The Winston Group » ideology

Milwaukee WI Journal Sentinel: The most conservative electorate in decades?

Lisa Mathias — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 18:11:02 +0000

Has the number of conservatives in Wisconsin surpassed the number of moderates? That would be the case, according to two different, recent polls conducted statewide. The Journal Sentinel’s Craig Gilbert breaks it down, and turns to David Winston for some explanation:

“What you’re pointing toward is a critical element in understanding where this election is going,” says David Winston, a well-known GOP pollster in Washington, D.C. “Has the electorate moved that much in terms of its ideology? Given what we’ve seen in previous years, based on election-year exit poll surveys, the numbers we’re seeing now are dramatically different. The question is, are they correct?”

The article also includes insight pulled from The WG’s Kristen Soltis, from her recent Huffington Post piece.

To read the entire article on Wisconsin’s electorate, turn to jsonline.com

The Right Idea, Epsiode 12 – Republican Identification

Lisa Mathias — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:12:43 +0000

The Right Idea, Ep. 12 – Republican Identification from The Winston Group on Vimeo.

Kristen Soltis, Jill Bandes and Jon Henke continue to discuss Arlen Specter’s switch from the Republican party to the Democrat party and its implications, as well as questions of how conservatism should be defined.

Kristen Soltis on Pollster.com: “The Vanishing Young Republicans”

Kristen Soltis — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:35:13 +0000

In her Pollster.com piece, “The Vanishing Young Republicans,” Soltis address the issue of more and more young voters identifying as Democrat, including when the trend really started and how this may affect the GOP.

Yesterday’s departure of Sen. Arlen Specter from the Republican Party re-opened the debate over the ideological direction of the Republican Party. Did the GOP move away from Specter, or was it Specter that left the GOP? Where do the American people fall?

My focus on this site over the last few weeks has been on young voters. And most of the news I have had for the Republican Party has been bad news, presenting a picture of a young cohort less convinced of the virtues of limited government, more supportive of gay marriage, and more inclusive of minority groups less prone to voting Republican.

In all of this, the overall ideological makeup of young voters has not yet been examined. Are young voters more liberal than older voters? Are they more likely to identify as Democrats? Recently on The View, Meghan McCain declared that 81% of young voters identified as Democrats. Though I appreciate Ms. McCain’s efforts to draw attention to the GOP’s troubles with young voters, the number is greatly exaggerated (and I would argue that exaggerating the problem does the cause no favors).

Read the rest of the article on Pollster.com

National party ID and ideology from the past 24 years

Chris Anderson — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:46:02 +0000

Party ID and Ideology 1984-2008 [PDF]