Rush, in the rush of all other panicky conservatives, noted on his October 6th program that the results of the Battleground Poll show disaster for those on the political Right. As right as he is on most things, Rush is not right on this. The results of the Battleground Poll, as I have been noting now for almost five years, is very good.
Rush, in the rush of all other panicky conservatives, noted on his October 6th program that the results of the Battleground Poll show disaster for those on the political Right. As right as he is on most things, Rush is not right on this. The results of the Battleground Poll, as I have been noting now for almost five years, is very good.
Ignore the results of which political party the voters favor now. Parties that stand in stark contrast to the ideological viewpoint of the American people will only last one election, and the period from 2007 to 2009 will be one, at worst, of successful vetoes by President Bush. Ignore the results which show one politician more successful than another in the eyes of the voters. Scandals, fatigue, slander and false steps make individual candidates fail.
What matters in the Battleground Poll? The same thing that matters in all the several previous articles that I have written about the Battleground Poll: the American people are overwhelmingly – read “overwhelmingly” – conservative. One year ago, in October 2005, I noted that sixty-one percent of Americans considered themselves “conservative” or “very conservative” and that thirty-five percent of Americans considered themselves “liberal” or “very liberal.” Was this an October 2005 aberration? Hardly.
In the June 2002 Battleground Poll, fifty-nine percent of Americans considered themselves “conservative” or “very conservative” and thirty-five percent of Americans considered themselves “liberal” or “very liberal.” In the September 2003 Battleground Poll, fifty-nine percent of Americans considered themselves “conservative” or “very conservative” and, again, thirty-five percent of Americans considered themselves “liberal” or “very liberal.” In the April 2004 Battleground Poll, sixty percent of Americans considered themselves “conservative” or “very conservative” and thirty-seven percent of Americans considered themselves “liberal” or “very liberal.” The June 2004 Battleground Poll showed that fifty-nine percent of Americans considered themselves “conservative” or “very conservative” and thirty-eight percent of Americans considered themselves “liberal” or “very liberal.” In the August 2004 Battleground Poll, just before the presidential election, sixty percent of Americans considered themselves “conservative” or “very conservative” and thirty-four percent of Americans considered themselves “liberal” or “very liberal.”
The last Battleground Poll was in March 2006, just seven months ago. Had all the hammering of President Bush and Republicans affected the ideological opinions of Americans? These are the results of the same question in the March 2006 Battleground Poll. Fifty-nine percent of Americans described themselves as “conservative” or “very conservative” and thirty-six percent of Americans described themselves as “liberal” or “very liberal.”
Think about this for a minute. The number of Americans who affirmatively described themselves as “conservative” or “very conservative” has not varied by more than one percent in six consecutive Battleground Polls leading up to last week. It has always been fifty-nine to sixty percent, and this is of the whole universe of those polled. If we remove those who identify themselves as “moderate” or “unsure” from the mix, then the percentage of Americans who identify themselves as “conservative” or “very conservative” rises into the sixty-two or sixty-three percent range. Neither of the two political parties has received that high a percentage of the vote in any modern congressional election.
But things have changed dramatically in the last six months, right? Wrong. Dead wrong. The October 2006 Battleground Poll shows sixty-one percent of Americans consider themselves “conservative” or “very conservative” and thirty-four percent of Americans consider themselves “liberal” or “very liberal.” The advantage gap of self-identified conservatives over self-identified liberals in the last seven Battleground Polls, beginning in April 2002, has been thus: twenty-four percentage points (April 2002); twenty-four percentage points (September 2003); twenty-three percentage points (April 2003); twenty-four percentage points (August 2004); twenty-six percentage points (October 2005); twenty-three percentage points (March 2006); and twenty-seven percent (October 2006.)
The gap between conservatives and liberals is wider than it has been in any of the last seven Battleground Polls over the last four and a half years than it does right now, today. Liberals have never been more unpopular than now and conservatives never more popular than now. The Battleground Poll is the most intensively researched bipartisan poll in American, the only poll that openly relieves all its internal questions, the most accurate poll.
The huge advantage that conservatives have over liberals ought to determine the results of the October 2006 elections, but only if conservatives know who to define themselves boldly and clearly. That is the salient issue in American politics. It has been so for a long time. Just ask the ghost of President Reagan in Heaven.
Bruce Walker has been a published author in print and in electronic media since 1990. He is a regular contributor to WebCommentary, Conservative Truth, American Daily, Enter Stage Right, Intellectual Conservative, NewsByUs and MenŐs News Daily. His first book, Sinisterism: Secular Religion of the Lie by Outskirts Press was published in January 2006.
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