Why Texas Republicans Pander To The Teabaggers

If you've been paying attention to politics, then you probably know that there are no moderates among Texas Republican elected officials. Whether they represent a rural, suburban, or urban district, all of them campaign to and vote to please the state's ultra-right-wingers. Why is this true? In such a large state (both in size and population) one might expect there would be an elected moderate somewhere, but there isn't.

The chart above gives us a big clue as to why it is true. That chart was made from information in the latest University of Texas / Texas Tribune Poll (conducted between February 7th and 17th of 1200 randomly chosen Texas residents -- with a margin of error between 2.83 and 3.28 points). The poll asked Texans who they would vote for in their House District if the teabaggers formed a political party of their own.

The outcome of the teabaggers forming their own political party scares the hell out of Texas Republicans. As the chart shows, Republicans would lose as many as half of their members -- and that would be disastrous for them. The Democrats would keep their 37%, and the Independents would still be unsure of who to vote for (since they usually wait to see who is running) -- but the Republicans would drop down to only about 21%, and an equal number of 21% would go to the new teabagger party.

This makes it clear why the Republican Party (and elected officials) in Texas cater so much to the teabaggers -- because they make up around half of all Texas Republicans, and no Republican could get elected with teabagger support. And with the demographic changes coming to Texas, this puts the state's Republican Party between a rock and a hard place.

It may not come in time for this election (and maybe not even the next), but there is a demographic change happening in Texas -- a change that will present a huge challenge for the "white's only" state Republican Party. The white segment of the state's voting population is shrinking, while the minority segment is growing (especially Hispanics, who are by far the fastest growing segment of the state's population). The school's already have a minority population of over 50%, and a few year's down the road  the same will be true of the state's general population (and voting population).

The Republican Party needs to be starting now to moderate their policies toward immigrants and minorities -- policies that have them losing 90% of the Black vote, and about 75% of the Hispanic and Asian vote. If those policies are not moderated and those percentages persist, Texas Republicans will be in serious trouble. But they can't moderate those policies without angering the teabaggers (and chasing those bigots into a new party of their own) -- which could be equally as devastating for the Republicans.

What will the Republicans do? Probably nothing -- at least they'll do nothing until the demographic tide and the progressive tide (with the younger generation being more tolerant of progressive change) become so overwhelming that it threatens their very existence as a party.

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Control of the Texas Republican Party by the teabaggers can also be seen in the preferences Texas Republicans have for a presidential candidate in 2016. That same UT/TT Poll showed: