New GOP Report Labels Republican Party ‘Closed-Minded, Racist, Rigid, Old-Fashioned’

“Opposition To Gay Marriage Is A ‘Deal Breaker’ To One Out Of Four Young Voters”

A new and extensive report created for and released by college Republicans labels the GOP “closed-minded, racist, rigid, old-fashioned.” The focus group based study of 18-29 year-olds, called “Grand Old Party for a Brand New Generation” by the College Republican National Committee, was created by the Winston Group, starting around the same time as the RNC’s autopsy came out in January.

The report denigrates the Reince Priebus/RNC response to the GOP’s own study, the “Growth and Opportunity Project,” which was to change messaging and not change policies, then reports that “about a quarter (26%) of young people say they’d probably or definitely not vote for a candidate who opposes gay marriage even if they were in agreement on many other issues. That opposition to gay marriage is a “deal breaker” to one out of four young voters represents neither a hopeless situation for the GOP nor a great one. It instead raises the challenge: how can the GOP expand its appeal on the issue, or win on issues of greater issue salience so that gay marriage is not a ‘deal breaker’ for a large number of young voters?,” the report (page 66) states.

It then suggests the same response to marriage equality and gay people as the Catholic Church does, acknowledging “there is hardly an appetite from this generation to see the GOP crusade against same-sex marriage. In the short run, as we wait for the Supreme Court rulings on the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8, the best course of action for the party may be to promote the diversity of opinion on the issue within its ranks (after all, for quite some time, former vice president Dick Cheney was to the left of President Obama on same-sex marriage) and to focus on acceptance and support for gay people as separate from the definition of marriage.”

“In the focus group research conducted in January 2013, the young ‘winnable’ Obama voters were asked to say what words came to mind when they heard ‘Republican Party.’ The responses were brutal: closed-minded, racist, rigid, old-fashioned,” the report (page 69) states, adding most respondents, when asked about Democrats, “noted that they were ‘tolerant,’ ‘diverse,’ and ‘open-minded.’”

The study adds that in August of 2012, “a meager 28% of young people surveyed said they had a positive view of the Republican Party. By the March 2013 CRNC survey, those numbers had ticked up just barely, to 33% favorable, 53% unfavorable.”

Interestingly, the report (page 16) also included a mention of “the 2.7 million users who changed their Facebook profile photos to a red-and-pink version of the logo for the Human Rights Campaign in support of same-sex marriage during the Supreme Court’s hearings on the issue in March.”

The media all seem to have the same response to the report.

Politico writes that “in some ways the new report from inside the GOP tent is even more scathing and ominous — since it comes from the party’s next generation.”

The study slams some Republicans’ almost singular focus on downsizing Big Government and cutting taxes; candidates’ use of offensive, polarizing rhetoric; and the party’s belly-flop efforts at messaging and outreach, even as the report presents a way forward and, at times, strikes an optimistic tone.

Gay marriage: “On the ‘open-minded’ issue … [w]e will face serious difficulty so long as the issue of gay marriage remains on the table.”

Hispanics: “Latino voters … tend to think the GOP couldn’t care less about them.”

Perception of the party’s economic stance: “We’ve become the party that will pat you on your back when you make it, but won’t offer you a hand to help you get there.”

Big reason for the image problem: The “outrageous statements made by errant Republican voices.”

CNN adds:

“Solely for the rich.” “Lacking in diversity.” “Old-fashioned.”

That’s how young voters perceive the Republican Party, according to a new report by the nation’s largest Republican youth organization.

And in “College Republicans Report Finds Young Voters Hold Many Positions Opposite Of Party,” the Huffington Post writes:

The report found that 50 percent wanted to “cut government spending significantly,” seemingly a winning issue for Republicans. However, a “large number” of respondents wanted to start with the defense budget.

Fifty-four percent of respondents in a March 2013 survey said taxes should go up on the wealthy, which Republicans have long opposed. Just 3 percent said taxes should be cut for the wealthy.

On health care, 41 percent said Obama’s health care reform law would make the health care system better, versus 32 percent who thought it would make things worse. House Republicans have tried 37 times to repeal Obamacare.

On immigration, respondents most frequently said that undocumented immigrants should be given a path to citizenship, while the second-most favored initiative was an “enforcement first” strategy. Republicans are divided on providing a pathway to citizenship, with those such as Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) backing one, while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) opposes it.

Fifty-one percent said that Republican economic policies played a major role or “the biggest role” in the financial crisis, while larger numbers blamed banks and financial deregulation.

Forty-four percent said that gay marriage should be legal, 26 percent said it should be left up to the states and just 30 percent said that marriage should be only between a man and a woman, the official position of the Republican National Committee.