NewDonkey.com on The Politics of Polarization
NewDonkey.com discusses a report entitled The Politics of Polarization, by the congressionally-focused group Third Way.... But the real value of the paper is that it hammers home three fundamental realities of contemporary partisan politics that cannot much be denied: (1) the GOP-engineered polarization of the two parties along ideological lines has made Democrats much more dependent than Republicans on sizable margins among self-identified moderate and independent voters (and thus more vulnerable to base/swing conflicts) (2) George W. Bush's 2004 win was produced as much by persuasion of a sizable minority of moderate voters (particularly married women and Catholics) as it was by mobilization of his conservative "base;" and (3) a changing issues landscape has reinforced the importance of Democratic efforts to deal with chronic negative perceptions by voters on national security and cultural issues--efforts which fell short in 2004.
posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 10:29 AM
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