GOP Needs More Conservative Substance, More Moderate Tone

GOP Needs More Conservative Substance, More Moderate Tone

New polling brings good news and bad news for beleaguered Republicans yearning for a comeback in the Age of Obama.

The encouraging message suggests that Americans strongly prefer conservative policies and values to the liberal approaches preached by the president. On the other hand, the same polls indicate that the two revival strategies most commonly discussed by the GOP will both lead to political dead ends. Neither a shift to more moderate positions nor an emphasis on rousing, uncompromising, us-vs.-them right wing rhetoric will bring Republicans back to power in Washington D.C. The only workable strategy for long-term GOP gains requires...