"The president's base is bleeding and their blood is in the water. Conservatives are telling themselves that they need to get back to their ideological roots to regain political domination, but their roots are the problem. Voters who were drilled to believe that conservatives stood for fiscal discipline, small government and ethical behavior were confused when their grip on power produced record budget deficits, catastrophic failures and a series of indictments and departures."
--Toby Chaudhuri, Campaign for America's Future Communications Director
WASHINGTON - With the nation's top conservative leaders and activists desperately seeking a strategy to unify their splintering coalition at this week's CPAC conference in Washington, current polling figures compiled by the Campaign for America's Future show the American public's large and growing rejection of conservative ideology and its failed policies.
--81 percent of Americans favor a federal minimum wage hike. 17 states voted to raise their minimum wage in 2006. ( Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg, 01/13/07 - 01/16/07)
--79 percent of adults say Medicare should negotiate with drug companies for lower prices. ( ABC News/Washington Post, 01/16/07 - 01/19/2007)
--82 percent of registered voters believe global warming exists. ( Fox News/Opinion Dynamics, 1/30/07 - 01/31/07 )
--61 percent of adults say Congress should repeal tax breaks and subsidies to oil companies. ( Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg, 01/13/07 - 01/16/07 )
--63 percent of adults oppose sending more troops to Iraq. ( Associated Press-Ipsos, 02/12/07 - 02/15/07 )
--68 percent of adults say the U.S. is heading on the wrong track. ( Associated Press-Ipsos, 02/05/07 - 02/07/07 )
--In 1994, 13 percent of Independents voted Republican. In 2006, 15 percent of Independents voted Democratic. ( Mitofsky International Voter Research, New York Times, 11/13/94; CNN 2006 exit polls )
WHAT CONSERVATIVES ARE SAYING
--Rep. Pat Toomey, president of the conservative Club for Growth, says, "Republicans "completely lost its brand as the party of limited government and low spending." [Hallow, The Washington Times, 11/10/2006]
--Tony Perkins, Family Research Council president, says Republicans lost because they forsaken "social values." [Farris, The Roundtable on Religion & Social Welfare Policy, 11/14/2006]
--David A. Keene, co-chairman of the American Conservative Union, says the Republicans lost because the election was the "least ideological election in modern memory." [The American Conservative Union, 11/13/2006]
--Grover Norquist believes "this election is proof that to win elections, candidates simply must promise to rule as conservatives." [Americans for Tax Reform Press Release, 11/08/2006]
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