A false choice dominates current Republican thinking: You
have to move to the center to get independents, even though it offends your
base and your principles, or you must run to the right, lose swing voters and
pray that higher turnout will help you win.
But that dichotomy applies only to social issues like
abortion or gay marriage, where the extremes of both sides distrust the middle.
There are a great number of ways to capture swing voters
without compromising the conservative base, issues that animate and motivate
the base but also attract independent voters.
These are the issues that Republicans can use to win.
Immigration and income inequality: Swing voters oppose
President Obama's amnesty for illegal immigrants and are appalled by his open
border that lets in hundreds of thousands of Central American kids who show up
on our doorstep.
But while Republicans see immigration as a law and order or
cultural values issue, swing voters see it as an economic challenge. For them,
immigration and income inequality merge as political issues.
The essence of triangulation is to use your tools to fix
their car. Use the tool of opposition to illegal immigration to fix the economic
inequality car. Republicans should oppose illegal immigration because of its
economic impact on American workers. The millions who come here and settle on
the bottom of the economic ladder block the upward progress of those already on
the lower rungs who want to move up.
The Center for Immigration Studies reports that Census data
show the proportion of native-born Americans who have full-time jobs has risen
by only 0.1 percent since 2000, while among other groups (legal and illegal
immigrants and naturalized citizens) it has risen by 5.7 percent in the same
period. Virtually all jobs created since 2000 have gone to people who were not
born in the United States.
Blue-collar Americans have always been threatened by
immigration and remain so today. Republicans can win their votes.
ObamaCare: From the beginning, Americans have opposed
ObamaCare. The latest Rasmussen poll (April 27), like so many others, shows 54
percent disapprove of the program, compared to 42 percent who view it
favorably. Republicans can attract swing voters by pounding away at the
healthcare reform law. It was Mitt Romney's handicap in 2012 that his record in
Massachusetts made him unable to do so.
But while Republicans should attack the law's mandates,
taxes, lack of choice, quality of care and every other aspect, they should take
care to support its ban on rejecting pre-existing conditions and on terminating
coverage or raising rates during illness. Otherwise, have at it!
Wall Street: Republicans must reject the Wall Street wing of
the party and go after the small-business owner and entrepreneur instead. These
voters -- and almost all swing voters -- share the view that Wall Street is
predatory, self-interested, fraudulent and deceitful. They blanch at the fact
that none of the miscreants who caused the sub-prime crisis is in jail or every
likely to go there. Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) arguments cater to voters
of all types, and Republicans should pick up her lines of attack.
Guns: There has been an important change in popular
attitudes toward guns. In 1990, Gallup reported that 78 percent of Americans
favored stricter gun controls while 19 percent wanted looser controls or
supported the current law. Now it's reversed. Only 47 percent want stricter
controls and 52 percent support current law or want less regulation. In 1993,
Americans said that having a gun in the house makes it a more dangerous place,
52 percent to 42 percent. Now they say it makes home a safer place, 63 percent
to 30 percent. Swings like this offer enormous political opportunities to use
guns to pick up swing voters (not necessarily AK-47 assault rifles, but
handguns).
These issues are the real way to win elections. Keep your
base but reach out to the center on the issues over which you find common
ground.
Source: Dick Morris Published on TheHill.com on April 28, 2015
Comments
Republicans should vow to stop all
immigration including illegal, legal, refugees and amnesty and demand that we
enforce current immigration laws to make jobs available to US citizens. Insisting on 2nd Amendment Rights
is necessary. Republicans need to widely publish their Obamacare Replacement
Bill along with a seamless conversion plan.
Republicans need to pass resolutions naming global warming a hoax and a
Bill to repeal EPA regulations.
Republicans need a Bill to close the USDOE and scrap Common Core and
quit the UN. Half-measures aren’t enough.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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