[lbo-talk] GOP identity

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Wed Oct 28 18:51:12 PDT 2009


[more GQR - hey, Eric, how's this fit into "identity politics"?]

A Sense of Shared Identity

The other dominant lesson that emerged from our focus groups and provides critical in- sight into the thinking of today's partisan Republican voters is their clear sense of shared identity. In our focus group discussions, we quickly noted how they routinely used plural first- person pronouns to describe a group of individuals (including all those in the room but extending far beyond those walls) who share a set of beliefs, knowledge, and commitment to oppose Obama that sets them apart from the majority of the country. Democrats may joke that Republi- cans seem to live on a different planet sometimes, but in some important ways, these Republi- cans would happily agree.



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