Which GOP Presidential Candidate Can Win Connecticut?
EAST HAMPTON, CT – It is easy to understand why Connecticut doesn’t get much attention in the race for the Republican Presidential nomination – the state has voted for the last five Democratic Presidential candidates, sends an entirely Democratic Congressional delegation to Washington, and elected a Democratic Governor when the rest of the nation voted Republican in 2010.
But in an era when politics seems so divided and broken, perhaps a greater focus on difficult-to-win states would be a good remedy. In Heath W. Fahle’s opinion-editorial for CT News Junkie, he explores which Republican candidate could appeal in the most Pro-Obama state in the union. The entire piece is available at CT News Junkie.
Some highlights:
Republican Presidential candidates used to find receptive crowds in Connecticut. President Richard Nixon won the state’s eight electoral votes, posting a convincing 19% margin of victory over George McGovern in 1972. Four years later and just two years beyond Watergate, Gerald Ford still won 52% of the vote in 1976, and conservative hero Ronald Reagan defeated incumbent President Carter in 1980 with a 10% margin of victory. Not only did Reagan expand his margin to 22% in 1984, the Reagan Landslide also carried state Republicans to their first majority in the CT House of Representatives since 1974. The GOP winning streak continued in 1988 as the state voted for George H.W. Bush.
All that seems like ancient history though. The Democratic margin of victory has grown since 1992, culminating with President Obama’s 22% trouncing of John McCain in 2008. Equally disheartening for Republicans is the state’s continuing support of the President even though much of the rest of the country has given up on him. According to recent polling data by Gallup, Connecticut is the most Pro-Obama state in the union with a 60% approval rating. That’s 6% better than Mr. Obama’s home state of Illinois and a whopping 33% better than Idaho, Obama’s worst, where the President is supported by just 27% of Idahoans.
It’s true that Republicans can win the Presidency without Connecticut. But in politics, as in life, the way you accomplish tasks is often as important as the accomplishment itself. Ronald Reagan didn’t achieve greatness simply by winning the Presidency twice – fourteen Presidents have done that. It was the way he did it, winning 49 states amid the most convincing Presidential victory since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936. If the GOP wants to elect the next great Republican President, they might start thinking about how to win in Connecticut.
