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Jewish World Review Jan. 31, 2003 / 28 Kislev, 5763

John H. Fund

Fund
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Half and Half: Republicans have achieved parity among American voters


http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | President Bush's State of the Union address was about policy. But policy always has to do with politics. Less than a year from now, Mr. Bush will weather the New Hampshire primary. Although he looks to be a strong incumbent, his political advisers know the country is still closely divided politically and are leery of mishaps with Iraq or the economy or some X factor. That explains why only last week White House strategist Karl Rove predicted a "very close" race for president in 2004.

After the photo-finish 2000 election it became fashionable to talk of the nation as evenly divided between Democratic "blue" states and Republican "red" states. The strong GOP showing in last November's midterm elections--Republicans won the vote for Congress by 52% to 47%--resulted in part from President Bush boosting GOP turnout and enthusiasm.

As an incumbent, Mr. Bush has an edge regardless of who his Democratic opponent is. People forget that Bill Clinton's popular-vote plurality in 1992 was only six percentage points despite the perception that the economy was in the toilet and the presence of Ross Perot, who siphoned off many traditionally Republican voters. Nonetheless, evidence continues to accumulate that institutionally the two parties are still at rough parity in terms of strength.

We still have no exit-poll data from the 2002 election, thanks to the Election Day meltdown of the media-supported Voter News Service. The best data we have on how the parties currently stack up are in a just-released Gallup Poll analysis of all 45,000 interviews Gallup conducted with voters during 2002. If Gallup is right that "a person's party identification is generally the most powerful predictor of his or her political behavior," then the country is still very evenly split in partisan terms. Gallup found that 34% of respondents called themselves Republicans, 32% Democrats and 34% independents. But then Gallup "pushed" the independents to identify which party they leaned toward. Previous surveys found that "leaners" vote for their party of choice almost as often as self-described partisans.

The result was that the two parties ended up almost as close as the 2000 division between George W. Bush and Al Gore. A total of 45.1% of respondents identified themselves as Republicans, while 44.7% indicated they were Democrats. A similar survey of 26,000 registered voters taken by the polling firm of Ipsos-Reid and the Cook Political Report also found an almost exact even split in partisan identification. These two surveys show Democrats have a real base from which to run against President Bush--especially if events hand them a lucky break.

What I found most fascinating about the Gallup survey is that its large sample size enabled it to break out individual numbers for party strength in 48 states plus the District of Columbia. (For time-zone reasons Gallup doesn't poll heavily Republican Alaska or heavily Democratic Hawaii.)

Democrats can take heart from the fact that if you use the Gallup study to look at all the states, they have a partisan identification edge in 21 states with a total of 283 electoral votes--more than the 270 needed to elect a president. Republicans lead in 29 states with 255 electoral votes.

Republicans will instead focus on the remarkable increases in partisan identification they've made since the last major Gallup study in 1993, at the start of Bill Clinton's first term. The proportion of people identifying themselves as Republicans increased 7.4 percentage points during that time, an unusually large shift. The GOP gained ground in 41 states. The states where Democrats lost ground--and where they didn't--tells us a lot about the relative strength of the parties.

The Northeast, once such a bastion of Republican support that it delivered Herbert Hoover's only electoral votes against FDR in 1932, has become the base camp for any Democratic candidate's march to the White House. Four of the six announced Democratic candidates--John Kerry, Howard Dean, Al Sharpton and Joe Lieberman--hail from the Northeast.

In the Gallup survey, four of the seven states where Republicans have lost ground since 1993 are in the Northeast. Former swing states such as New Jersey and Delaware now lean Democratic. Indeed, Democrats have now swept the Northeastern states, except New Hampshire and West Virginia in 2000, for three straight elections. Together the Northeast delivers 115 electoral votes, almost halfway to a majority. Democrats clearly need the Northeast, but just as obviously they can't win without making inroads in other regions.

That explains the allure of Sen. John Edwards's candidacy. Although he has a reliably liberal voting record, Mr. Edwards has a populist streak, a honeyed North Carolina accent and the engaging manner of many Southern pols. His argument is that Democrats have to break into the South to have any chance of winning. The Gallup survey backs him up. For the first time in history, Republicans have a plurality or majority of voters identifying with them in every Southern state except Arkansas and Louisiana. Voters in Mississippi identify with Republicans by 54% to 38%. In Texas, it's 52% to 40%. As befits the virtually tied 2000 presidential results, Florida has the narrowest of GOP edges (46.2% to 45.8%).

Another major battleground for the White House is the Midwest. Former House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri argues that he can appeal to that region's tradition of economic populism and traditional values better than the other Democratic candidates. There are bright spots for Democrats in the Midwest. While Ohio has become more Republican in recent years, Illinois now clearly leans to the Democrats. Michigan is a complete tossup, with both parties having 44% support. Mr. Gephardt may be the only Democrat who could carry the 11 electoral votes of Missouri, a longtime bellwether that now leans Republican.

Out West, the states fall into two camps. The three coastal states tilt Democratic, while the interior states are overwhelmingly Republican. California remains surprisingly competitive in partisan identification, with Democrats holding a 49% to 43% edge that closely mirrors Gov. Gray Davis's margin over GOP challenger Bill Simon last year. A Democrat still has the edge in a presidential race in California, but a popular President Bush could make a run for its 55 electoral votes. The mountain states are increasingly Republican, due in part to an influx of conservative voters fleeing California. The most Republican states in the country are Utah, Idaho and Dick Cheney's Wyoming.

