As you may have heard or seen on the news, the Republican National Committee has released the report compiled by a special committee which makes recommendations as to what the party needs to do if it is to improve its position among voters. When reading through this document, my reactions tended to be one of HELLO as it carefully acknowledges that “we have a problem.” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus has, I believe, done the best he can and hopefully this will lead to something positive. Yet, I see the official GOP as struggling more with mechanics rather than with the character, substance, and reception of its message. There is no better demonstrable example of the importance of message and how it is presented than the fact that Ronald Reagan was the oldest elected president in history but received one of the highest percentages of the 18-29 year old vote in history. Message, both explicit and implicit, and especially the character of the message is important. It is awfully hard to get people to vote for us if we continue to tell them, implicitly, that we don’t like them. Unfortunately, that is the perception of most ethnic minorities, singles (especially single women), younger voters, and gays.
Here’s a link to the report courtesy of the Washington Post.