Ma il partito repubblicano è davvero solo il partito di Donald Trump?
Macché, il partito repubblicano è probabilmente due partiti, o almeno vale la pena di capire se è vero.
Facciamo un passo indietro.
Dopo la sconfitta alle elezioni presidenziali del 2012 (con Mitt Romney candidato contro il presidente in carica Barack Obama) il Republican National Committee condusse un’indagine sullo stato e sulle prospettive del partito, anzi del Partito, “the Party” con la maiuscola. Il risultato fu un rapporto della primavera 2013 intitolato GOP Growth & Opportunity Project e noto come RNC Autopsy. Le raccomandazioni di riforma erano estese e articolate, potete leggervele nel testo integrale (qui). Se vi accontentate di una sintesi (per spirito di servizio ho letto il testo io così non dovete leggerlo voi), la sintesi è questa, in due punti.
Primo: il partito nazionale si sta chiudendo su se stesso, nel suo zoccolo duro ultra-conservatore, vecchio, maschile e bianco che non ha futuro. Se continua così, è destinato alla sconfitta permanente. Secondo: il partito nazionale deve prendere esempio dai suoi partiti statali, dai suoi governatori, che hanno allargato con successo la base del partito a un elettorato più giovane e femminile, più non-bianco, che è in crescita continua e che non è affatto ostile ai valori conservatori. Questi cambiamenti devono essere accolti non come una minaccia ma come una opportunità.
La rumorosa leadership di Trump sembrava aver dirottato il partito in una direzione esattamente opposta a quella qui prefigurata. Chissà che la mobilitazione repubblicana di queste elezioni 2020, straordinaria in termini numerici e tuttavia perdente a livello presidenziale, non riveli che l’highjacking trumpiano ha riguardato soprattutto i repubblicani nazionali, mentre negli Stati il nuovo corso è andato avanti sotto traccia. Si tratterà di analizzare per bene cosa abbia combinato il partito dei governatori e delle assemblee statali, degli eletti alla Camera dei rappresentanti (5 seggi in più vinti da donne, fra le quali una donna Cherokee dal New Mexico), e se e quanto sia penetrato davvero in certe minorities. E’ un lavoro duro, qualcuno lo farà.
Nel frattempo, sempre per spirito di servizio, ho selezionato alcuni passi della Autopsia di sette anni fa, tagliando qua e là senza avvertire. Le idee che traspaiono non suonano così estranee a certi sviluppi di oggi (c’è persino il consiglio di non sottovalutare i voti per posta e anticipati, così cari ai Dems e così fatali in queste ore), magari hanno davvero trovato gambe per camminare.
¶
GOP Growth & Opportunity Project (March 2013)
The GOP today is a tale of two parties. One of them, the gubernatorial wing, is growing and successful. The other, the federal wing, is increasingly marginalizing itself, and unless changes are made, it will be increasingly difficult for Republicans to win another presidential election in the near future.
Republicans have lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections. Public perception of the Party is at record lows. Young voters are increasingly rolling their eyes at what the Party represents, and many minorities wrongly think that Republicans do not like them or want them in the country. When someone rolls their eyes at us, they are not likely to open their ears to us.
At the federal level, much of what Republicans are doing is not working beyond the core constituencies that make up the Party. On the state level, however, it is a different story. Republican governors are America’s reformers in chief. They continue to deliver on conservative promises of reducing the size of government while making people’s lives better. They routinely win a much larger share of the minority vote than GOP presidential candidates, demonstrating an appeal that goes beyond the base of the Party.
It is time for Republicans on the federal level to learn from successful Republicans on the state level. It is time to smartly change course, modernize the Party, and learn once again how to appeal to more people, including those who share some but not all of our conservative principles.
The nation’s demographic changes add to the urgency of recognizing how precarious our position has become. America is changing demographically, and unless Republicans are able to grow our appeal the way GOP governors have done, the changes tilt the playing field even more in the Democratic direction. If we want ethnic minority voters to support Republicans, we have to engage them and show our sincerity.
If we believe our policies are the best ones to improve the lives of the American people, all the American people, our candidates and office holders need to do a better job talking in normal, people-oriented terms and we need to go to communities where Republicans do not normally go to listen and make our case. We need to campaign among Hispanic, black, Asian, and gay Americans and demonstrate we care about them, too. We must recruit more candidates who come from minority communities.
If Hispanic Americans perceive that a GOP nominee or candidate does not want them in the United States, they will not pay attention to our next sentence. It does not matter what we say about education, jobs or the economy; if Hispanics think we do not want them here, they will close their ears to our policies. We must embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform. It is also a fair criticism that Republicans do not do enough to elevate Hispanic leaders within the Party infrastructure. The RNC must rebuild a nationwide database of Hispanic leaders and donors that can be a resource to the Republican community at large. The RNC must invest financial resources in Hispanic media.
The RNC must improve its efforts to include female voters and promote women to leadership ranks within the committee. Additionally, when developing our Party’s message, women need to be part of this process to represent some of the unique concerns that female voters may have. There is growing unrest within the community of Republican women frustrated by the Party’s negative image among women, and the women who participated in our listening sessions contributed many constructive ideas of ways to improve our brand with women throughout the country and grow the ranks of influential female voices in the Republican Party.
The number of early and absentee voters continued to increase this cycle, and Election Day voting continued to fall. The Democrats successfully front-loaded many of their votes this cycle, expanding their early vote and absentee reach and giving them a much better picture going into Election Day of who had already voted and who remained a target for their efforts. They continued to expand their advantage in early voting, and this cycle they ran a much more focused effort on absentee voting, which helped them close their margins. Republicans must alter their strategy and acknowledge the trend as future reality, utilizing new tactics to gain victory on Election Day; it is imperative to note that this will be a critical cultural shift within the Party.
- Tre o quattro cose sulle elezioni americane in corso, prima che finiscano
- Possono le assemblee legislative statali scegliere chi vogliono come Grandi elettori presidenziali?
Tag:Autopsy, Growth & Opportunity Project, partito repubblicano, Republican National Committee
Short Cuts America: il blog di Arnaldo Testi 
Ti seguo sempre con interesse
Anna Maria
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
Ciao Anna Maria, buona domenica
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
E grazie
"Mi piace""Mi piace"