The Virginia Republican Party has largely become a branch of The Family Foundation and similar far right Christian hate groups that seek to inflict their reactionary, anti-modernity, and hate based beliefs on all Virginians. Thanks to gerrymandered districts, to date the Virginia GOP has been able to retain control of the House of Delegates, although those districts are undergoing a federal court challenge. Meanwhile, most Virginians are moving forward and resisting efforts of the Virginia GOP to reimpose a 1950's society on the Commonwealth. New polling by Public Policy Polling shows that the Virginia GOP's position on its favorite issues - opposing Obamacare, gun control and discriminating against gays - is increasingly at odds with the views of a majority of Virginians. The Augusta Free Press looks at the poll findings (Note the Virginia GOP support for the Confederate flag). Here are highlights:
Republicans have had Obamacare, gun rights and gay marriage as go-to issues to use to rile up the base when necessary. It might be time to update the playbook.
New polling from Public Policy Polling shows surprising support in Virginia for the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, as Republicans styled it, trying to tie it like a weight around the neck of Democrats.
It’s a narrow plurality in the Old Dominion, 44 percent supporting the ACA to 42 percent who oppose it, but even tepid support shows that what was once a volatile issue is no more.
On a related issue, Medicaid expansion, a hot-button state-level issue in the past two General Assembly sessions, has the support of 56 percent of Virginians, with 30 percent opposed.
An overwhelming 86 percent support background checks on all gun purchases, including 84 percent of Republicans, making it clear that the background-check issue is a non-issue.
[N]ow with the U.S. Supreme Court nullifying state laws banning gay marriage, the issue has lost its oomph. In Virginia, 73 percent of voters say the gay marriage ruling has either had a positive impact on their lives or no impact at all, with only 27 percent saying that they feel the ruling has had a negative impact on their lives. Even a majority of Republicans – 58 percent – say that the ruling hasn’t had any sort of negative impact on their lives.
It’s doubtful that Republicans can fan the flames of discord over the Confederate flag to add to their base. Overall, just 35 percent of Virginians support flying the Confederate flag over government buildings, with 51 percent opposed. On this issue, there is a bit of a partisan divide, with Democrats split 16 percent supporting/74 percent opposing, independents at 33 percent supporting/49 percent opposing and Republicans at 60 percent supporting/26 percent opposing.
With results like this, the question becomes one of whether the Virginia GOP will let go of the past and bigotry (and throwing the less fortunate into the gutter). Sadly, I suspect not. The Christofascists at The Family Foundation continue to be consumed by hatred towards Obama, hold the less fortunate in contempt, and think they have the special right to discriminate against others.
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