How Pro-choice Republicans Are Helping Donald Trump

[eridani]

http://www.thenation.com/article/how-prochoice-republicans-are-helping-donald-trump/

The polling also clearly shows that Republican moderates are deeply apprehensive about immigration. Moderates agree by a 59–41 spread with the statement, “it bothers me when I come in contact with immigrants who speak little or no English,” and by a 79–21 margin they want a Republican nominee who will “fight” the fact that 12 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States instead of one who “accepts it.” (Observant Catholics, who tend to align with moderates on many issues as a counterweight to evangelicals and Tea Partiers, also want a fighter on immigration by 91 percent to 9 percent. That may explain why Trump’s tussle with the pope on the specific topic of immigration didn’t appear to harm his support at all.)The Democracy Corps survey is worth reading in full, because it establishes Trump’s basic appeal and outlines what fractures exist inside the Republican party. The key finding is that two things unify and animate GOP voters, from Tea Partiers to moderates: a deep antipathy to Democrats and Democratic politicians, and strong anti-immigration views.

Being anti-Democrat is actually twice as powerful as a motivating factor than being pro-Republican, the polling found. The party overwhelmingly agrees that there is no difference between the Democratic Party and socialism, by a 79–21 margin, and by an 88–12 margin thinks the Democratic Party’s policies are so misguided they threaten the nation’s well-being.

The feeling is most intense among Tea Party voters and evangelicals, but even moderates agree on the socialism charge by a 64–36 margin. Moderates also believe that Democrats threaten America’s well-being by a 76–24 margin. Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Barack Obama have favorability ratings somewhere in the neighborhood of infectious flesh-eating diseases among all Republican voters, with only 1 percent of Republicans expressing warm feelings about them.