GOP Dominated By White Conservatives: Gallup Poll

As the GOP struggles to define itself in the face of its own considerable image problems, a new poll indicates that the Republican party's base fundamentally lacks diversity.

The poll, released today by Gallup, shows that a staggering 89% of the GOP is white, and that 63% identify as conservatives. It is, in the words of the poll's author, "first and foremost a political entity dominated by white Americans."

In contrast, the poll found that around 36% of Democrats are non-white. Of the 64% of Democrats who are white, the poll found that about half lean toward a moderate or liberal ideological position.

The poll also suggests that Republicans are more religious than either Democrats or Independents, with about half of those polled identifying as "strongly religious."

The poll is particularly significant given the increasingly weak position of the GOP itself. As the author writes:

A great deal of attention has been paid to the plight of Republicans who at this juncture in history find themselves not controlling the presidency, the House, or the Senate....

The data reviewed here highlight an essential dilemma the Republicans face as they ponder their future. The Republican Party's constituency is overwhelmingly white -- and the significant majority of those whites are ideologically conservative, while a majority are highly religious, as defined by church attendance...

Does the Republican Party in essence "stick to the knitting" and cling to its core conservative principles? Or should the Republicans make an effort to expand their base -- among whites who are moderate or less religious, and/or the various nonwhite groups who to this point are largely ignoring the Republican Party in favor of the Democrats? The decision the party makes in response to this question could be pivotal in helping determine its future.

Republican Pat Buchanan acknowledged recently that there is a "real demographic problem with the Republican Party. It is a heavily white party."

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Comments

[carolinecantoo]

Only 11% purging and purifying to go!!! wooh hooo, go whities, go!

[damilitantone]

The poll's interpretation is flawed, just because one says that he is strongly religious does mean that he is more religious than someone who may just consider themselves religious. Either you are religious or you aren't. Given that the strength of one's religious leanings is subjective, it should suffice that one either is or isn't religious. It's like asking folks if they are patriotic. Is one considered more patriotic if he claims to be "strongly" patriotic compared to someone who identifies themselves as merely "patriotic?"

[justsaynosarahp]

interesting point. It's about hyperbole. Am I patriotic because I wear an A-flag on my lapel, or because I have actually READ the Constitution. Am I religious because I go to church one day and week and wave my hands around, or because I actually treat others as I would be treated.
I'm trying to remember that quote -- I think it was Churchill -- about lies, damned lies, and statistics.

[patrickmcdougal]

I believe the strongly religious reflects that ones voting decisions are based on religious teachings. I think you can find a difference between strongly religious in religious groups like Muslims. Most Muslims are peaceful people who don't stone people to death but there is the hard core factions that do "Taliban". Same with Christians most are peaceful
but there are hardcore factions that do "stone" people to death Anti-abortionist.

[11907281]

Words means nothing, especially in politics. You are right in the sense that they should use the word theocratic instead of religious. One's religion shouldn't matter in politics, only their thoughts on theocracy.

[ahumbleopinion]

Maybe being strongly religious means being willing to kill someone who does not agree with you.

[realpolitic]

Republicans choose the Southern Strategy in the 60's to appeal to the resentments and stereotypes of alienated whites in the South who feared the economic and political rise of blacks and others of color. Reagan opened his presidential campaign in a small town where three civil rights workers were murdered and said he stood for state's rights, a code word for previous repressions. George W. Bush launched his campaign speaking at a Christian college which does not allow inter-racial dating. Why? Why would the GOP go so far to confrm that they were on the side of the oppressors in grievances which took us back to our earlier and uglier era. It worked for them for years as whites far outnumbered blacks and voter suppression among blacks was enforced by whites. Now people of color would soon be a majority of the population. Older movement conservative whites are so threatened that they point a finger at Sotomayor and yell racism when she only made a comment that celebrated her Latino heritage. There is no moral equivalency between celebrating one's ethnicity, which we all do, with the systemic repression of others. The Southern Strategy and their own bigotries are now burying the GOP, including their denial of such realities as climate change and the economic crisis. They are a party in retreat. In reality, they do not want to govern, but to destroy government. Good riddens!!

[TheGuide]

Excellent post. Thank you.

[gopSTEALSyourTAXmoney]

Yes! Excellent post.!
The GOP is stuck with the personna as being racists,
anyone younger than 30 would be ashamed to be a part of that in this ever
changing world.

[realpolitic]

Thanks!

[Jalepeno]

You need to review your history or at least pay attention in class next time. Those three civil rights workers were killed by Dems.(the Sheriff and his cronies)The Dems stopped LBJ's Great Society for the longest period of time and he needed the Reps. to get this through Congress. Thank God I'm independent and don't have to put up with the nonsense from either side.

[pbcrunch]

Huh? realpolitic only mentioned that Reagan started his campaign in the town where those three workers were killed, using coded-language -- "states' rights" -- that long stood for the South's right to oppress blacks.

The fact that the murderers were Democrats is relevant how?

[gopSTEALSyourTAXmoney]

You need to review your history. Those 'dems' were Southern whites,
who eventually became Republicants when Nixon planned 'The Southern
Strategy'.
What do you not understand about the Democrats in the South
and Nixon's eventual plan?

[realpolitic]

Yes, and once LBJ passed his Great Society porgram and voter's rights bills those forrmer Democrats became the modern day Republican Party. Advisors told LBJ that if he passed his programs he would lose the the white vote in the south probably forever. But LBJ knew it ws the right thing to do. !

Consider this article by Jack Valenti...

