Posted on 05/19/2015 11:24:40 PM PDT by iowamark
Last fall, RCP Election Analyst David Byler and I put together an index of party strength. While most journalists look at presidential performance as a measure of party strength (see the ubiquitous “Republicans have lost the popular vote in five of the last six elections”), we take a broader view of party strength. Rather than look simply at presidential performance, we look at party dominance at the federal, congressional, and state levels. One need only look at fights over voter identification laws, redistricting, food stamp benefits, Obamacare expansion, and a multitude of other battles from the last few years alone to understand the importance of non-federal elections. We therefore believe this approach gives a more complete measure of party strength.
In this article, we do three things. First, we recap our methodology. Second, we update the methodology for 2014, and we look forward to 2016. Finally, we run some diagnostics on our index, answering various objections that have been raised.
Our index is the sum of five parts: presidential performance, House performance, Senate performance, gubernatorial performance and state legislative performance...
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
How is that possible when Republicans have a majority in Congress, but Democrats are the ones passing bills?
Stats mean NOTHING..... Take a look at that graph at a low point Reagan was elected twice. Then at a ‘high’ W is elected. And at our very strongest (according to them) O is elected.
Meaningless prattle and a waste of time and effort.
Until conservatives get out there and do the hard work at the local level nothing will change. It may be too late even at that.
NOW is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country
Real strength comes only by firm, courageous adherence to true principles.
By that measure, in my educated opinion, the GOP is incredibly weak.
As the LORD Himself inquired:
"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
This is why we gave Reagan and his successors so much executive power in order to carry out Republican policies despite the Democrat obstacles.
Now that the tables have turned, we are reaping what we sowed.
Concern for party has replaced love of our once free republic.
It says GOP.. it doesn’t say conservatives. Huge difference.
Real strength comes only by firm, courageous adherence to true principles. By that measure, in my educated opinion, the GOP is incredibly weak.
It's become like the GOP of 1904, totally preoccupied with what the political "Masters of the Universe" think and what the Business Roundtable and Chamber of Commerce want.
Like 1904, we need a Rushmore President to jerk the political world's attention back to the People, and to awaken the People from their slumbers to see the issues.
Really?
We keep hearing from the Liberal press that the GOP has all but disappeared.
You team up with the Dems, you are strong...in the wrong direction.
Your statement is silly. WE didn’t give Reagan executive power. Only congress can do that by refusing to support the constitution. The power grab by the executive has been going on since the founding of the country. It is one of the reasons the founders gave authority to different branches.
When you capitulate you don’t get power back. “the Democrats were doing very well at the congressional and state level.” So tell me again how WE gave the executive any power at all other than to faithfully uphold the duties of his office?
There are some that say that the beginning of the end for the US was the Supreme Court decision way back when Jay was Chief Justice that gave the Supreme Court judicial review.
I'll only go back to Lincoln when he suspended habeus corpus and committed other crimes against the Constitution using the Civil War as an excuse.
The Executive Branch seems to always get more power during wars and crises that they never return back, or are even asked to return back, when those wars or crises end.
But lately it's been downright silly. In the past we had real enemies to confront who we confronted in a commonsense way where an argument (however feeble) could be made for suspending some small portion of the Constitution.
Now we get arguments for suspending huge swaths of the Constitution, not to protect the US, but instead to allow it to be invaded.
“By “we” I meant Republicans who either actively lobbied for it or tacitly agreed by their silence.”
“’ll only go back to Lincoln when he suspended habeus corpus and committed other crimes against the Constitution using the Civil War as an excuse.”
You are truly lost in revisionist nonsense.
You are brave to post this, most comments will be “Wahahaha McConnell is a RINO”.
The GOP is the Strongest It’s Been in Decades
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That’s true; in the State Houses and State Legislatures but it sure as hell isn’t true in Washington, D.C.
This is an analysis of electoral strength only, not subjective analysis of whether or not the party is successfully promoting it’s purported agenda. 247 elected to the House is is the most since 1928. 54 in the Senate is one off the modern high of 55.
As for State Legislatures, they are chock full of less than stellar players, just like Congress. The Texas House Speaker makes John Boehner look like gold. Nebraska just voted to abolish the death penalty.
247 elected to the House is is the most since 1928. 54 in the Senate is one off the modern high of 55.
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Yep. Yet, as another FReeper asked: Then why in the hell are the Democrats still running things?
I think it’s hyperbolic to say they are “running things” but they have the White House and Obama’s veto as a negotiating point.
The GOP doesn’t want to shut down the government again or anything like that.
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