While both parties "out austerity" each other into following the modern Greek model as opposed to the old and busted democratic one -- their potential Party nominees are truly loved. We all know the lack of enthusiasm in the base seemingly embraced by the Obama campaign, but what of the Republicans and their sterling new secessionist front-runner?
Perry is building much of his lead off the support of Republican primary voters who believe things that are well out of the mainstream of overall American public opinion. For instance:
-Perry leads Romney only 27-23 among GOP voters opposed to ending Medicare. But with the 12% who do support eliminating it Perry leads Romney 43-5, accounting for much of his overall lead...
-Romney leads Perry 23-18 among GOP voters who believe in global warming...but that's only 27% of them. With the 62% who don't believe in it Perry's up 38-14. One interesting note on those numbers- Perry's favorability with Republicans who believe in global warming is 37/50. Are those folks going to vote for him in the general election if he ends up as the nominee?
I don't know about the last one -- I imagine as they will think they'll get a tax cut in the bargain they'll go along. The poll just reaffirms that the modern GOP is more of a cult than a Party. If Ayn Rand's government medicare could have kept her alive long enough to see her dreams come true.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]