# Is there any part of the Republican agenda that is actually popular?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [December 16, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647 "2017-12-16T16:32:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647/21 "2017-12-17T15:25:14Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> The two areas where I agree with Trump are infrastructure and the space program. Trump has come out in favor of expanding both of these and, in principle, I support him on these issues. In practice, I worry that he supports these ideas because he sees them as a source of fat government contracts for his political allies.
Neither is actually part of the Republican agenda though, specially the infrastructure stuff. That was just something he said during the election.
---
### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647/22 "2017-12-17T15:30:14Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> Your original assertion was that the housing market was booming because of competition to get into good schools. I’m not seeing any evidence for that. Also, if you give “vouchers” that are only good in public schools, then they are not vouchers. That would be a different program and wouldn’t entail the concept of vouchers.
I said “one reason the housing market keeps booming is competition to get into good schools.” and then I posted a link to a scientific journal backing that claim up.
Also some democrats are open to public school vouchers, you pick which public school you send your kids to.
---
### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647/23 "2017-12-17T16:06:18Z")
You linked to an abstract that said “Our results suggest that the strong, bubble-era pursuit of good schools may have played a role in the housing bubble’s expansion.” They noted a correlation, but as we all know, correlation is not causation. In the SF Bay area, which was brought up earlier, the places with the best schools are mostly built out and zoning regulations make opportunities to build new homes few and far between. Good schools can cause people to move within the area, but zoning regulations control the supply.
---
### Author:  [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2018, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647/24 "2018-01-20T15:19:03Z")
Much of the R agenda is popular to those that matter to the Republicans-other Republicans. Wining elections is all about advocating policies that appeal to your base and demonizing the opposition. The current R agenda fully supports their base. The Republicans have a long history of the demonizing the opposition.
It is inevitable but too bad that the Democrats now have a short(er) history of demonizing the opposition.
Neither side finds it in their best interest to actually govern through compromise, so we end up with a giant blob of a Government that is woefully unorganized and unprepared to govern plus a few laws that are quietly passed to address bi-partizan issues. And note that neither side finds it too their advantage to talk about those to their base.
Sigh.
---
### Author:  [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2018, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647/25 "2018-01-20T15:27:18Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#):
>
> However, I don’t know how you separate out the local from national effects. In San Francisco all housing is more expensive, but people aren’t moving to SF for better schools. They are moving for better jobs. However within SF, I wouldn’t be surprised if people are moving to get into good schools.
They could try, but moving within SF wouldn’t do any good. SF is just one school district. Your school assignment is by lottery and where you live technically counts as like a fifth tiebreaker, but that never happens, so where you live is absolutely meaningless. My kids were assigned to a very good school. On the opposite side of the city. Which added nearly an hour to the commute each way. So, we moved out of the city. Like everyone else in SF who has kids.
(Probably off topic!)
---
### Author:  [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2018, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647/26 "2018-01-21T04:01:43Z")
“An immigrant took my job, and all the Democrats are worried about is which gender uses which bathroom.”
How’s that?
---
### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2018, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647/27 "2018-01-21T04:43:44Z")
> [@jaycat](#):
>
> “An immigrant took my job, and all the Democrats are worried about is which gender uses which bathroom.”
>
> How’s that?
Fair enough, but only white people respond to that argument. That argument doesn’t work on blacks, latinos, asians, native Americans, etc.
So there is a strong racial component.
Rural vs urban breaks down when you factor in race too. People keep talking about the urban/rural divide, but that only applies to white people. There are small rural counties that are minority-majority. Mostly black, mostly latino, mostly native American, etc. They vote democratic too despite having all the problems of rural counties (lack of jobs, opiates, farming issues, etc).
Education too. Whites with a college diploma are about 40 points to the right of whites without one. But for non-whites, it doesn’t really matter. They vote the same whether they are college educated or not.
So the argument you are making may have some merit, but even then it is subservient to racial identity politics. Only white people vote republican based on the argument above. Racial identity politics underlies pretty much everything about American politics. White are the in-group, everyone who isn’t white is the out-group. There are other factors, but that is probably the biggest factor in voting habits.
