Extremism has long suffered from a bad reputation in politics.
When Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.), whose presidential campaigns foreshadowed those of contemporary Republicans, sought to rescue extremism from the dust bin of political history by proclaiming in his convention speech that “extremism in defense of liberty is no vice,” the reaction from fellow Republicans was fierce.
Former GOP President Eisenhower, former Vice President Richard Nixon, New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, among others, demanded “clarifications” from Goldwater, who was forced to provide them at a party unity conference.
At that event, The New York Times reported, “Mr. Goldwater made what observers considered to be a distinct shift toward the middle of the road. The Republican Presidential candidate repudiated extremist groups and ‘character assassins.’ He expressed support of the United Nations, which he has often criticized, and of the Social Security program. He promised not to shirk Federal responsibility in the field of civil rights.”
Those Republican leaders knew intuitively what we now know empirically: Extreme candidates are more likely to lose elections.
Today, partisans on both sides are convinced the other party has an extremism problem.
As I argued here earlier, poor-quality Republican candidates played a key role in suppressing the widely anticipated red wave, and their extremism contributed significantly to the diminished quality of many defeated Republicans.
But before Democratic triumphalism becomes dogma, it is important to recognize that, in the public mind, both parties have an extremism problem.
The Votecast survey conducted by University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center asked whether each party was “too tolerant of extremist groups.” Fifty-three percent said Republicans were too tolerant of extremists and 53 percent said Democrats were. Identical numbers.
In response to another question, 47 percent said Republicans need more moderate candidates while 49 percent responded that way about Democrats.
A preelection survey for Third Way by our colleagues at Impact Research found 54 percent saying the Democratic party was “too extreme,” while 50 percent said the same of the GOP.
That Democrats are perceived to be as extreme as Republicans is nothing short of shocking — at least to Democrats.
Republicans, not Democrats, voted to overturn the will of the people expressed in a presidential election, absent any evidence of fraud; Republicans, not Democrats, identified with those individuals and groups that assaulted the Capitol on Jan. 6; Republicans, not Democrats, goaded a radical Supreme Court into overturning 50 years of Roe vs. Wade protections for abortion.
Republican charges of Democratic extremism pale in comparison and are mostly based on false ascriptions of policy positions. For example, there are a few Democrats who want to defund the police, but only a very few. Leadership, from the president down, rejected that view, and the vast majority of Democrats voted to expand funding for our men and women in blue.
Meanwhile, the Republican lurch to the right has been documented in political science literature which demonstrates that while Democrats have moved to the left in recent years, Republicans have moved farther and faster to the right.
While the measures of ideology used in these studies have been critiqued, other scholars, using other measures, have come to the same conclusion, as have nonpartisan observers.
The Washington Post’s distinguished political reporter, Dan Balz, wrote already in 2013 that “Republicans have shifted more to the right than Democrats have shifted to the left.”
Hence the shock in finding equal numbers saying Democrats and Republicans are extreme, although perceptions diverging from reality is hardly unique.
Every pollster has listened in focus groups as voters talk about Democrats defunding the police and supporting open borders, though only a tiny minority of Democratic candidates endorse those positions.
However, the GOP uses these few extremists to taint the Democratic Party brand and its candidates.
Democrats ignore the misguided perception that we are extreme at our peril.
Mellman is president of The Mellman Group and has helped elect 30 U.S. senators, 12 governors and dozens of House members. Mellman served as pollster to Senate Democratic leaders for over 20 years, as president of the American Association of Political Consultants, and is president of Democratic Majority for Israel.