Clinton Pollster Calls GOP a Dying 'Cult'

Stan Greenberg, former President Clinton's pollster who teamed with Clinton adviser James Carville to form Democracy Corps, today blasted the Republican Party as a dying "cult."

Citing his polling, Greenberg said that the GOP is not growing and has become a "lifeless party" that can't attract more than 33 percent of the public.

"No one is attracted to this party," Greenberg told reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. "They've never been this low in our poll… the Republican brand is a mess."

He claimed that the more GOP candidates try to win with conservatives, the more they risk losing in 2012. For example, he said the GOP's hard line on immigration and entitlement programs threatens to cost the party in next year's presidential elections.

[See a collection of political cartoons on Mitt Romney]

Greenberg's harsh assessment of the Republicans is nothing new, and neither was his cheering for President Obama. He said the president, despite low approval ratings, should be able to count on Hispanics and seniors.

Obama is polling well among Hispanics and even seniors who are watching the 2012 race closely, he said. Greenberg says the entitlement debate has catapulted the presidential race into an even split between Republican and Democratic voting seniors, with 47 percent supporting Mitt Romney and 46 percent supporting Obama.

"This is the first presidential race that is even among seniors. And I promise you that seniors have not been particularly supportive of the president," Greenberg said. "Seniors were the demographic to move the furthest away from Obama in the 2010 midterm election."

Greenberg reported that Obama still hasn't regained young voters' support. Obama garners only 50 percent of the youth vote compared to Romney's 41 percent. "It is a long way back for young people," Greenberg said. Youth who identify as Democrats have also dropped from 44 percent to 38 percent.

• Read why Hispanics are key to a victory in the 2012 presidential race.
• Read the U.S. News debate on Newt Gingrich's immigration plan.
• See Obama's four ways forward on immigration.

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