---
### Author:  [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2018, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647/28 "2018-01-21T04:53:44Z")
Apple sure seems to like the tax cuts. They are repatriating all that money overseas that would have otherwise sat there. They will pay around 38 Billion in taxes to the U.S. Government, creating new jobs, pumping billions more into a new campus they are planning to build and more manufacture in the U.S. And giving their employees some $2500 in stock options in the company.
That’s just one company, but I don’t see how it could be anything but good for the country. I expect that the U.S. Economy will see some good from things like this. A lot of companies are giving pay raises or bonuses, which is obviously good for employees, and pumps more money into the economy. Now whether all this will ultimately amount to just a temporary boost I have no idea, but unemployment is also going down. I think businesses are more optimistic, if a lot of companies repatriate billions of dollars and pay taxes I think you could also argue it helps from a social support system standpoint. I mean otherwise they could pretty much just leave the money overseas for generations right?
[https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/1041261001](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/1041261001)
---
### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2018, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647/29 "2018-01-21T05:12:10Z")
I hope more companies bring money back to the US, but I worry it’ll mostly be used for dividends, stock buybacks, executive salaries, etc.
Creating 20,000 jobs with a quarter of a trillion dollars is pretty inefficient. It is better than nothing, but I hope companies find more efficient ways to invest that will actually create new jobs or lead to better goods and services.
Why couldn’t the tax bill have been written to offer special incentives for companies that bring money home for job creation or investments in R&D, production, etc?
Also it is my understanding that companies all over earth are hoarding cash. South Korean companies are holding onto hundreds of billions, Japanese companies have a trillion or more. So there is probably some global economic reason, not just US tax law. But what is the reason, and can anything be done about it?
> **[A $2.5 trillion problem](https://www.economist.com/leaders/2014/09/27/a-25-trillion-problem)**
>
> Japanese and South Korean firms are the world’s biggest cash-hoarders. This hurts their economies
---
### Author:  [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2018, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647/30 "2018-01-21T08:00:38Z")
> [@pool](#):
>
> Apple sure seems to like the tax cuts. They are repatriating all that money overseas that would have otherwise sat there.
Yeah, they love it. They pay a substantially reduced tax rate on that repatriated cash–prior to tax reform they would have had to pay 35% to repatriate that cash–under the changed tax law they pay only 15%. This creates a spike in tax revenue in 2018, but will reduce tax revenue substantially in every following year.
Note also that they won’t use that cash to create jobs–salaries are tax-deductible, which means if they wanted to create jobs in the US they could have done so tax-free in any previous year. Bringing the cash back simply means it’ll be held by a U.S. entity, rather than a non-US one.
---
### Author:  [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2018, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647/31 "2018-01-21T08:39:35Z")
> [@jaycat](#):
>
> “An immigrant took my job, and all the Democrats are worried about is which gender uses which bathroom.”
>
> How’s that?
Well, they’d have to be either dumb or pig ignorant to believe that statement, which means they’d be perfectly suited to be Republicans.
---
### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2018, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647/32 "2018-01-21T11:20:24Z")
It’s clear that many liberals don’t understand how conservative voters think, which is probably why they lose elections.
Most conservatives generally don’t see themselves as overtly racist xenophobic religious fanatics. So characterizing them as such immediately alienates people.
What they do see themselves as is hardworking, true Americans who obey the law and pay their taxes. So when Democrats talk about setting up expensive programs to pay for various social services, conservative voters see their taxes increasing in order to give money to immigrants, minorities and white trash to buy votes and pay them not to work.
As for immigrants and minorities in general, they see them as “others” who come from “shithole countries” to steal jobs or sponge off of our welfare systems.
They also believe in American exceptionalism, so we need a strong military to defend ourselves from those who would take what we have. Same is true with the Second Amendment.
Keep in mind, these are not smart, educated, nuanced people (from my observation). They don’t analyze issues. They have a simplistic view of “if you follow the rules and work hard, you will benefit from Americas society of freedom”. They don’t comprehend that the “rules” don’t work for certain people, regardless of how hard they work. So when they see society not working for themselves, they get angry and blame liberals and Democrats and the “fake media” they control for ruining America.
