E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSRepublican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan shifted their focus to the economy Wednesday, but Akin's "legitimate rape" gaffe continued to dominate the conversation. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
There are worrying signs about the Republican brand nationally, just five days before the party gathers for its convention and 76 days before Election Day.
A majority of voters in the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll called presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and GOP candidates for Congress "out of step" with most Americans' thinking compared to President Barack Obama and Democratic candidates.
And 29 percent of registered voters said they had "very negative" impressions of the Republican Party – the second-highest number of voters to give the most intensely negative assessment of the GOP in the history of the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, dating back to 1990.
The only other instance in which the “very negative” rating for the GOP surpassed that was in 2006, before Republicans received a drubbing at the polls.
The numbers underscore the headwinds facing Republicans heading into an election they're eager to win, and illustrate the stakes for the GOP next week in Tampa, where they'll have an opportunity to soften impressions of the party.
"It’s frustrating. This president has spent tens of millions of dollars trying to tag Republicans as the party of the rich and the 1 percent," said Frank Donatelli, the chairman of GOPAC, a group dedicated to training Republican candidates.
The Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd breaks down the latest NBC News/ WSJ poll.
"Republicans need to push back even harder talking about growth and jobs," he said. "That is the issue of the election; we’ve gotten a little bit away from that."
Indeed, the campaign has been focused mostly on Medicare in the week and a half since Romney added Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan -- the author of a plan including controversial reforms to the entitlement program -- to the Republican ticket.
That focus was only eclipsed by the controversy this week involving Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin, whose impolitic comments about abortion rights in the instance of rape threatened to raise a messy debate that could cost GOP candidates among women voters, with whom they already generally lag.
"Republicans have really gotten off-message in the last week and a half," said a veteran GOP operative well-versed in the party's campaign efforts. "If you’re Mitt Romney or a Republican candidate, you need to be operating within a message framework centered on economic issues, not on issues that are historically unfriendly to Republicans."
But the souring GOP brand likely has a longer tail than the last few weeks. A bloody presidential primary and congressional gridlock have contributed to a sense that Republicans don’t represent the mainstream.
GOP leaders like Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn were hoping Rep. Todd Akin wouldn't be running for Senate in Missouri, NBC News' Chuck Todd suggests. Todd joins a conversation about Akin's impact on the GOP brand, why Mitt Romney needs to make the RNC count for him and a new NBC News/WSJ poll on the '12 election.
Fifty-four percent of voters said that Republican candidates for Congress were out of step with the public, versus 38 percent who called them mainstream. By contrast, voters view Democratic candidates more evenly: 45 percent said Democratic congressional candidates were mainstream, and 48 percent called them out of step.
"The Republican brand has become the opposite of what the middle class is looking for," said Jesse Ferguson, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
He pointed to House Republicans' votes to approve Ryan’s controversial budgets, and repeated votes to repeal health care reform -- among other instances of legislative gridlock -- as contributing to a decline in the GOP's image.
To that end, Democrats opened up an advantage over Republicans on the question of the generic ballot -- which party voters generally prefer to control Congress -- in the August NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Forty-seven percent of voters said they prefer Democratic control of Congress, and 42 percent support GOP control; a one or two-point margin had separated the parties on that question since April.
Several Republicans who spoke for this story expressed concern that Romney's selecting Ryan as a running mate had needlessly made Medicare a central issue in the campaign. While Republicans had expected to fight on that issue, and had sought to inoculate themselves from having voted for Ryan's controversial budgets, some questioned the wisdom of having spent much of the last week and a half fighting on that issue -- one usually favorable to Democrats -- rather than the economy.
But voters’ adverse impression of Republicans might not translate to losses in Congress, at least in the House. Most election prognosticators have said their models don’t predict the kind of Democratic wave in the House that would deliver the net gain of 25 seats they need to retake control.
Brian Snyder / Reuters
Several Republicans expressed concern that Mitt Romney's selection of Paul Ryan as a running mate had needlessly made Medicare a central issue in the campaign.
“The popularity of Congress, top to bottom, is not extremely high,” said Brad Dayspring, a senior adviser to the Young Guns Action Fund, a super PAC founded by former aides to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. “That being said, a lot depends on what happens in the individual races. Individual members of Congress, especially a lot of our freshmen, remain popular at home. Additionally, the Republican majority becomes a lot more important to people when it serves as a check and a balance.”
