For years, the Democrats who controlled the legislature polled the electorate at least once a year. They weren’t asking horse race questions. They were trying to gauge the mood of the people who decided elections to help shape their legislative agenda and their campaigns.
Some people would deride this tactic as letting polls, not principles, guide our elected officials. In reality, it helped the elected leaders understand what the people of the state would tolerate, what they would not, and where their priorities lay. Without the polls, the elected officials would be relying on the bubble of their friends, family and supporters to gauge the sentiments and values of a large and diverse state.
Because of these polls, Democrats generally led from the center. They knew that North Carolinians overwhelmingly supported public schools, community colleges and universities, in that order. They also knew that people were wary of raising taxes and generally preferred raising sales taxes to raising income taxes. On social issues, they were aware that the state remained religious, was pro-gun, and had conflicted feelings about abortion.
They also knew that there was very little support for school vouchers. They knew that North Carolina had streak of cautious environmentalism. People supported the state and organizations like The Nature Conservancy buying and preserving land. And they supported measures to protect our air and water, particularly along the coast and in the mountains.
Republicans either didn’t take those polls or ignored the responses. Over the years, I read too many of them and I don’t believe attitudes changed that much. Their attempt to ram through a voucher program is little more than attempt to pay off their religious base and they got called on it. Instead of building support for extracting natural gas through fracking, they tried to fast-track the program, dismissing critics and treating opponents like the enemy instead of concerned citizens.
On a host of other issues, Republicans have tried to steer the state hard to the right without the broad base of support they need. As a result, they’ve handed Democrats potent issues and they will pay a price on election day. Even their heavily gerrymandered districts can’t save some of these folks. If the GOP hopes to govern for long, they should adopt pragmatism over ideology.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
If someone proposed a constitutional amendment that banned politicians from deciding electoral districts, I wonder what the difference in support between politicians of both parties and the voting public would be. I’m betting a very large gap.
You lost me when you mentioned gerrymandered districts. Considering the mischief the Democrats have gotten up to over the years I’m shocked you would even bring it up. You do remember the Interstate district don’t you? It ran down I85 from the Triad to Charlotte. I wonder how many voters lived in the middle of an Interstate highway?
But you may be right, we’ll have to see if the Republicans have overreached or not. I can tell you this however, the moderate “country club” Republicans are a Democrats best friend. Kay Hagan should be losing by 15 points.
Actually Greg, thats a terrible example. NC-12 is a federally mandated majority-minority district required by the voting rights act. If you wanted a more accurate example I’d go with Brad Millers 13th district… which for the record still isnt as much of a partisan abomination as the current NC-02. Sure the democrats gerrymandered, the Republicans however are either better at it or just more ruthless in its application.
I think the biggest difference in the latest gerrymandering results was the technology available to aid the effort. We’re to a point where they can use such surgical precision and endless amounts of data. It’s become a tool that’s a danger to our republic and needs to be taken out of the hands of both parties.
You have my wholehearted agreement david.
It’s no surprise that they are pushing for items not supported by a majority of NCians; thanks to the gerrymandering, they were elected in an election where a majority of folks didn’t vote for a Republican legislator. The only way to survive in their political majority now is thru that gerrymandering, the ridiculous voter ID law, and their extreme financial advantages in almost all races.
They just can’t stop themselves. This is why their rein will be short in a historic context.