On the outside chance that you don’t believe me or other scribblers who think the radicalization of the Republican Party is the single most important development affecting American politics and government, listen to public opinion research veteran Andy Kohut, who was president of the Gallup Organization from 1979-1989, before founding the Pew Research Center:
For decades, my colleagues and I have examined the competing forces and coalitions within the two parties. In our most recent national assessments, we found not only that the percentage of people self-identifying as Republicans had hit historic lows but that within that smaller base, the traditional divides between pro-business economic conservatives and social conservatives had narrowed. There was less diversity of values within the GOP than at any time in the past quarter-century.
The party’s base is increasingly dominated by a highly energized bloc of voters with extremely conservative positions on nearly all issues: the size and role of government, foreign policy, social issues, and moral concerns. They stand with the tea party on taxes and spending and with Christian conservatives on key social questions, such as abortion rights and same-sex marriage.
These staunch conservatives, who emerged with great force in the Obama era, represent 45 percent of the Republican base. According to our 2011 survey, they are demographically and politically distinct from the national electorate. Ninety-two percent are white. They tend to be male, married, Protestant, well off and at least 50 years old.
Kohut goes on to identify Obama-hatred, fear of racial and demographic change, and the influence of conservative media as factors that have helped to solidify this hard-core “base” and separate it from the rest of the population.
All three of these factors will be with us through 2016, and two for the foreseeable future beyond that. As Kohut concludes:
I see little reason to believe that the staunch conservative bloc will wither away or splinter; it will remain a dominant force in the GOP and on the national stage. At the same time, however, I see no indication that its ideas about policy, governance and social issues will gain new adherents. They are far beyond the mainstream.