The brand problem could be more serious in statewide races for Senate or governorships – or on the national, presidential level. But some conservatives are betting their enthusiasm and general disappointment in Obama’s performance after four years might be enough to deliver the election.
“The Republican brand is not fully restored to its pre-2000 level. But this election isn’t going to be won by the Republican brand, it’s going to be won by what I call the ‘Allied Forces’ – the Tea Partiers, the establishment and everybody working toward a common goal,” said Al Cardenas, the chairman of the American Conservative Union.
“You don’t need the Republican Party to be at full strength, but what you need is all of those forces to be working together,” Cardenas added.
Leave a Comment:
Romney and Ryan can't understand why their stance on women's rights is considered out of touch with mainstream politics. After all their beliefs go back 500 years!
i agree with the majority of the people around the Country, it is time we Vote all the Repiblicans out of office.
The majority want Obama out of office.
Hmmmm, MSNBC must have overlooked this ...ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota Democrat who had a rest-stop sexual encounter with a 17-year-old boy dropped his re-election bid Wednesday, hours after declaring he would stay in the race in defiance of party leaders who wanted him out as they fight to regain control of the state Legislature.
Which of these people are trying to pass a law to force this lack of morality on the rest of us?
After reading the comments on this board... I can see why FOX News only allows one side of any argument.
Taking Fox away from republicans would be like taking cartoons away from children.
Someone needs to do a republicans thinking for them. It isn't like they can do any thinking for themselves!
The entire 140-year history of the gop has been BIG BUSINESS-oriented, promoting a class-based society where only the rich, and mostly white, deserve any sort of civil rights at all.
Their underlying basis has been if you can afford to purchase power then you are welcome to wield it.
Hence the monumental level of corruption these buffoons have forced into our society, our government and especially our court system. If you cannot afford to purchase the justice you want then you do not deserve justice.
Right-wing societies throughout human history have the most corrupt and depraved, and the lower classes subjected to the most vile treatment and impoverished existences throughout history.
I have always laughed at the idea the people claiming to be "conservative" and "virtuous" and "compassionate" have been the most depraved, cruel, overbearing and brutal, without exception.
For all their accusations of the left emulating the worst in history the truth is they themselves resemble that inhumane brutality much closer than any Democrat, Liberal or Progressive could ever fathom.
Why do you think most mass killers and ruthless mercenaries in our society are almost all gopers, teabaggers and other right-wing monstrosities?
Reply to the idiot who said Conservatives are the ones who are morally corrupt. About twenty years ago six congressman were cited for taking liberties with pages. The three Republicans were defeated in the next Republican Primary. The three Democrats won theire primary. One of the three, who took a page to Europe for sex, was reelected by Democrats after he won the primay. No sense worrying about it now as he is retiring after this term!!! Guess Who???
About 20 years ago? Why to deflect on how worthless republicans are today.
Why is it we never see Mittens drinking a beer?
If the "GOP Brand" has suffered because an idiotic remark was made; why has the "Democratic Brand" not suffered by Congressional candidate Gauthier, Democrat of Minnesota , having outdoor oral sex with a seventeen year old boy?
Test your knowledge: Which Presidential candidate refused to release the documentation required to prove his eligibility to run for office, all while lying about what that documentation stated?
If you guessed Obama, go back to start.
It was Romney. He lied about filing his tax returns as a Massachusetts resident to prove he was eligible to run for Governor. He claimed for 2 years that he filed as a MA resident, but when he finally released his returns, it turns out he had filed as a Utah resident.
Worse then that. The one year of tax returns that Mitt released was incomplete. It did not include his offshore holdings or his offshore investments. Mitt was required by law to release this information.
Clinton caught getting blowjobs in the oval office (impeachment proceedings started) ... millions of liberals on welfare/food stamps/medical assistance draining our economy ... MSNBC getting 500 Mil in taxpayer stimulus funds for advertising ... No wonder Microsoft pulled out of the deal early. And yes they pulled out of the deal.
Yeah the GOP brand is suffering.... liberals "BS" polls had Democrats up in 2010 too and then reality set it. Smearing of the GOP paid for by Obama... LOL!
Does this sound like PANIC to you? But, but, but, but... Clinton got a blow job.
