Newt Gingrich: "This Is A 70+ Percent Center-Right Country"

Newt Gingrich, the disgraced former Speaker of the House, believes America "is a 70+ percent center-right country."  He tells Big Journalism editor Michael Walsh that "[t]he professional politician of the left understands that," and adds, "every time the left is clear about who they are...they get crushed."

Peculiar about his statement — beyond the generally false premise of the "center-right" talking point — is Gingrich's reference to The Battle, a book by American Enterprise Institute scholar Arthur Brooks which makes the misguided argument that 70% of Americans support the free-market while the other 30% support a European-style socialist bureaucracy.

Brooks' assertion of what Americans feel is the proper role of government in economic matters does not support Gingrich's contention that 70% of Americans are center-right, specifically because Brooks purposefully excluded social issues — what he calls the "fight over guns, abortion, religion and gays" — from his overall argument.  The Battle — to which Gingrich wrote the forward — is chock-full of right-wing economic catechisms.  Nothing more.

Most conservatives, including Gingrich, consider social issues to be at the core of their ideology.  As the recent debates over health care reform, immigration and the repeal of DADT illustrate, much of the right defines itself more by various antiquated positions on social issues than on economic policy.  For instance, it is far more acceptable to be a Democrat with socially conservative tendencies than to be a Republican with socially liberal views.  Why?  Because the center-right movement is characterized not by its position on, say, specific free-trade agreements but rather, on its opposition to, for example, abortion.  You can be certain that your typical conservative knows far more about partial-birth abortion than he or she knows about various non-tariff impediments to freer international trade.

As a recent Washington Post/ABC poll illustrates, Americans don't trust conservatives to offer solutions to the nation's most pressing issues, especially ones related to the economy.  When asked which political party they trust to do a better job handling the economy, 42% of respondents answered Democrats while 34% answered Republicans.  If 70% of Americans are free-marketers and Republicans bill themselves as the champions of the market, why then are they not trusted with the economy?   Why do Americans continue to elect so-called secular socialists?  (It might have to do with the fact that the specific free-market principles Republicans have long-championed destroyed the economy.)  You'd also expect the 70%+ of Americans who are free-marketers, like Brooks, to oppose European-style social safety net programs such as Medicare and Social Security.  That is not the case.

Americans aren't center-right on non-economic issues, either.  For instance, the same poll asked respondents if Solicitor General Elena Kagan should be confirmed to the Supreme Court.  You'll note that the right has forcefully tried to brand Kagan as an untrustworthy radical who believes in discriminating against the military, as someone who supports judicial activism and even someone who wants to implement Sharia law here in the United States.  Gingrich has even called on Obama to withdraw her nomination.  Again, you'd expect the 70%+ of Americans who are center-right, as Gingrich contends, to oppose Kagan on the grounds that she is far too radical for a center-right national.  However, only 25% of respondents believe that she should not be confirmed.  53% say she should while another 22% have no opinion.

Of course, it's not that simple.  Conservatives could very well point to other polls that show that Americans reject progressive initiatives.  The point isn't that America is an inherently center-right or center-left country.  Public opinion is constantly changing, as it should.  Support for policy should be based on evidence and not dogma and raw emotion.