Elections were an affirmation of conservatism? Not so much

November 14, 2006

I realize that the right’s talking points insist that the Democrats’ sweeping victories last week really, truly prove that the nation has embraced conservatism as the nation’s dominant ideology, but they’re the only ones who think so. The electorate certainly doesn’t seem to agree.

In the poll taken Thursday through Sunday, just after Democrats swept to majorities in the House and Senate, those surveyed said by nearly 2-to-1 that they want Democrats to have more influence than President Bush on the direction of the nation. Nearly half said the country will be better off under Democrats; 16% said it will be worse off; and one-third predicted no difference.

Bush’s job-approval rating was 33%, tying his second-lowest ever. The Republican Party was viewed favorably by 35% — an eight-year low.

Democrats had a 57% favorable rating, their highest since January 2004 and 4 percentage points higher than the 53% share that exit polls indicated the party’s congressional candidates won on Election Day.

What’s more, USA Today noted that Dems “appear for now to have buried their image as soft on security, despite charges by Bush and other Republicans that terrorists would gain ground if Democrats won majorities.” According to the USAT/Gallup poll, 63% said Dems are unlikely to take steps that would weaken national security.

Conservatives’ talking points weren’t particularly persuasive before, but in light of numbers like these, the notion that voters are conservatives who don’t trust and/or like Dems just isn’t so. The electorate expects Dems to show them something encouraging, and the onus is on the party to deliver, but when voters want Dems to have more influence than the Bush White House on the direction of the nation, by nearly a 2-to-1 margin, I’d say the party is heading into the next Congress with a pretty credible mandate.

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think we should do anything to discourage republicans from taking the view that the election proved the importance of closely adhering to truly conservative values. Let them go out there and proudly trumpet their support of the views that led to the resounding spanking they received last week. In my head the only thing that will lead to is another spanking in 2 years…another in 4 years…another in 6 years.

  • #1 – It’s not just you, I was going to write the same thing. I’m actually fine with them describing Tester, McCaskill etc as ‘center right’.

    They’re actually admitting a majority of Americans share progressive values without saying it. In other words, if anywhere between socialist and center-right, join the Democrats. If you’re far-right, you are a Republican.

    Me likee.

  • There was a “conservative” pundit minor class on Sunday that pointed out that both parties had moved right on the 7th.

    So some reason he thought this was a good thing for the Republican’ts 😕

    Yes, it is nice to have the middle of America on our side.

  • Electing Murtha as second in command in the House will help dispell any lingering worries that the Dems are not firmly behind the military. I hope the House has the sense to do this.

  • It’s amazing – go over and read Glen Greenwald’s account today of the Military Commissions Act in action – with the treatment of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri and his being held in solitary confinement in a military prison without access to the justice system or an attorney solely on the ability of the President to arbitrarily declare him an “enemy combatant”.

    It find it extremely offensive for anybody to make the argument that by casting their votes for the Democratic party, that somehow the American people were endorsing such a blatantly unAmerican and repulsive peversion of our system of justice. These people are disgusting.

  • I was doing some research on what BushCo was saying about the Democrats prior to the election when I found this:

    While the tens of millions who will vote for the Democrats in the midterm election are undoubtedly motivated by opposition and even hatred of the Bush administration and its policies, above all the war in Iraq, the candidates of the Democratic Party by no means share those sentiments.

    Many of them are running as political and cultural conservatives, all of them as supporters of Bush’s “war on terror,” and their criticism of the Iraq war is largely directed against the incompetence of the Bush administration, not the goal of seizing oilfields and strategic territory in the Middle East.

    Click here to find out with whom the Rebublicans are now in complete argreement.

  • On the other hand, here is the opposite view from the one quoted in #7.

    Democrats are trying to frame the midterm elections as a referendum on an unpopular war and an unpopular president. Republicans say this election is really a choice between a mainstream GOP and congressional Democrats who are well to the left of the American electorate.

    Do the Republicans have a case? Based on the abundantly documented public record, they do. This is especially true on the House side where political gerrymandering has favored election of the most liberal Democrats. Nancy Pelosi’s party should be having a very tough time, indeed, selling itself as a mainstream alternative to congressional Republicans.
    […]
    Republicans are in trouble this year because majorities of Americans have soured on a frustrating war in Iraq and on President Bush, and because Congress’ GOP majorities have performed poorly or at least unevenly.

    Nonetheless, the Republicans’ critique of the Democratic Congress in prospect has a powerful array of facts on its side. Most of Nancy Pelosi’s Democrats are too liberal for the country.

    Click hereto find out which side of the political spectrum was saying this before November 7th.

  • “This is especially true on the House side where political gerrymandering has favored election of the most liberal Democrats.”

    That actually is slightly true. The Republican’ts throw all the liberal urban voters together in tight little districts where they proceed to vote from the left wing of the party, while spreading their Conservative Base over suburban and rural districts at 55-60% so they win more districts.

    Of course that means when you lose the votes of Catholics and married women etc you lose your “safe” Republican’t district 😉

  • Electing Murtha as second in command in the House will help dispell any lingering worries that the Dems are not firmly behind the military. — ml. @5

    It will also dispel any lingering hopes that the Dems are firmly behind ethics reform in Congres. On Wednesday, Pelosi was my Goddess. As of Sunday night, I feel like I’m back in a nightmare

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