After a long, cold winter, it wasn’t such a bad spring for Republicans.
Not only did the GOP hold its own in the campaign cash contest with Democrats, but there are promising new poll numbers and signs that the public may be getting nervous about Barack Obama’s policies.
But is it enough to signal a comeback?
“That depends if you think Republicans have hit rock bottom or not,” said Carl Forti, a strategist and former spokesman for the National Republican Campaign Committee. “There are a lot of factors that will go into that determination.”
The Republican Party is still viewed poorly, but a recent Gallup survey found that more Americans identify themselves as conservative than they do as moderate or liberal.
Forti said fundraising numbers will provide hints as to whether the GOP is beginning to reverse the downward spiral that started in 2006, when congressional Democrats took over both houses of Congress.
In April, the Republican National Committee raised $5.4 million in contributions, while the Democratic National Committee took in $4.4 million. But the Democrats outraised the Republicans in May, bringing in $8.37 million compared with the GOP’s $5.7 million.
In May, the Senate Republican fundraising arm, the National Republican Senatorial Committee raised $4.5 million, compared with the $3.45 million raised by Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
In the House, though, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has consistently outraised its Republican counterpart, and is expected to beat the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee’s $3.2 million for May.
“While Republicans may lack celebrity names and a chief fundraiser in the White House, we have successfully maintained improving numbers from a growing chorus of small donors who are concerned about the massive government growth that Democrats are orchestrating in Washington,” said NRCC spokesman Paul Lindsay.
House Democratic fundraising aides point out that that the NRCC has not been able to outraise the DCCC, but it has been able to get big cash infusions from the RNC.
“No one can be complacent on our side when the RNC has all this money,” one Democratic aide said.
Democratic strategist Doug Schoen said The Democratic contributions could be suffering in part because the base is tapped out “after record 2008 contributions and a Republican base newly mobilized by opposition to Obama.”
Poll numbers show the public is beginning to worry about the growing deficit and the Obama administration’s big spending plans, including a proposal to overhaul the nation’s health care and a decision to take on a large stake in General Motors.
A Wall Street Journal/NBC poll showed 56 percent of respondents approve of the job Obama is doing, but 69 percent say they are worried about the government intervention in the economy and 53 percent said they disapproved of the decision to bail out the auto industry.
And in a Rasmussen poll that measures who people would vote for on a generic congressional ballot, Republicans have tied Democrats for two weeks straight.
