Source: CVDaily Feed
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The Republican Party has a serious branding problem. The GOP has a strange attraction at inner-fighting and alienating. The moderates upset the far right by caving on issues they feel are not correct. The far right upsets the moderates by fighting for issues the moderates feel are a losing cause. All the while the changing demographics are pushing the GOP further and further away from a Presidential election win.
The changing demographics of the country certainly do not favor the GOP. The ethnicity gap in the United States is growing. Estimates show that in 1995 there was a division of 71% white and 29% non-white. While in 2013 the gap decreased to 54% white to 45% non-white. This change is causing major problems for Republicans in a national election, as minorities are overwhelmingly voting Democrat. The GOP has steadily been going downhill with minorities since 2000.
The major issue of concern of the GOP and minorities is immigration. The portrayal of a Republican Party against immigration and for deportation is a tough climb. The Democrats play the easy card of huge social safety nets and immigration with no proof of identification to vote. The Republicans need to start taking the Hispanic/minority vote very seriously and devising plans to win some over. Currently the Democratic Party is viewed as the party of immigration, Hispanics overwhelmingly vote Democrat. This is bad news for the GOP as the Hispanic vote in the so-called swing states is growing. The state of Florida now has more registered Democrats than Republicans thanks to a heavily growing minority population. The state of NM once a considered a swing state is now solidly in Democratic control. The state of NV is also strongly trending into the Democrats corner, thanks in large part because the Hispanic voting bloc is becoming a greater percentage of the vote, increasing from 10% of the total vote in 2004 to 18% of the total vote in 2012. NV could easily become a blue state if it isn’t already. These three states alone show a cause of alarm as the GOP will have to pick up electoral votes somewhere else.
The so-called swing states Mitt Romney lost in 2012 NV, CO, NM, FL account for 49 electoral votes. Is there any reason to believe they will come back into the Red in 2016? Republicans need to wise up quickly. Had Romney won all four of those states, he would have still needed OH. So Romney had to win practically all the swing-states, Obama could have lost virtually all the swing-states and still won. The Republicans need to re-brand or George W Bush is the last Republican President.
Ladd Kennington