Poll: 85% of Republican Voters Care More About Government Spending, The Economy and National Security Than Social Issues

H/T ImpeachObamaCampaign.com
Long-time Hillbuzz readers know that we are fighting a war against three enemies: Leftists, The Lamestream Media and Islamofascism. And by “we,” we mean Americans who love our country, work for a living, save for retirement, love the American Dream, respect the rule of law, and honor the Constitution’s limits on government power.
In most cases, The Lamestream Media and The Left are one and the same–98% of Washington Bureau reporters vote for Democrats. And to save our country, we must never forget that virtually all political reporting in America is agenda-driven.
Most members of the Washington Press Corp(se) sincerely believe (or strongly suspect) that all Conservatives are reactionary, raaaaacist, selfish, ignorant, buck-toothed, misogynistic, gullible, Pinto-up-on-cinderblocks, Bible-thumping bigots.
You must never, ever forget this when you’re reading news stories about Sarah Palin, Herman Cain, Ron Paul, Mittens Romney or T-Paw, or any other potential GOP or Tea Party candidate.
Case in point. This past week, the Gallup organization conducted a telephone poll of 971 randomly surveyed Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The results of this poll are available here.
Gallup asked participants to rate the issues that are most important to them. They are (in order):
- Government spending and power (36%)
- Business and the economy (31%)
- National defense and foreign policy (15%)
- Social issues (15%)
In other words, 85% of Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents care more about everything and anything else than they care about social issues.
To put it another way, social issues are the #1 concern of only 15% of the likely Republican voters surveyed.
The poll also asked to rank GOP candidate preference by issue. So among that 15% social-issues-sliver of Americans, 23% favor Sarah Palin, versus the 18% who favor Mittens Romney.
I’m not a math wizard, but I think that means that less than 4% of Republicans favor Sarah Palin as their #1 choice for President thanks to her positions on social issues.
But you’ll note, that is not the headline of the article at Gallup.com (“Romney’s Appeal Spans the Issues, Palin Leads on Social Values.”) Nor is it the headline of most news stories generated by this poll.
I write headlines for a living. And here are just a few totally accurate headlines I could write based on the results of this Gallup poll.
Read these alternate headlines (all based on the exact same data) and pay attention to how they effect you emotionally. Then ask yourself why the Lamestream Media wouldn’t go with these headlines or write these stories.
- Poll: 85% of Republican Voters Care More About Government Spending, The Economy and National Security Than Social Issues (the headline I chose for this post)
- Non-Candidate Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney Tied Among Foreign Policy Voters
- Poll Confirms Tea Party Platform’s Appeals to GOP Voters
- Ron Paul #2 Choice Among Declared GOP Candidates
- Unknown GOP Candidate Herman Cain Within 3 Points of Mitt Romney Among Voters Concerned About Government Spending
- Herman Cain Beats Newt Gingrich on Foreign Policy, Say GOP Voters
- GOP Voters Favor Ron Paul Over Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty on Business and Economy
- Non-Candidate Sarah Palin Ranked #2 Among GOP Voters Surveyed
- Tim Pawlenty’s Support In Single Digits On All Issues Among GOP Voters
- Herman Cain Ranked #2 Behind Mitt Romney on Government and Deficits by GOP Voters
And yet the media (mark my words) is going to play up Mittens Romney’s “broad-based GOP support” and pigeonhole Sarah Palin as the choice of the rabid religious right. They likely won’t mention Herman Cain at all (except to call him an Uncle Tom) or Ron Paul (except to call him a cranky old man).
Why?
Because the media is 100% in the tank for Barack Hussein Obama, and will do anything to make sure he is re-elected. Anything.
And a proven winner of a strategy is to divide and conquer.
In order to squeak out another term, the media and the Obama Regime (redundancy alert!) must create divisions and infighting among voters who are concerned about the size of government, the economy and Islamofacism, because generic GOP candidates always win against generic Democrat candidates in polls on these issues.
And social issues are the executioner’s axe they will use to divide and conquer.
The media works hard every day to convince GOP candidates that they have to focus on social issues like gay marriage and abortion to win. The 2010 midterm Democrat electoral bloodbath proved that this is a Big Lie. The winning platform was the Tea Party platform of smaller, Constitutional government, low taxes and massive spending cuts.
According to these poll results, you also hand the 2012 election to Obama when you use social issues as a “purity test” and threaten to stay home on Election Day to “teach the GOP a lesson” unless the GOP candidate promises to outlaw abortion on January 21st, 2013 (which the president couldn’t do, even if he or she wanted to.)
The truth is that the libertarian vote–estimated to be approximately 14% of the electorate–is key to Republican victory is 2012. As Ronald Reagan said, “I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism.”
In the 2012 election, the libertarian vote will be the swing vote. Not the evangelicals or social issue Republicans.
Keep that in mind as you read stories and watch news coverage of GOP candidates. The Government-Controlled Media is desperate to divide the Obama-defeating voting block that is made up of the GOP, libertarians, Independents, and the Tea Party.
