The 11 Reasons Why People Don’t Vote For Republicans

by John Hawkins | August 11, 2005 7:27 am

Kevin Drum over at Political Animal[1] wrote a short post speculating on 10 reasons why people won’t vote for Democrats.

That was a good idea — such a good idea that I decided to give it a try. Do keep in mind that I don’t necessarily agree with these reasons and that some of them are structural (I.E.: If you take a position on an issue, somebody isn’t going to like it). Still, it’s a good idea to know what people don’t like about the Party, even if we don’t agree, so that we can try to counter incorrect perceptions and tailor our spin.

So here are the top 11 reasons, in no particular order, why I think people don’t vote for Republicans:

1) Too conservative: Need to be move to the middle.
2) Too religious: In the pocket of the religious right.
3) The GOP is in the pocket of big business and hostile to the poor
4) Too aggressive: Ready to use the military too quickly.
5) The perception that we’re not friendly to minorities.
6) Not conservative enough: Republicans get elected with conservative promises and then move to the middle.
7) The GOP hurts factory workers by being for free trade.
8) Spendthrifts: The GOP no longer cares about holding down spending or the growth of government.
9) Not friendly to seniors: The GOP might cut Welfare or Medicare.
10) We’re anti-abortion
11) The Draft: college students are afraid the GOP will bring back the draft.