as a Republican. The "Tea Party" is , not at all about a politicl party, in competition with the Republican Party. To the contrary. The pimary purpose and goal of the "Tea Party" and other grass roots organizations being formed accross this country is to weed out the less than conservatives, the progressives and moderates in the Republican Party and then replace them with more conservative candidates, who in action - and not words, best represents them and their values and principles - and then to politically destroy the Democratic Party and all that it now stands for. And believe me, it will happen - starting this coming November, into 2012 and beyond. Those that, for whatever reason(s) don't believe or don't want to believe that its going to happen, just stand back, get out of way and watch the bloodbath begin. And trust me, it is going to happen - like it or not.

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