Please quit talking about what the republicans are doing today! PLEASE!
Personally, I think the Democratic Party and Obama are the ones "out of step". Just a few years ago the Democrats were against intergration and had lots of KKK members. They have just found a new way to hold people down. And Obama is trying to collapse our economy to change America to a third world country. He is giving our wealth away to others.
What's the matter sweetie you lose your mommy?
A few years ago? What, like 40 years ago? What is the GOP doing today?
Obama is up by 16 points in Massachusetts. Those people know Romney very well!!!!
Gee, Mitt must have at least 5% of the women's vote there. That's a good sign for Mitt, Right?
Ray,
First, Gauthier is not trying to pass legislation requiring all us to endorse his behavior or to join him in his behavior.
Second, what Gauthier did is against the law. It will be taken care of by the legal system.
Third, Gauthier's slimy behavior is self-limiting. Now that it has been made public his career in politics is over and he can't do the electorate any further harm.
Fourth, molesting teen-age boys is not part of the Democratic Party Platform.
Fifth, these kinds of escapades seem to happen with politicians from both sides of the aisle. Perhaps it is something in the water in DC.
You don't really expect that republicans can understand those differences, do you? This kind of rational thought is way beyond a republicans level of comprehension.
Idiot, Aiken is not trying to pass any legislation as he is not in office.
What's this about both side of the aisle. The post I replied to said that down through history Conservatives are always the corrupt one. Both side of the aisle is correct.
Actually what Gauthier did is not against the law because the age of consent in MN is 17 and there was no exchange of money.
Still slimy though and it will probably ruin his political career regardless.
Bush killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people in Iraq, flushed trillions of tax dollars down the toilet and destroyed the economy.
Yeah but Clinton got a blow job - na na na na
Bush went into Iraq with the FULL approval of congress - and it isnt the bj thats significant - its that clinton LIED to the grand jury
Not quite, Obama voted against the Iraq war. Hmmmm, maybe he has a brain as opposed to the others.
PS. Shame on Bush, good for Clinton.
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012, when you don't want another republican war.
obama was nothing more then a junior senator - a nothing - Bush went into Iraq with the FULL APPROVAL ofcongress
USED CAR SALESMAN – The Republican economic policies STARTED a depression. WE NEARLY HAD A DEPRESSION and IDIOTS WANT TO GO BACK TO THOSE POLICIES??? Our country would be in better shape if the Congress and Senate wasn’t full of BIGOTS. The Republican agenda has become all about the wealthy. Keep women 'in their place', don't educate anyone who can't afford to pay for private schools, don't help anyone but themselves, create wars to keep their buddies in the private sectors in business. The policy setting on religious beliefs is horrifying! The Republican refusal to accept SCIENCE for the masses is medieval. Their 'Job Creators' took our jobs off-shore. Their 'trickle down economics' didn't work! Stop worrying about a man's color or religion and get to work getting this country moving, vote all the Republican stonewallers out!!!!!
Anyone who really wants to fix the economy needs to look at history. The biggest expansion of our economy occurred in the fifties and sixties, when taxes were at an all-time high. Congress gave the wealthy an out, however, and allowed them deduction for investments in business. So guess what they did? They built their businesses.
High taxes had the additional benefit of making money available for infrastructure building, nation building.
Our schools were some of the best in the world. Our infrastructure was the best in the world. Our manufacturing was the best in the world. Our GNP was enormous. In short, by raising taxes and making it advantageous to business to invest in their business, jobs were created.
Incidentally, unions were strong and workers were protected from exploitation and unsafe working conditions and the economy still thrived! All those things that the GOP says are bad seemed to work extraordinarily well for the country. So why are they so against everything that works?
""It’s frustrating. This president has spent tens of millions of dollars trying to tag Republicans as the party of the rich and the 1 percent," said Frank Donatelli, the chairman of GOPAC, a group dedicated to training Republican candidates."
Obviously the truth hurts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Donatelli is really good as there are no new urine stains on the carpet in congress.
So what in the heck is wrong with the other %44 of you people !! Get out and vote Democrat straight down the ticket or else end up with a 7-2 right wing radical Supreme court. The boogie man is out of the GOP closet and its not pretty. Obama 2012 !!! FOMOFO-O !!!