You aid and abet the lamestream media in this quest when you consume news headlines and poll results without thinking or analyzing the motives of the news outlets that are producing them, and then forward these news stories, Eeyore-like, to your friends and family.
Never forget it! If you are a member of The American Resistance, the people writing most of the stories about GOP candidates believe you are a reactionary, raaaaacist, selfish, ignorant, buck-toothed, misogynistic, gullible, Pinto-up-on-cinderblocks, Bible-thumping bigot.
So why on God’s green Earth would you let them pick your candidate for you?
© 2011, Kathleen Gee. All rights reserved.
Also Recommended:
- Zogby Poll: 27% of Republicans will NEVER vote for Mittens Romney
- SHOCKING: SoetorObama campaign releases Sarah Palin's social security number, home phone number, and other vital information
- Obama's National Security Credentials Are Dangerously Low
- Poll: Only 19% of Americans Favor Debt Ceiling Increase
- Black and young voters did not win the election for Obama; the lack of Republican support for McCain did
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After seeing Romney in Iowa playing with corn and proclaiming his love for ethanol subsidies, I can't imagine he has a chance with republican primary voters outside the farm belt, but that is why the liberals like him to be our candidate. Your analysis is spot on.
Kathleen, kudos for an absolutely stunning post and spot-on analysis! Love your alternate headlines! Love the obvious blogspeak nuance of the OMG (Obama Media Group) logo! (A couple of suggestions: I would add "AP" and "Fox News?" to the mini LSM logos beneath the OMG logo. I'm skeptical of Fox's loyalties of late, with a couple of exceptions.) No matter how busy Americans' individual lives may be, all of us must stop turning on the TV and lending half an ear to the LSM propaganda as we go about our household chores, get ready for work, take care of our kids, grandkids, parents, write out the monthly bills, etc. This all-too-common means that many Americans use for "keeping up with what's going on" allows the pernicious LSM propaganda verbiage/framing to perniciously seep into the consciousness and muddle the ability to think through the issues/candidates with clear, cold logic. We all must pay more attention to reliable, respected, tried and true alternative media sources (such as HB) for realistic, non-euphemistic reportage of candidates and their positions on the issues. For such sources, I'd probably start with HB as well as the HB blogroll. Additionally, I think it could be a great service to HB readers if HB could perhaps solicit their input as to additional reliable online sites they may follow for authentic reportage re the political scene and news in general. The HB team could evaluate this reader input and then post a list (or perhaps, once the additional sources are evaluated, add these to the HB blogroll). Also, I would absolutely love it if Kevin and other HB team members could do a blog radio program hosted by Kevin with various invited guests, and perhaps (when Kevin's busy elsewhere) some alternative guest hosts representing other trusted blogs. Obviously, the conservative viewpoint, analysis, strategy would be the focus, and I believe a legal perspective would be enormously useful as well. Thanks again for all you do!
And this is why Mittens cannot be the nominee:
http://hotair.com/archives/2011/05/28/romney-hey-…
He. Likes. Ethanol. Subsidies.
*facepalm*
that is a great headline- you picked the best one. however, when i read it, i was thinking you meant the repubs in office- reading the article made clear (and confirmed what we already knew) that it was about the everyday people, not the idiots in office.
now if 85% of the ELECTED officials cared about what the 85% of us REGULAR semi-employed CITIZENS cared about, rather than appeasing that 15% for their re-election….i would be so happy!
but it is still great ammo for when the left starts going on about how republicans only care about social issues- we can say "no, they care about getting govt under control- at least, REAL republicans, not the jackwagons in office."
Thanks, cjwk. I really appreciate the thumbs-up!
Thanks for being such an active and supportive reader.
tee-hee: i didn't mean i needed you to fix the headline- i just meant washington needs to be fixed!
Yes. And I can tell you what the D strategy is going to be in Aug/Sept 2012 – the Drug War. Unless the Republican candidate can pivot on the issue – Palin's "not the most important issue" helps her – it will kill most of the rest of the Republican field. Romney will get gutted. Of course Gary Johnson – Palin's VP pick – or Ron Paul would have no problem.
Johnson has Willie Nelson as a fan and the Editors of High Times – so he will be good to pick up some left leaning votes.
Discussed at the bottom of this post:
http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2011/05/palin…
Can Barry be re-elected in 2012 with unemployment figures at record highs? If the media and Democrat operatives have their way, it just may be possible. Witness this article by Jeremy Greenfield headlined "Unemployment: The New Norm".
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/05/cover…
http://conservatives4palin.com/2011/05/even-the-d…
COMMENT:
I'm a stealth supporter in a left leaning area. I bet there are more. And no one talks about the (let us say) Identity Politics card, which will automatically be played if she wins the R nomination, to wit: first major party woman presidential candidate. As 50+ per cent of us are female, this has the potential to completely swamp the color identity politics by which Obama profited.
and with Allen West at her side – which will chip away at least 10-20% of the african-american vote – all Sarah really needs of that block is 10% of what went to Barky last time
Great job, Kathleen!
