Democracy Corps has an interesting new poll out that shows the weaknesses of the two parties can be characterized by a lot more than the typical one and two-dimensional views bandied about by us armchair consultants since the election. First, look at Democratic weakness (starting on page 18):
Q.86 Now I'd like to read you some phrases that Republicans use to characterize Democrats. After each phrase please tell me whether it makes you feel very negative about the Democrats, somewhat negative, a little negative, makes you feel positive about the Democrats, or makes no difference in how you feel about the Democrats.
(number of people who responded either "very" or "somewhat" negative
Putting special interests ahead of the public interest 44
Out of touch with American values 43
The party of big government 41
Tax and spenders 40
Weak on defense 39
Just tells people what they want to hear 38
The party of empty promises 38
The party of Hollywood values 37
Tries to please everyone 30
The party of No 29
It would actually appear that the old stereotypes back from the days when Democrats were in power--special interests, big government, tax and spenders--are still a little bit more damaging to the Democratic image than the comparatively newer lines Republicans use to attacks us: defense, values, etc. The concept of the Party of No doesn't seem to resonate with many people at all, which is something that I wish a few more Democrats would realize when they grow weak in the knees about being in the opposition.
Democratic problems are clearly multi-faceted, and cannot be solved simply by looking like you are strong on defense are trying to speak the language of "values." Here were the Republican negatives (starting on page 20):
Q.102 Now I'd like to read you some phrases that Democrats use to characterize Republicans. After each phrase please tell me whether it makes you feel very negative about the Republicans, somewhat negative, a little negative, makes you feel positive about the Republicans, or makes no difference in how you feel about the Republicans.
Serving corporate lobbyists at the expense of working families 55
Deceiving the country 53
Putting corporate interests ahead of the public interest 53
Cheating working Americans 51
Pursuing a partisan agenda at the expense of American families 51
Unethical 49
Captives of special interests 49
Selling out America 49
Dividers not uniters 49
Power hungry 47
Out of touch 47
Extremists 46
The line that tests the best is not surprising, since it contains two buzzwords Americans dislike: corporate and lobbyist. Deceiving the country certainly seems to be high on the list right now--I wonder if it will stay that way. Overall Republican Party negatives seem to be very high right now, and the Democratic Party has drawn even with Republicans in terms of national image. Republicans in Congress under-perform their party by around four points, which is the main reason why Democratic candidates currently hold
a not-unimportant 48-41 edge in the generic ballot test.
There is no silver bullet on either side. The political landscape remains complex, multi-faceted and thickly interwoven. On the bright side, right now it appears as though Demcorats are clearly making progress toward 2006.
