Enthusiasm
by David Atkins (“thereisnospoon”)
This from Gallup is a couple of days old by now, which makes it ancient in blogosphere time. But I would be remiss not to highlight it.
In thinking about the 2012 presidential election, 45% of Democrats and independents who lean Democratic say they are more enthusiastic about voting than usual, while nearly as many, 44%, are less enthusiastic. This is in sharp contrast to 2008 and, to a lesser extent, 2004, when the great majority of Democrats expressed heightened enthusiasm about voting.
There’s also a scary looking chart which documents that we now have the lowest Democratic voting enthusiasm in a decade:
Meanwhile, the Republicans are excited to get out and vote:
Democrats’ muted response to voting in 2012 also contrasts with Republicans’ eagerness. Nearly 6 in 10 Republicans, 58%, describe themselves as more enthusiastic about voting. That is nearly identical to Republicans’ average level of enthusiasm in 2004 (59%) and higher than it was at most points in 2008.
It’s possible that all those people answering Gallup’s phone calls obsessively read liberal blogs and watch MSNBC, and that it’s the fault of the “professional left” that Democrats are dispirited.
Or it could be that Democrats voted for change in 2008, and they haven’t gotten what they voted for. An honest assessment of the situation would indicate the latter.
In all likelihood the President’s advisers are seeing these numbers, which would account for the newly aggressive tone coming out of the White House. And in all likelihood, when the vast majority of Americans who don’t really pay attention to politics until August 2012 get good hard look at the Republican nominee, Democratic enthusiasm will grow.
But one would hope that Democrats in leadership learn their lesson from the last few years:
1) playing nice with Republicans is a fool’s errand. The modern Republican Party is more cult than political movement. It cannot be reasoned or legitimately compromised with.
2) Playing nice with Wall Street is pointless, unless one is willing to bend over and give them everything they want. Say a single bad word about these Masters of the Universe, and they turn against you in a heartbeat.
3) Abandoning the base is a very dangerous thing to do politically, no matter how many polls show that Democrats favor “compromise” over “standing one’s ground.” The reality when push comes to shove is that if the other side seems to be accomplishing its legislative agenda, even as one’s own side is getting nowhere with the most emotionally motivating parts of one’s agenda, then enthusiasm is going to decrease.
It’s almost as if those dirty hippies on the “professional left” were right all along. Who knew?
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