Feelings of Betrayal Driving Republican Primary Voters
Rise of the anti-establishment.
If anyone is wondering what’s behind the high poll numbers for political outsiders in this election, a new poll from FOX News has possible answers. A startling number of Republican primary voters feel betrayed by the party.
Dana Blanton has the details:
Fox News Poll: Outsiders rule 2016 GOP field, support for Biden nearly doubles
Most Republicans feel betrayed by their party — and show their displeasure by supporting outsiders over establishment candidates in the GOP presidential race.
Real-estate mogul Donald Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson are the favorites in the Republican race in the latest Fox News national poll on the 2016 election. Neither has held elected office before and yet the two of them — together with businesswoman Carly Fiorina — capture the support of more than half of GOP primary voters…
Trump stays on top with 26 percent among GOP primary voters, followed by Carson at 18 percent. Fiorina and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio are next, tied at 9 percent. All four have gained ground. After the August Fox News debate, Trump had 25 percent, while Carson had 12 percent, Fiorina 5 percent and Rubio 4 percent.
Trump holds his leader status even though he was once again rated in the poll as having done the worst job in the debate. Fiorina, Rubio and Carson receive positive marks for their performances.
The appeal of outsiders comes from significant dissatisfaction with the party establishment: 62 percent of Republican primary voters feel “betrayed” by politicians in their party, and another 66 percent say the recent Republican majorities in Washington have failed to do all they could to block or reverse President Obama’s agenda. For comparison, 40 percent of Democratic primary voters feel betrayed by their party.
You can see the full poll results here.
The Daily Mail has more:
Trump’s ahead in another poll – and no wonder, two-thirds of Republicans say they feel ‘betrayed’ by their own party leaders
Republican voters want a shake up in Washington, and they think Donald Trump could be the man for the job.
A quarter of Republicans in Quinnipiac’s latest survey, out this morning, wanted to send Trump to the White House.
A Fox News poll put the billionaire at 26 percent, and a Bloomberg questionnaire had him at 21. The Fox poll also found that 51 percent of Republicans feel ‘betrayed’ by their party leaders.
Two-thirds said they are angry because they feel Republicans, who have a slim majority in the Senate and a slightly higher head count in the House, aren’t doing enough to block the Democratic president’s agenda.
Asked why they think that is, 28 percent said they believe their party’s representatives don’t really want to defy President Barack Obama, and 13 percent ‘they aren’t smart enough’ to get the job done.
A plurality, 38 percent, said party infighting was the problem, and that members of Congress would rather battle each other than their political opponents on the other side of the aisle.
The unrest in the party has been a boon for the candidacies of Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina.
It certainly seems like a problem of the party’s own making.
Featured image via YouTube.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Well I wouldn’t call it a “feeling” of being “betrayed”… more like fact.
I was just going to say almost the exact same thing. Senator Cruz hit the nail on the head today when he talked about this very subject.
After reading that statement, I was going to comment the same.
Kudo’s.
And yet voters are rejecting candidates who have acted on their principles and kept pledges in office. Voters are giving more credit to untested promises than to candidates’ actual record.
That is what cannot be explained on a rational basis, especially when the preferred candidate has expressed quite different “principles” over the years.
I am an inventor-entrepreneur, owner of several businesses and the founder of the Professional Inventors Alliance. I spent over two decades organizing groups of inventors visits to the Hill. This included over two dozen Nobel and over a dozen Inventors Hall of Fame inductees.
Typically, I spent 6-12 weeks a year in the Beltway. I was there enough to get a very good feel of the culture of the Beltway, but not enough to really be an insider.
My take is that both parties are corrupt and useless, and that like ponds, political scum rises to the top. Leadership of both parties are by far the least suitable for the job.
I have also known politicians from both parties whom I believed to be honest. There are quite a number who started out honest turned otherwise by the very corrosive environment of the Beltway.
My take from all this is that both parties need to be sidelined for at least years, perhaps a decade or more.
I think the way to accomplish this, to break the lock on the system which currently limits outsiders, is to start taking out incumbents in primaries and electing independents, perhaps with write in campaigns.
Should a non partisan group be formed to start a multi-pronged campaign to shakeup the system.
Lisa I agree. It’s a fact! The Uni-Party is out to serve only their pocketbooks.
