NDN Backgrounder: 21st Century Demographics, the GOP on Race and the Long Road Back

NDN has been writing and talking about the state of the conservative movement and the deterioration of the Republican Party for many years. Even as Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele lunched yesterday with the party faithful, the GOP is adrift, with a new Gallup poll showing significant decline among Republican Party affiliation across nearly every major demographic subgroup.

As Republicans continue to debate the GOP's future path, NDN offers up some of its past and recent work on the state of the modern conservative movement and the end of the conservative ascendancy.

• Thoughts on President Obama's First 100 Days, Simon Rosenberg (video), 4/30/09

• Everybody's Wrong But Us, Morley Winograd and Mike Hais, 4/9/09The polarization between Democrats and Republicans in the Pew and every other survey has much less to do with President Obama's personal and political style...than it does with the inability of his own Republican Party to adapt to this new era.

• The Utter Bankruptcy of Today’s Republican Party, Simon Rosenberg, 1/29/09
  if the Republicans continue to act in ways so clearly designed to serve the interests of the few over the interests of the many at a time of such great national challenge then their road back may be even longer than I could have imagined.

• The GOP and Magic Negroes, Simon Rosenberg, 12/30/08
  The song “Barack the Magic Negro,” promoted by RNC chair candidate Chip Saltsman, is indicative of the troubles the Republican party finds itself in today.

• The Long Road Back, Simon Rosenberg, 11/18/08
  Barring major mistakes by the Democrats in the coming few years, Republicans are likely looking at a very long road back to power. 

• It's Official: Millennials Realigned Politics in 2008, Morley Winograd and Mike Hais, 11/17/08
  The 2008 election not only marked the election of America's first African-American president, it also saw the strong and clear political emergence of a new, large and dynamic generation and the realignment of American politics for the next 40 years.

• On Obama, Race, and the End of the Southern Strategy, Simon Rosenberg, 1/4/08
  By looking to younger voters, minority voters, and Western voters, the Democratic Party can move beyond the southern strategy that, for so long, has been the only way Democrats knew how to win.

• Repudiating the Bush Era, Simon Rosenberg, 2/18/07
  Politics over the past several years has been driven by a widespread rejection of the disastrous Bush era.

• "The 50-year Strategy: A New Progressive Era," Mother Jones, Simon Rosenberg, 11/1/07
  With a fresh argument and a strong, diverse coalition, the stage has been set for a lasting progressive majority.
   
• The End of the Conservative Ascendancy, Simon Rosenberg, 11/12/06
  The 40-year era of conservative ascendancy is ending.

• A Day of Reckoning for the Conservative Movement, Simon Rosenberg, 11/7/06
  The 2006 elections marked the end of conservative ascendancy. These essays look at how this shift can be explained by historical trends, hard electoral data, and recent decisions made by leaders of both parties (more here and here).