"The second moment was when President Johnson determined to press on to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He understood with awful clarity that it could cost the Democratic Party the South in elections to come. Most of LBJ's staff, like me, were from the South. We understood the risk. When a powerful Southern senator bluntly told LBJ that if he persisted, he would not only lose the election but it would lose the Democratic Party the South forever, Johnson's answer was swift and clear. He said, "If that's the price I have to pay, I will gladly pay it.""

"THE SENATOR was half-right. Johnson won the election in 1964, but he was the last Democratic presidential candidate to carry a majority of white male voters in the South. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other black leaders understood the consequences of LBJ's decision. Johnson changed America by protecting the right of everyone to vote. But it also changed the electoral map color in the South."

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117938963.html?categoryid=9&cs=1

[damilitantone]

You are missing the point of the post. By the time Reagan appeared in Philadelphia, Mississippi, you could make a safe bet that those dems that supported segregation in the 1960s were more likely to be reps. And while it's true that LBJ needed reps to pass his civil rights legislation many of the dems that opposed him at the time soon shifted from dems to reps. Hence, the birth in 1968 of Nixon's southern strategy.

[justsaynosarahp]

Good riddance, I agree. Showing my age, but I remember the ugly things screamed at our track team, one of the first integreted teams in our city back in the 60s. Upshot -- when Lisa had to go to the bathroom at a meet, all four of us on the relay went with her.

[realpolitic]

Yes, you must remember it like it was yesterday! Thanks for sharing the story.

[NotYourAvg]

What you've said is nothing but the bare naked TRUTH.

[realpolitic]

I believe it!! The facts are what they are!

[huffporocks]

Thanks for summing up how many of us feel about the GOP, past, present, and future.

[WorldGoneWild]

I hope the Gallup poll's 2Q earnings dont't tank because of this waste of a poll.

[solid]

"a new poll indicates that the Republican party's base fundamentally lacks diversity."


You don't say! I never would have guessed it watching those all-white, aging, chickenhawk McCain/Palin rallies last fall. I also never would have guessed that all those Christian, religious folks would have such filthy mouths.

[TheGuide]

They really didn't need a poll to tell us that, did they?

[desertdweller]

You forgot to mention the pinched faces and broken blood vessels....

[goodtomeetyou]

And the purification continues.....

[mediamarv]

Duh!!

[WasteNJ]

Anybody who saw the McCain-Palin gatherings on election night already knew this. The venue McCain was at had not one visible non-white face in the crowd, and none of them were smiling!

[BlueZoo]

Those McCain gatherings, particularly the GOP convention, were first in my mind when I read this column! I never saw a non-white in the crowds and remarked on it several times. My beef with the GOP is that the face of their party is not only white but OLD! They need some fresh blood and they need to rid themselves of the same old tired messages spewed by Newt Gingrich and others whose credibility is zero!

[LooktotheLeft]

"GOP Dominated by White Conservatives"

"Elsewhere in today's breaking news, an Alabama dirt farmer dug up a turnip this past Saturday in the shape of Elvis. He, and the turnip, plan to go on tour beginning next week and have eight gigs scheduled at Cesar's Palace in Vegas beginning in July. "

[justsaynosarahp]

Elvis has left the farmhouse

[jubei]

GOP's needs to go back to their basic of fiscal responsibility and core values and follow in the footsteps of Pat Buchanan,Sen.Larry Craig,Barry Goldwater,Jesse Helms,David Duke and Newt Ginrich,Thank God for the white man code of law!!

[up420oz]

yea, you go run with that. nanananaa nanananaa hey hey GOOD BY!!!!!!

[desertdweller]

Isn't it ironic that, on this very day, both the GOP and GM are bankrupt, out of ideas, and unpopular? Oh, and Obama is their Daddy!

[MyGoodMojo]

Yeah, but some of us are hoping GM can pull out of the nosedive.

[MJJM]

Why do you think the GOP keeps talking about Race and racism?? They know their party!!

[gino618]

So amusing how HP readers agree with this Gallup poll but criticize the same organization when it states something they disagree with.... like the majority of the US being pro life....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julie-menin/are-we-a-pro-life-nation_b_204465.html

[breakingnews3]

Yes, let's be.at that de.ad horse again. Most people are pro-life, silly. But you can be pro-life AND pro-choice.

[gino618]

You miss the point ( no surprise ) - the fact that when a survey, in this case Gallup, supports the majority opinion here, there's kudos all around. When it doesn't, the survey & organization is labeled as meaningless.

You can't have it both ways.... either disregard polls completely, or take as gospel every poll result.

[Javida]

There's the new prochoice mantra: Prolife AND Prochoice!

[WasteNJ]

Does that also mean we are all OK with killing Doctors too? Just following your logic here.

[Yurdelite]

Because typical people like you are too lazy to find out for yourselves what the truth is and believe anything the msm tells you. The Gallup information was cherry picked to fool people just like you and once again they did the trick.

http://fleshandstone.net/commentary/1527.html

[Yurdelite]

Amusing are people like you who believe anything the media tells you instead of finding out for yourselves what is really going on. http://fleshandstone.net/commentary/1527.html

[harriscrl3]

Of course most Americans are Pro Life. What you want them to be Pro death. They disagree though as far as when life begins. Some think a zygote and cell is a life with rights and should be allowed to live others DO NOT.

Carol

[MJJM]

And most of them are cousins!!!

[vonPinto]

That is called inbreeding.

[Char59]

No kidding, you had to do a Gallup poll to know this! What a wasted effort, it has always been like that.

[JMBrodie]

Never a bad thing to have data to back up your arguments.