I think this comment sums of a lot of the feeling. Note that “No Budget” means Boehner.
“No Budget did not quit, he was forced out. And No Budget was forced out by the crony capitalist donor class that currently runs the party, not by the tea party. No Budget could have fought the tea party until 2016, but the benefactors that run the GOPe did not have that kind of time, they NEED some JEB! in the worst of ways. No Budget is a bone thrown to placate the base. Not good enough. There will be no speaker until 2016. Nobody wants this job.’
Uh Oh!
FEC Fiorina Inquiry
http://www.scribd.com/doc/282769601/FEC-Fiorina-Inquiry
A startling number of Republican primary voters feel betrayed by the party.
Ahem….
No DUH
We sent representatives to Congress with very specific goals and directives. The true Tea-Partiers have stuck by their principles. Many “Conservatives” arrived, and were strong-armed by the “establishment” GOP and lost their way.
I will NOT vote for Jeb! if he is the nominee. PERIOD (and anyone who says “well, you would rather have Shillary as President” can go to Hell). I’ve said it before, but here it is again: I would rather watch the Republican party die a fiery, screaming death by being broken in half than watch it become “statist-lite” as it has been drifting toward for years prior to the rise of the Tea Party.
If Jeb! losing to Shillary is what it takes for the party to finally piss off the Conservatives enough to leave, then so be it.
I feel the same way about John “Wayne” Cornyn, who ran as a rootin’ tootin’ CONservative and then folded like a cheap tent.
Same-same with our local congress critter, who I’ve promised would see a primary challenger who I’d support, though he’s probably got a pretty good ranking by some of the outfits that supposedly provide conservative rankings. This is one of the most conservative districts in Texas, and he’s just not the right moke.
The cheap tent which was made in China too, I might add. Sold at Walmart. By a clerk who doesn’t speak English. And paid for with WIC because the tent is standard issue for the homeless.
Not only did they “lose their way” and fail to deliver on their campaign promises, but they got arrogant and started actively insulting their base along the way.
To that respond with a hearty single-digit-salute. I will NEVER vote for anything Karl Rove or Rinse Priebus and any of those other establishment hacks put forth again.
If the R party wants to survive they need to purge those milquetoast progressive-lite wanna-be intellectual pussies and start listening to their voters again. They need to start talking about drastic cuts in the size of government and ways to put the federal government back in the box that was originally built for it with the Constitution.
Personally I have not faith that it will happen from Washington… that’s why I’m a believer in the Article V movement. There is a way forward, and it begins by restoring power to the States.
I would add to your list of who those like us wouldn’t vote for even if it means Hillary gets elected. In addition to Jeb I would add, Christie, Rubio, Fiorina, Graham, Pataki, Gilmore, and Paul. Maybe put Huckabee on that list. The only ones I would vote for would be Trump, Cruz, and Carson.
We won’t have to worry about casting a vote for Graham, Pataki, Gilmore and highly likely not even Christie. None of them will be the Nominee. They’re all FAR too low in the polls to survive much more than another month. Two at the most. None of them have a serious ground-game, and most are burning what little cash they have. Gov. Christie probably benefits the most by the others getting out in terms of money, but that won’t be enough to save him.
I could cast a vote for Rand Paul. He’s a bit nutty (not nearly so as his father) but I can tolerate that. I could cast a vote for Rubio. While his past stances on immigration have been less than stellar, I think he could be kicked in the ass by the base hard enough to swing more Conservative.
I could vote for Fiorina. Her full-press attack on the Planned Parenthood system has been what many have been seeking: someone who is not afraid to stand up and say “this is wrong.” Understand though: She is a sword, not a scalpel. But largely we’ve reached a tipping point where we are in need of a indiscriminate instrument, and I think that she is willing to make the hard choices. She has vision, and if President, she will not be appreciated in her time, but will set the Nation on a course of economic prosperity after the initial pain.
I can even hold my nose and tolerate Huckabee’s stances on spending and his social-safety net positions in exchange for his FairTax support. Therein lies a natural limit to spending and the placement of the Nation onto a balanced-budget system. Everyone finally feeling pain equally via a consumption tax system means that they will be far, far less likely to say “raise taxes” because they will feel the direct impact immediately in a loaf of bread, stick of butter and a gallon of milk.
