No Good Excuses (for Obama win/GOP losses)

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HeirofNumenor
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No Good Excuses (for Obama win/GOP losses)

Post by HeirofNumenor »

http://www.conservativeactionalerts.com ... d-excuses/
So what went wrong? First, demographics. This election is testimony to the fact that Republicans cannot survive by being the party of old white men. The white share of the electorate has steadily declined for the last several elections, and this time around, whites accounted for just 72 percent of the vote.

Other demographic changes worked against Republicans as well. For example, single women now outnumber married women in the electorate, and they favored Obama by roughly 30 points. The gender gap overall was bigger this year than in 2008. Moreover, the youth vote was larger this year than in 2008, and Obama dominated that too. American voters have changed, but Republicans haven’t changed with them.

Republicans must face up to the fact that their hard-line stance on immigration is disqualifying their candidates with Hispanics. Whereas George W. Bush once carried 44 percent of the Latino vote, Mitt Romney couldn’t crack 35 percent. To see why Romney appears to have essentially tied in Florida, for example, just look to Obama’s margin among non-Cuban Hispanics. Similarly, the growing Hispanic vote clearly cost Romney both Nevada and Colorado.

President Obama is likely to push immigration reform in his second term, and Republicans are going to have to find how to address the issue in a way that will not cost them the Latino vote for generations to come.

Second, social issues continue to hurt Republicans with women, young voters, and suburbanites. The problem is not just a matter of their stance on the issues, but their tone. It’s not just that Republicans oppose abortion or gay marriage, but that they often sound intolerant and self-righteous in doing so. Romney himself may not have put much emphasis on social issues, but the Republican brand was too easily associated with the words of Todd Akin.

Christian conservatives appear to have supported Romney by roughly the same margins they had previous Republican candidates. Exit polls suggest he won more than two-thirds of regular churchgoers. But their support couldn’t overcome Romney’s losses among economically conservative, socially moderate voters in the suburbs. Republican candidates seem culturally out of touch with a large swath of the electorate.

The GOP compounded this by indulging mindless “birther” theories throughout much of the campaign, and by failing to offer a positive, hopeful agenda for the future. In the end, swing voters were turned off.

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Fairminded
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Re: No Good Excuses (for Obama win/GOP losses)

Post by Fairminded »

Both sides spent the entire campaign in the mud and nobody offered anything of value to the American people. Is it any surprise the incumbent won?

When all you're being offered is evil, plenty of people will stick with the evil you know.

I could've hoped an LDS candidate would shine as a beacon of hope for this nation, but instead we got an uncharismatic party insider.

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BroJones
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Re: No Good Excuses (for Obama win/GOP losses)

Post by BroJones »

From CNN:
Many campaign aides pointed the finger at Sandy, the punishing superstorm and October surprise that razed the East Coast and consumed news coverage for what was supposed to be the final full week of campaigning.

Analysis: Obama's new Democratic majority

It upset the dynamic of a campaign that had been reset during the first debate in Denver, where Obama delivered a wilting-flower act in full view of the American populace that allowed Romney to seize control of the race and set the terms for the final fall sprint.

The storm, former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told CNN on Sunday, "broke Romney's momentum."

After being criticized in the media for focusing on "small things" like Big Bird and "Romnesia," Sandy offered Obama a chance to once again look presidential.

There also are very real hard feelings inside the Romney camp about the way New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, seemed to lavish praise on Obama in the wake of Sandy's destruction, allowing Obama to appear bipartisan just as Romney was attacking him for being petty and partisan.

"He didn't have to bear hug the guy," complained one Romney insider.

"It won't be forgotten easily," grumbled another about Christie.

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pjbrownie
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Re: No Good Excuses (for Obama win/GOP losses)

Post by pjbrownie »

I call some bull-crap on this. Much of what was perceived was a media narrative created. I almost wonder if Todd Akin was a plant. We know George Stephanopolis was with his contraception question. We heard nothing intolerant from Romney dealing with social issues in this campaign, in fact, he went out to expel Akin from the election.

We as conservatives and/or libertarians have to fight more than issues, we have to fight the narrative, the spin, the propaganda. It isn't just the issues, it's how the issues are framed.

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