The caveat to the social issues question is that no one wants to live in a society that is a well-run, fiscally maintained toxic waste repository. I marvel most often at the people who criticize any Republican who dares defend their social values, demanding "moderation," yet year in and year our Emily's List can demagogue Republicans calling them wife-beaters, women haters, and baby-killers (ironic, that one) and these so-called "moderates" never even bat an eyelash.
So Social Issues should be a part of a platform, just not the centerpiece. There is no person who could possibly be more radically leftist on social issues than Obama. Even Bill Clinton ran on "It's The Economy, Stupid." So at the end of the day, the values the nominee holds are important, and that should be decided in the primary.
Ah. So you are one of the 15%. My take on abortion:
1. We are at war with the left – literally
2. The left are killing their own.
3. Let them – see #1
Social Issues is not a direct euphemism for abortion. There are others, which include a candidates basic tendencies to honesty and integrity.
No baby is a leftist in the womb. Leftists are not "killing their own," they are killing innocent children. The left knows this, that is why they are so busy in the schools indoctrinating your born children. The left is a parasite. It doesn't grow organically, it corrupts what already exists. They've slaughtered over 50 million, yet the left is still alive and well. Clearly if abortion is supposed to be limiting their numbers, it isn't working fast, if at all.
I do take the morals of a candidate very seriously. Newt Gingrich will likely come out with a fabulous economic plan. He has the morals of an alley cat. Aside from Romney's failures regarding Romneycare, he's a chameleon who routinely changes his image at the behest of his handlers. While his family affairs appear in order, he is difficult to trust on that basis. I don't believe there are any perfect candidates. But there's a difference between a candidate like say a Daniels who also has personal family issues and a Gingrich who blames patriotism for his infidelity, lol.
I for one refuse to live in a sewer represented by rats. Fiscal conservatism doesn't function without social conservatism. Fiscal liberalism is nothing more than endless government subsidies to pay for the wages of social liberalism. When you have a broken down society where government bludgeons the ability of charity through regulation and subsuming such charitable duties under the auspice of a "safety net," you will find that your society is not, and indeed, cannot be fiscally conservative.
Your money is never safe when government is the charity of choice for 50% of the population.
I believe the point here is that Obomanomics is hurting far more people than gay marriage ever could. Also few few fundies are rich enough to weather these times without pain. Face when Baptist Bob sees his retirement evaporate and his factory job go to China, other issues matter less.
I think the most important take-away from that poll is that the Tea Party platform is the winning platform. That's what explains the November, 2010 election results. And that's what can explain the November, 2012 Republican/Tea Party win, if the GOP/libertarian/independent/Tea Party coalition can remain united, and resist LSM/Leftist attempts to divide us along religious/social issues lines.
I'm not saying that social issues aren't important. Of course they are. But with the inescapable debt crisis and financial collapse we are facing, we can't afford to let social issues divide us.
It's a matter of priorities…if the patient is spurting blood from an artery, and also has a broken leg, you treat the bleeding first. Because if you don't stop the bleeding, and the patient dies, the leg will never have the chance to heal.
Perfect summation, especially the final paragraph. Your apt metaphor precisely describes the dire straits our country is in. First save the "patient's" very existence by correcting the life-threatening situation, and then address each of the "patient's" other issues.
But the GOP Cocktail Party is nowhere in sight as they daily pretend November 2010 and the two separate million person plus marches on Washington never happened- they are throwing the mandate we handed them under the bus
most recent example – the NY-26 race – a race that should have been a cakewalk – where they recruited a blond mayo and cuc Republican multi-millionaire to run against a Dem multi-millionaire and the other Dem multi-millionaire disguised as a Tea Party candidate. Boehner, Cantor and Christie reportedly ran this campaign into the ground as if the Tea Party never existed – or as out new fave Congressman Jim Jordan aptly put it:
"Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, who heads up a caucus of more than 170 conservative House Republicans, said, "My experience shows me that when you run a truly conservative individual – even if you have a third-party candidate – the real Republican wins if they are a true conservative. My gut tells me that our candidate, Ms. Corwin, may not have been all that conservative."
We have two goals for 2012
(1) elect Sarah Palin
(2) throw out the entire cocktail party leadership
Sometimes people do not give not enough credit in voter's ability to filter out MSM media bias. Christie won in New Jersey which is in the most liberal media market in the country, New York City. Scott Brown won in Massachusetts which is dominated by another liberal media market, Boston Obama could not hold onto his own senate seat in his home state. The Bin Laden killing, the royal weddings and foreign trips kept a lot bad economic news out of the headlines. The"unexpected" bad economic news will be back in headlines. It will drive his approval raring back to 40% or below in a couple of months.Also, Obama is due for a major scandal. every administration has at least one. By 2012, The economy will be in much worse shape than it is now. No more stimulus money to hide how bad things really are. There is not enough MSM spin to hide those facts. I'm pretty sure Social issues will not decide 2012,
Those alternative headlines were eye opening to me, and I am going to take future headlines that I read regarding polls with a grain of salt from now on. Too bad you aren't writing the news!
OMG! I love the Obama Media Group graphic! You guys are the best. Ridicule is the best tool to use against the media and the left.
And the Obamas go……
http://deadenders.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/bom…
Hat Tip to Deadenders web blog.