New Poll: Republicans Are Unpopular With ... Republicans

By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Wow, the Republican Party is even unpopular with ... the Republican Party.

According to Gallup, nearly 4 in 10 Republicans (38 percent) have an unfavorable view of the GOP. (Overall, nearly 6 in 10 Americans, 59 percent) have an unfavorable view of the party.

Digging a bit deeper, I also found interesting that more people view the GOP as conservative than like the GOP. Remember that one consistent mantra from some quarters has been that Republicans lost their way and were insufficiently conservative to suit the "right-of-center" electorate.

But when Americans were asked what word came to mind when thinking of the Republican Party, the top answer was "unfavorable," followed by "conservative," then followed by "favorable." The results are not dissimilar to the answers Republicans gave when asked the same question: 21 percent described their party as conservative, while only 14 percent answered "favorable."

My point, as I've written before, is not to suggest that the country is "left of center" or liberal. But rather to suggest that we are as a nation non-ideological. Most people have better things to do than ponder the proper role of government. So to the extent that Republicans think that rigid ideological commitment will solve their problems, they're going to be in trouble.

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