(Washington, D.C.) – The Republican Main Street Partnership lauds the results of a landmark new poll of Republicans, which was released today. “The results of this poll confirm what we have long believed – that what holds the GOP together is a belief in core economic principles,” said current President and CEO of the Partnership and former U.S. Representative Charles F. Bass (R-NH). “To build a sustainable majority, the GOP must recognize and accept the differences in our party on contentious social and moral issues, and emphasize those issues that unite us.”
The poll of 2000 Republican voters was conducted by Fabrizio, McLaughlin and Associates from May 28th to June 3rd, 2007. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 2.2%. Because only Republicans were polled, not Republican leaning independents or swing voters, the results paint a compelling picture of what the base of the party actually looks like.
A decade ago, Fabrizio, McLaughlin and Associates released its groundbreaking study entitled, “The Elephant Looks in the Mirror.” The study took a critical look at the core beliefs of the GOP and broke the party down into issue and principle based segments. That study became a roadmap for many in the Party and Media in understanding the rank and file GOP. Now Fabrizio, McLaughlin and Associates has again conducted a national study of GOP voters to take a fresh look at the GOP and where it stands 10 years later – what is the same, what has changed and what is new.
This updated study shows that Republicans are held together by a belief in a set of core economic principles. These uniting principles include:
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support for balancing the federal budget – 78% believe we should eliminate the budget deficit and balancing the federal budget
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belief in limited government – 66% believe the government is too big
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support for restraining federal spending – 80% believe the federal government spends too much
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support for lower taxes – 69% believe taxes are too high and only 1% believe they aren’t high enough
In addition to unifying core economic principles, the results make it clear that Republican Party today is strongly supportive of a foreign policy that protects our national security interests and wins the war on terror, and is deeply concerned about the impact of illegal immigration.
“The divisions in the party can be found on social and moral issues,” said Bass. “Our party is – and should remain – a big tent party that recognizes that Republicans of good faith can disagree on these social and moral issues.”
The poll also shows that Republicans today believe that the party has strayed too far from these unifying principles. By a margin of 53% to 42%, Republicans believe that “The Republican Party has spent too much time focusing on moral issues such as abortion and gay marriage and should instead be spending time focusing on economic issues such as taxes and government spending.”
“Republicans want us to get back to the basics. Rank and file GOPers want our party to be focused on issues that unite us, not divide us,” continued Bass. “The good news for us as a party is that the core economic principles that unite us as Republicans are the same principles that attract independents and swing voters. By getting back to the basics, the GOP can recover from our losses in 2006.”
“Main Street remains committed to promoting a hopeful and pragmatic legislative agenda that unites our country around sound economic principles and delivers results for American taxpayers, families, and seniors.” concluded Bass.
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The Republican Main Street Partnership (RMSP) is dedicated to promoting and building a pragmatic, thoughtful, fiscally conservative, and inclusive “Governing Majority,” where political debate is encouraged to promote solutions to improve the lives of all Americans. Embracing the full spectrum of center-right ideologies and values in order to build coalitions, RMSP is the largest organization of elected leaders who are in the mold of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan. For more information on RMSP, visit our website at www.republicanmainstreet.org.
