How hard is this to understand, and yet the Republican leadership can’t grasp this to save their very existence.
THE PROBLEM:
The RNC/GOPe Rockefeller Globalists have OWNED the Republican Party, and still do.
Until these subversive Trojan Horse cancers are ousted as the "leaders," the GOP doomed in its current state of 1/2 Dem-lite, and the other half what used to be the Republican Party.
I don’t totally disagree with your premise. And that’s not to infer I disagree with it in a major way either. I don’t.
The one thing I’ll touch on, is that I don’t think we have a 50/50 situation. I think we have more of a 80/20 situation, with a good many people uncertain what Conservatism really is these days.
Of course Conservatism shouldn’t change, but the term has been so abused by people like, McCain, Romney, Bush, and other lesser player in public, that it’s nearly impossible to form a good basis of understanding, unless you spend time on it, and lots of time if you really want to see clearly what is going on.
I’d say less than 5% of the populace really understands Conservatism and prefers it over anything else.
You’ve got a number of folks who are luke warm Conservatives, who think they get it. Sadly, they regularly vote for the idiots that are nominated in the party, and probably do more harm than good.