For me Fiorina and Rubio are both just big government Bush style establishment types. They won’t do anything new just be another big government fourth Bush term. I don’t agree with you that Fiorina will be competent as President. Unlike Fiorina Rubio is unknown for his competence but both are guarateed to do full blown amnesty.
Since I will never vote for Bush I can’t be consistent and vote for any Bush substitute. They won’t provide any change and they aren’t conservative.
One more of many reasons Fiorina is an unacceptable liberal RINO who can’t be trysted. See video of her supporting individual mabdate tax penalty in Obamacare.
Appearing on CNN’s Crossfire in 2013, Fiorina repeatedly supported a mandate to purchase health insurance—the centerpiece of Obamacare—even while claiming to oppose the law as a whole. Her statements raise troubling questions about her views—on health policy, tax policy, and fundamental beliefs about the role and powers of government.
https://www.conservativereview.com/Commentary/2015/09/the-video-carly-fiorina-doesnt-want-you-to-see
The crucial issue is not what happens to the Republican Party. The crucial issue is what happens to the country after an election.
Hillary would certainly be worse than Jeb in various ways. But some people are happy to see the country and their fellow citizens suffer more than necessary, so they can feel good about “punishing” the less-evil party.
Bullshit. We sent the Republicans there to represent our interests. If they can’t do that, they are fired.
Let it burn.
The pendulum of which party is in control will always swing back and forth. It is reasonable to punish a politician by ousting them, even if it means giving the seat to the other party. In the end, the seat will be returned.
After anger comes apathy, and that will be the end of the GOP.
I’m betting the Cherokee has taught you that after anger comes sopping up the blood…
the tree is hungry
Folks are angry because they still care about a GOP they feel has betrayed them, but because they still care, the GOP could win them back (theoretically, lol). Once they accept that the GOP has changed and no longer shares their conservative values and goals, they’ll quit caring and the GOP’s already dwindling numbers will begin to nosedive. Independents already hold a plurality among all voters. If the trend continues, by 2024 it will be something like 25% and falling GOP, 25% and falling Democrat, and 50% and rising Independent. Third party due to GOP/Dem forfeiture.
Damn right! (Love y’all.)
#DefundTheGOP! Fools.
What a timely article. I had a telephone conversation with a young man calling on behalf of the NRCC. He seemed to think that I should give to the NRCC because I should be scared of Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi. I told him that I am contributing directly to the candidates this time around, because of the nasty attitude of very prominent Republicans toward the TEA Parties.
He wanted to argue with me.
Unlike some of the people who don’t know how our system works, I know very well that it takes a majority of votes in the House and the Senate, plus agreement of the President, or else a veto-proof majority, for legislation to be passed. I understand that stopping the very bad legislative initiatives of the President is a fine accomplishment.
The Republican failure to welcome the people who gave them those slim majorities in the House and Senate, thereby jeopardizing their ability to take the White House, is unacceptable.
I am to the point now that I believe the best thing we could do is fire all of them in all 3 branches and have open elections, with the man restriction being that if you were removed from any office you can not run again, period.
That’s a bit more civilized than my idea involving 535 rounds of ammo and a very busy firing squad.
Many years ago I read a fictional story about a country who drafted politicians, and at the end of their term they were executed. The reasoning was that since they could not benefit long term from their decisions that they would do what was best for society. Of coarse, the story was riddled with flaws, just like our politicians.
I’d be DELIGHTED to donate the necessary ammo.
Can I write that off?
Scenes from the Second American Revolution
Setting: A large tent near a small stream. The thunder of cannon can be heard in the background. Worried looking consultants and donors hover over a map. A portly man aged 64 is on his knees before another man with a Chamber of Commerce banner.
Suddenly a messenger appears on a sweating stallion. She alights in front of the tent and speaks.
“General Rove, the troops feel betrayed. The Trump is dug in on the high ground, and is not in full retreat as you promised.”
“Don’t worry, I have a plan. Have Kelly lead the entire Fox Division in a foul mouthed attack. Get some infiltrators at blogs to try to pass Fiorina off as an outsider. Keep up the patter about how it’s all over for Trump. Oh, and go ahead and liquidate Walker to free up some cash and support. That’ll finish Trump off in short order, trust me.”
