The Obama Appeal

As Republicans watched the recent Democratic debates, the mountainous scale of the problems they face glowered down on them. They were already intimidated by the steepness of the first peak – Mount Change. A mid-January Gallup poll showed that only 17 percent of Americans want to continue with President George W. Bush’s policies against a staggering 79 percent who want to change them. All the candidates support “change,” of course, but the voters seem to interpret the word in a strongly anti-Republican sense.

The problem only gets worse when they are asked to break down this general desire into support for specific policies. The first four they want to see are: end the war in Iraq/bring the troops home, 26 percent; health-care reform, 19 percent; fix the economy/create more jobs, 18 percent; and secure the borders/address illegal immigration, 10 percent. Three of these four top issues are natural Democratic ones, at least in the closing stages of a GOP administration. The Republican frontrunner would prefer to see the sole Republican issue, immigration, buried because he takes a Democratic view of it. Taxes and fiscal discipline – a couple of natural GOP issues – lag behind, at 7 and 5 percent respectively.

About the Author

John O’Sullivan

John O’Sullivan is a senior fellow at National Review Institute and a contributing editor of National Review.

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As Republicans watched the recent Democratic debates, the mountainous scale of the problems they face glowered down on them. They were already intimidated by the steepness of the first peak – Mount Change. A mid-January Gallup poll showed that only 17 percent of Americans want to continue with President George W. Bush’s policies against a staggering 79 percent who want to change them. All the candidates support “change,” of course, but the voters seem to interpret the word in a strongly anti-Republican sense.

The problem only gets worse when they are asked to break down this general desire into support for specific policies. The first four they want to see are: end the war in Iraq/bring the troops home, 26 percent; health-care reform, 19 percent; fix the economy/create more jobs, 18 percent; and secure the borders/address illegal immigration, 10 percent. Three of these four top issues are natural Democratic ones, at least in the closing stages of a GOP administration. The Republican frontrunner would prefer to see the sole Republican issue, immigration, buried because he takes a Democratic view of it. Taxes and fiscal discipline – a couple of natural GOP issues – lag behind, at 7 and 5 percent respectively.