re: #202 Sharmuta

I think it’s the religious right that’s fracturing the party, making us less appealing to independents and right-leaning democrats.

Independents are mostly a myth.

Numerically, its a very small percentage of the electorate that really swings from side to side during election time. Now, the impact of the respective numbers will vary depending on the exact contest, but in terms of absolute numbers, there are FAR more voters who are “social conservatives” than true independents.

As any strategist will tell you, winning elections in the USA is really mostly about motivating the “base” to come out and vote.

The Republicans can try to jettison the social conservatives, but I don’t see how they’re going to make up the difference in so-called “independents”.

Unfortunately, I think the best thing that’s going to happen to the Republicans is for the electorate to see exactly what several years of Democrat fiscal and foreign policy leads to.