The consultants murmur approval. A few shouts of “brilliant” can be heard.
Then a donor steps forth, and looking Rove straight in the eye says: “That was last weeks plan. And now Trump is still ahead and in the 20s while Rubio, Fiorina, and Bush are flailing about in single digits! On Fox’s own poll!”
A loud sob issues forth from a lad sitting in Lindsey Graham’s lap and sporting a “Like me on Facebook” button. “W-w-we’ll never get Amnesty this way. These Republicans are just too darn smart!”
This rebellion due to the “betrayal” of the GOP establishment began to build at least 10 years ago. When Lindsey Graham and McCain and McConnell along with Bush 43 all started trying to push through illegal alien amnesty the first time. I still remember how the moron Graham went around on TV calling the members of the base who opposed that initial round of amnesty “racist”. I began telling GOP/RNC solicitors at that time, the GOP needed to stop worrying about getting my money and start worrying about getting my vote. The establishment has only gotten worse and quite a bit more devious at trying to push their liberal agenda. I told the callers from the GOP/RNC back then that conservatives were not going to become the blacks of the republican party. By that I mean conservatives were not going to be so dumb as to vote loyally forever for a GOP establishment that never delivers the way blacks do for democrats.
Since then about 4 years ago, after holding my nose and voting yet again for another GOP establishment candidate I did NOT want to vote for, that I was through. I like some others who have posted here determined that I would rather see Hillary or Obama, Jr. elected than ever vote again for another republican I did not want to vote for. In fact one of the biggest reasons to support Trump is that if he wins the general election and becomes president the GOP establishment gets destroyed, AND if Trump loses the general election and Hillary is elected president the GOP establishment gets destroyed.
Its a win/win no matter what as far as I’m concerned.
“…if he wins the general election and becomes president the GOP establishment gets destroyed…”
Please explain the mechanism for that. Exactly how is that going to work?
Take as much time as you need.
Because
Yep. That’s what I thought.
Underwear gnome civics.
“62 percent of Republican primary voters feel “betrayed” by politicians in their party”
It worries me that the number is so low.
Of course, this now begs the question: Does the GOP leadership give a hoot?
They needed a poll to figure this out? Seriously?
That just shows how completely out of touch the beltway establishment is. They’ve been asleep at the wheel for the last 5 years.
Maybe not asleep, but simply part of the plot.
Out with them.
Now now now lets not be so hasty. We need to support whatever Rino gets the nom, so he can appoint a principled conservative to SCOTUS like John Roberts.
/s
Don’t forget Bush 41 appointed Souter a more d I sasterous appointment there could not have been.
I truly wish the Republican would wake up!
What the heck is wrong with them?
They told us they would:
Repeal and replace Obamacare?
Pass the Keystone pipe line bill?
Stop the illegal immigration executive
order? (A Federal Judge did, thankfully)
How about the Iran deal? The idiots could not even get a vote
on it?
Ineffective and so out of TOUCH with us.
PS Jeb please just go back to where you came from!
You are the problem with the Republican party.
Forget a shake-up. I want a full beheading!
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/26/us/boehner-will-resign-from-congress.html?smid=tw-bna
This COULD be a sign that the eGOP is waking up. Let’s hope.
I would vote for a 3 legged dog with rabies and mange before I would waste my vote by staying home. I am amazed that so many who swear by the constitution want to ignore the mechanism it gives us for affecting change. And we ARE changing the political landscape. Four years ago Boehner would not have resigned. 8 years ago there was no strong block of conservatives in congress who are forcing the agenda our way. 12 years ago we didn’t control the state gov’ts in the decisive, overwhelming way we do today. Politics is like a 100 foot fence painted half white and half black. Far too many on our side look at 10 feet of black fence and say ‘that is reality’. It’s real, but it’s not reality. Reality is the whole 100 ft of fence. Ane WE are painting more and more of that fence white every day. The democrat cause is being carried by a bunch of 60’s radicals who are dying out. They have no back bench. Look at who they offer as candidates. In 10 years they will be too old or too dead to do anything but vote. We have the young candidates and the ideas. In 10 years we (and America) will be hitting our stride. Quit now – no way!
5 out of 15 candidates half over half the Republican support. Of those 5, three have never held a public office and two are 1-term senators. A shakeup is long overdue, and its coming!