These charts are made from a new Quinnipiac University Poll -- done between June 20th and 29th of 666 likely Republican caucus-goers and 761 likely Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa. The margin of error for Republicans is 3.8 points, and for Democrats is 3.6 points.
We talk all the time about the differences between Republican and Democratic candidates in the policies they support. This poll shows us why they are so different -- because the base voters in their parties believe very different things from the voters in the other party.
The poll queried respondents of both parties on four issues facing this country right now -- the huge income gap between the rich and the rest of us, the fight against ISIS in the Middle East, whether business or government experience is best for a presidential candidate, and what to do about undocumented immigrants in this country.
To say the voters in the two parties disagree is an understatement. Their views are vastly different. Almost all Democrats want the government to institute polices that will lessen the income gap, while most Republicans oppose that. Most Republicans want to send ground troops to Iraq to fight ISIS, while most Democrats are opposed to that. Most Democrats want undocumented immigrants to be allowed to stay and given a path to citizenship, while a significant plurality of Republicans just want them deported. And Republicans want a person with business experience to be president, while most Democrats want a person with experience in government.
It turns out that not only do the party politicians have a vastly different picture of the America they want to see, but so do the voters in each party.
I think this is true. But it is also the case that elite opinion affects base opinion. I have this very frustrating experience of talking to conservatives alone and generating a great deal of common ground. And then I will talk to them a few weeks later, and they will have been reprogrammed by Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. It seems to be the case with all conservatives. Part of it has to be the authoritarian tendencies in conservatives -- they have such an impulse to get in line. But when it comes to income inequality, pretty much all middle and lower class conservatives I talk to would like to see something done about it. Admittedly, I'm limited to California conservatives, but still. And maybe they are just lying to me. Maybe they are admitting to things just to shut me up. Regardless, I don't know how they live with the world views they apparently have.
ReplyDelete