Gallup Poll: GOP is Very White and Very Conservative

The Grand Old Party is a mess.  Everyone can see it.  From humiliating defeats in the last two national elections to the recent outburst of internecine warfare, from a new party chairman who has gotten off to a rocky (to be charitable) start to the sexist, racist response to President Barack Obama's selection of Federal Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to succeed David Souter on the Supreme Court, the "Party of Lincoln" is consistently showing it's disconnect from the country's future.  The consistent narrative, one to which I agree, is that the party is too conservative and too homogenous to be seen as a credible alternative to the Democrats in this increasingly diversified and politically moderate nation.  While party leaders keep trying to convince us that America is a conservative country, Republican candidates are getting their brains beat out at ballot boxes all over the country.  The party is simply out of step with the rest of the country.

Now comes this Gallup poll which puts the Republican quandary in starker context.  According to Gallup, "more than 6 in 10 Republicans today are white conservatives, while most of the rest are whites with other ideological leanings; only 11% of Republicans are Hispanics, or are blacks or members of other races. By contrast, only 12% of Democrats are white conservatives, while about half are white moderates or liberals and a third are nonwhite.

Good luck Michael Steele.  Until you and your colleagues realize that American wants a significantly more diversified and less conservative Republican Party, prepare for continued electoral defeats.