God , cowboys are stupid - guess thats why they shovel mule sh&t for a living - Right - thats what we want - a bunch of radical liberals on the supreme court - say good bye to our rights
GOP = perpetual damage control....
GOP - perpetually cleaning up the democrats messes
Whew,
Good thing I'm not a Democrat...(how's that legitimate rape candidate workin' for ya?)
....(awkward silence...)....
lukewarmanddimwitted - yeah - that one remark undermines the whole GOP platform...NOT - urkles going down in flames
LOL!
Don't roof-rack me bro....
dont eat me - sis
Lot of comments about deficits. Republican brand is tarnished because they all all "true believers" now. Obama and Boehner had a deal for $4 Trillion of deficit reduction - but $1 Trillion of it came from tax increases. The Republican true believers in Congress revolted and killed the deal. So a different deal was cut, with $1.2 Trillion in deficit reduction but no tax increases. But if Congress via the SuperCommittee couldn't come up with defined cuts, there would be "automatic sequestration" - across the board cuts in everything, without choices. This was OK, everyone passed on it, voted for it, approved it, made no big deal about it. Then the SuperCommittee failed, miserably, to compromise and define any cuts -- and now the weasels in Congress are trying to squirm out of the sequestration any way they can - Republican "deficit hawks" and Democrats alike. Sorry to slam on the weasels, they're just innocent animals who can't help themselves, but Congress is worse, and can't help themselves... or America either. We really -need- a third choice, someone who will compromise, meet in the middle, work for the greater good, the common problems, the future. But don't look to the Republicans (or the Democrats) for this. And look in the mirror when you wonder who to blame for the whole mess.
The GOP is proud to announce ...The 2012 GOP gold plated Chastity Belt. They are a well crafted belt that any self respecting republican woman would look wonderful in. They come with a choice of two engravings. Either "GOP WAR on WOMEN TOUR 2012" or the favorite "RAGE against the BABY machine". Order now and receive an Autographed picture of Paul Ryan and Todd Akin. Hurry while supplies last. (and while people still know who Paul Ryan and Todd Akin are )
Like the old expression goes "If you're poor, middle class or a minority and you vote Republican, you're an idiot!"
now you can add, a female or a senior citizen....
why are republicans so scared of lady parts?
I know huh...I think that is the only reason that Akin didn't drop out, he did not want anybody to call him a PU$$y.......
FOMOFO-O !!!
GOP = Pale Stale and Male
There is no longer a GOP. It is now a radical group of Evangelical extremists. They have brainwashed low informaton people to vote against their own best interests, & they've sold their souls to the rich old fat white men corporate groups, so now they have to do whatever it takes to bring money to their masters. They are despictable. They are traitors to our democracy!!!!!!!!!
GOD BLESS YOU PAULETTE...best post tonight......PAULETTE FOR PRESIDENT !!!
Paulette: Thank you for your post. When does working against our economy, like the TP/GOP has done the past 3 years, become the act of traitors?
I think it was treasonous the minute Mitch said "our #1 priority is to make this President a failure"...that says it all !!! I mean really...isn't that what Al Queada's #1 priority is also ???
SAY IT AIN'T SO!
That should be the first indication what the GOP plan was. Lets screw over the American people as we are on a roll since George got us started. Now, that McCain didn't win we need to do every thing we can to ensure Obama fails. The American people and the economy will just be collateral damage. We will cause the credit rating to be down graded, create grid lock and then blame it all on the other side. Oh! by the way lets get rid of Medicare and SSN and then we can create a new program and give people vouchers that don't cover they health care. They will get sick and die because they can't afford their medicine and that will reduce the deficit.
cowboy
The Democrats did the same thing in 2001. They would do anything to make Bush a "One Term President". IT IS CALLED POLITICS!
Mitch McConnell is a TROGLODYTE !!!!
According to Boehner he's a "knuckle dragger".
and a mouth breather....
Now you've gone too far. 'cowboy', ... using that comparison and insulting other 'mouth breathers' like me! I resemble that remark!! (deviated septum, sigh)
;-)
I wonder how Romney and the RNC henchmen plan to silence Steve Baldwin at the convention? Don't know Baldwin? Let me invite you to become acquainted with not only him and his organization but also their message about Stericycle:
http://www.renewamerica.com/article/120822
Its an interesting read and may well be why Romney flatly refuses to release his tax returns.
wow...that is some messed up stuff...