Dear 83% of the GOP: Now is Not the Time to Get Cocky!

The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll shows something interesting.

Instead of asking the tired old “who would you rather vote for?” question, the Post simply asked who American voters expect to see take the White House next year. The results are not that outlandish when you consider President Obama’s approval rating.

55% of all Americans believe that President Obama will be defeated, and it apparently does not matter who the candidate is (although I am certain that if we picked someone awful these numbers would quickly change). That is good news for the Republican Party and the American people as a whole. Confidence gained from numbers is a key factor in winning an election, and the more people who see the President as defeated, the more likely it will be that he actually will be. Democrats will stay home, and “undecideds” will go with the flow. However, there is a big difference between being confident and being cocky.

The poll found that Republicans who responded overwhelming believe that they will have a victorious candidate in 2012. 83% of all GOP voters to be exact, and if you break that down further into Tea Party affiliated voters the percentage shoots up to 91%.

Look, I believe that the GOP nominee (again, assuming we choose wisely) will likely defeat President Obama as well, but numbers like this scare me. People in our party, at least in my experience, have this awful tendency to think that election victories are just going to happen, that someone else is just going to take care of it and everything will be fine. As a result, they do not donate money nor time to the effort that is required to elect a President, or any other office of that matter, and then they complain when their taxes go up!

In 2009 and 2010 there was a sense of desperation. If we did not elect Governor Christie we were going to be stuck with the Corzine Administration for another four years while our state continued to erode away. If we did not take back the House of Representatives in 2010 we would have suffered at least two more years of Nancy Pelosi and her “we have to pass the bill so you can find out what’s in it” garbage. People were optimistic but there was always a lurking feeling that we could fail. This time it seems quite different. The media is beating the drum reminding us all how unpopular the President is, almost as though they want us to become complacent and just assume that we have already won.

We haven’t. This election is going to be a hard fought battle of ideas. Now is not the time to get cocky, its merely the time to get ready for the fight. Reports are that the President is already setting himself up as the “underdog” of the 2012 election. He knows of the GOP’s sad tendency as well. Time to break habit and take back the White House.

Brian McGovern
About Brian McGovern 748 Articles
Brian McGovern wears many hats these days including Voorhees Township GOP Municipal Chairman, South Jersey attorney, and co-owner of the Republican campaign consulting firm Exit 3 Strategies, Inc.