Are liberals poised to deliver a knockout blow to conservatives? Democratic strategist Stan Greenberg and his colleagues seem to think so, based on this recently issued report. The Greenberg/Quinlin/Rosner (GQR) study demonstrates continued Republican brand weakness, increased demand for more governmental activism, and growing popularity of a liberal policy agenda, defined as Canadian-style health care and bold action on global warming. Many of their findings–appetizing political chum for left wingers–will come as no great surprise to those watching trends in party identification and attitudes about public policy over the past two years. Adding the word “Republican” to most policy ideas these days is like playing hoops with ankle weights. Yet before conservatives think this is the political equivalent of UCLA’s first round drubbing of Mississippi Valley State in the tournament yesterday, a couple caveats deserve mention. First, the GQR numbers include some curious internal contradictions. For example, despite a host of findings pointing to demand for bigger government, their polling also shows a majority prefers less taxes–not exactly a page ripped from the Krugman economics text book. Second, the GQR study points to growing support for a pro-government agenda (they find voters want aggressive action on climate change and “Canadian-style” health care), but also say respondents have negative views of the federal government overall and believe Washington is inefficient and wasteful. Third, some of the numbers NOT included in the presentation–such as the approval rating of the Democratic Congress–suggest voters don’t have a lot of faith in the current majority party’s ability to quench their thirst for change. Finally, even the GQR numbers show a larger percentage of Americans interested in cutting government spending than “investing” in education and health care. Having said that, these numbers do suggest a challenging landscape heading into the fall elections, particularly among weaker partisans and independents that soured on the GOP brand over the past few years.