State (electoral votes) Rep. Dem.
California (55)
43%
49%
Texas (32)
52%
40%
New York (31)
39%
52%
Florida (27)
46%
46%
Illinois (21)
42%
48%
Pennsylvania (21)
44%
48%
Ohio (20)
49%
41%
Michigan (17)
44%
44%
New Jersey (15)
43%
47%
Georgia (15)
47%
45%
North Carolina (15)
48%
45%
Virginia (13)
49%
41%
Partisan identification isn't everything. In just this last election, we saw moderate Democrats snatch governorships away from Republicans in such conservative strongholds as Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma. Meanwhile, the six most Democratic states in the nation in the Gallup study--Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Maryland, Connecticut and Arkansas--all now have Republican governors.

Both parties always claim they will run a 50-state general election campaign that won't slight any state. But in reality, the way to reach 270 electoral votes is to concede large swaths of territory to the opposition and focus on a few battleground states. There you pour in resources for television airtime and get-out-the-vote efforts.

The dozen largest states listed in the chart nearby cast a clear majority of 285 electoral votes. Eyeballing the list you can see that the fiercest fights will come in Florida, Pennsylvania and Michigan. If you live there, expect to be dive-bombed with messages from both candidates until you want to say uncle. If you live in a small state that tilts towards one candidate or the other, you may feel as lonely as the Maytag repairman. Our nation may be equally divided, but some states' divisions are more equal than others.

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Up

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10/31/02: Blue Gray: California's governor answers a Nobel Prize winner with obscenities
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10/11/02: The kill-everything senate
09/30/02: Schroeder did what it took to win--but at what cost to Germany?
08/22/02: Buh-Bye Bob, So Long Cynthia : No amount of shouting could've saved Barr or McKinney
07/29/02: GOP: Get Over Panic --- Dems are vulnerable on corporate scandals, too
07/17/02: Not Just an Average Joe: A black GOPer may give Rep. Eliot Engel a run for his money
07/15/02: The McCain Mutiny-II
07/01/02: Opening the Schoolhouse Door: The politicians can't stop school choice now
06/20/02: The Body' Bows Out --- American politics will be duller without Jesse Ventura
06/06/02: It's time for President Bush to stand up to California's senators
05/16/02: A Court Intrigue: Procedural funny business in a racial-preference case
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05/09/02: Newark, Zimbabwe!?
05/02/02: Will Terror Leave Us No Choice? Teachers unions try to use Sept. 11 as an excuse for bad schools
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04/16/02: 'I, Uh, I Have No Comment': A union plays dirty in opposing an antitax initiative
03/31/02: Don't Just Do Something, Stand There!: Filibusters can help the Senate GOP get things done
03/14/02: Red-Light District: It's time to draw the line on gerrymandering
02/21/02: Slippery Slope: Can Dick Riordan beat California's Democratic governor?
02/14/02: Reform School: The Shays-Meehan incumbency protection act
02/07/02: Arizona Highway Robbery: Politicians make a grab for campaign cash
01/31/02: Disfranchise Lassie: Even dogs can register to vote. We need election reform with teeth
01/17/02: Dr. King's Greedy Relations: Cashing in on a national hero's legacy
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01/04/02: The little engine that couldn't--and the senators who don't want it to
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12/13/01: How Gore could have really won
12/07/01: Let our students keep their cell phones
12/04/01: Why the White House gave the RNC chairman the boot
11/12/01: A Winsome Politician: She won an election in a majority-black district--and she's a Republican
11/01/01: Bush Avoids Politics at His Peril
10/30/01: Cocked Pit: Armed pilots would mean polite skies
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10/04/01: Three Kinds of pols
08/24/01: Lauch Out: Who'll replace Jesse Helms?
08/08/01: Tome Alone: Clinton's book will probably end up on the remainder table
08/03/01: Of grubbing and grabbing: Corporation$ and local government$ perfect "public use"
07/31/01: Affairs of State: The Condit case isn't just about adultery. It's about public trust and national security
07/14/01: The First Amendment survives, and everyone has someone to blame for the failure of campaign reform
07/12/01: He's Still Bread: Despite what you've heard, Gary Condit isn't toast --- yet
07/12/01: Passing Lane: Left-wing attacks help boost John Stossel's and Brit Hume's audiences
06/25/01: Man vs. Machine: New Jersey's GOP establishment is doing everything it can to stop Bret Schundler
06/15/01: A Schundler Surprise? Don't count out "the Jack Kemp of New Jersey"
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05/29/01: Integrity in Politics? Hardly. Jim Jeffords is no Wayne Morse
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05/07/01: Prematurely declaring a winner wasn't the networks' worst sin in Florida
04/23/01: How to fix the electoral process --- REALLY!
04/11/01: A conservative hero may mount a California comeback
03/30/01: Can the GOP capture the nation's most closely balanced district?
03/09/01: Terminated
03/06/01: Leave well enough alone
02/22/01: Forgetting our heroes
02/15/01: In 1978 Clinton got a close look at the dangers of selling forgiveness
02/12/01: Clinton owes the country an explanation --- and an appology
02/06/01: How Ronald Reagan changed America
01/16/01: Why block Ashcroft? To demoralize the GOP's most loyal voters
01/15/01: Remembering John Schmitz, a cheerful extremist
12/29/00: Why are all Dems libs pickin' on me?
Dubya's 48% mandate is different than Ford's
12/13/00: Gore would have lost any recount that passed constitutional muster
11/13/00: The People Have Spoken: Will Gore listen?
10/25/00: She's really a Dodger
09/28/00: Locking up domestic oil?
09/25/00: Hillary gives new meaning to a "woman with a past"
09/21/00: Ignore the Polls. The Campaign Isn't Over Yet

©2001, John H. Fund