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#):
>
> Creating 20,000 jobs with a quarter of a trillion dollars is pretty inefficient. It is better than nothing…
It’s actually worse than nothing if you consider the opportunity costs of how you could spend a quarter of a trillion dollars.
---
### Author:  [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2018, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647/33 "2018-01-21T11:48:59Z")
> [@DigitalC](#):
>
> Neither is actually part of the Republican agenda though, specially the infrastructure stuff. That was just something he said during the election.
Also, support for infrastructure investment is at the very least bipartisan, if not overtly Dem-leaning.
Remember back during the first couple years of Obama’s presidency, when Republican governors were _refusing_ investments in high-speed rail in their states? And Chris Christie killing a new tunnel under the Hudson? That’s how deep the GOP support for infrastructure is.
No surprise that Trump’s not actually doing anything about an infrastructure program. And having had a year to figure out that Trump doesn’t know shit, can’t do shit, and 95% of what he says is meaningless, the Congressional Republicans have nothing stopping them from pushing an infrastructure program - and if you can’t write an infrastructure bill that would easily pick up the votes of at least 9 Dem Senators, you’ve got to be the worst politician on God’s green earth. So evidence is lacking that infrastructure is actually part of the GOP agenda.
---
### Author:  [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2018, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647/34 "2018-01-21T11:55:30Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#):
>
> Let’s take the tax bill. How popular is “tax reform”? It’s quite popular, I would imagine; almost EVERYONE would love to have their taxes revamped in an intelligent way. Between the two parties, the Republicans are more closely identified with the idea of reforming taxes. So that part of the “Republican agenda” is quite popular.
>
> But, of course, the devil is in the details.
And those pesky details proved that today’s GOP isn’t the least bit interested in tax reform. Rather, they passed a “Lawyers’ and Accountants’ Full Employment Act of 2017,” adding complexity beyond complexity to the tax code. Not to mention, the main beneficiaries are the super-rich and big corporations.
Tax reform: NOT part of the agenda of today’s GOP.
---
### Author:  [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2018, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647/35 "2018-01-21T12:04:41Z")
Here’s the part of the GOP agenda that IS popular with a good part of the public: sticking it to The Other. Blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, liberals. And increasingly, higher education. Science.
There’s also a streak of misogyny there. They always hated Hillary even more than Bill, even back in the 1990s when Hillary didn’t have any actual power. And they’ll never hate Chuck Schumer with the passion that they hate Nancy Pelosi.
These are the things that rally the Republican base. That’s what Trump tapped into in 2016.
---
### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2018, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647/36 "2018-01-21T16:26:21Z")
> [@msmith537](#):
>
> It’s clear that many liberals don’t understand how conservative voters think, which is probably why they lose elections.
>
> Most conservatives generally don’t see themselves as overtly racist xenophobic religious fanatics. So characterizing them as such immediately alienates people.
>
> What they do see themselves as is hardworking, true Americans who obey the law and pay their taxes. So when Democrats talk about setting up expensive programs to pay for various social services, conservative voters see their taxes increasing in order to give money to immigrants, minorities and white trash to buy votes and pay them not to work.
>
> As for immigrants and minorities in general, they see them as “others” who come from “shithole countries” to steal jobs or sponge off of our welfare systems.
>
> They also believe in American exceptionalism, so we need a strong military to defend ourselves from those who would take what we have. Same is true with the Second Amendment.
>
> Keep in mind, these are not smart, educated, nuanced people (from my observation). They don’t analyze issues. They have a simplistic view of “if you follow the rules and work hard, you will benefit from Americas society of freedom”. They don’t comprehend that the “rules” don’t work for certain people, regardless of how hard they work. So when they see society not working for themselves, they get angry and blame liberals and Democrats and the “fake media” they control for ruining America.
You basically just said conservatives hate being called bigots, then explained why they are motivated by bigotry. What is the answer in that situation where you can’t even have an honest discussion? Also again, it is pretty much only white people who sign up for the narrative you posted.
I’m not sure if the democrats can reach those voters, or if they should even try. The modern democratic party is a coalition of out-groups and their allies, people who want to mistreat the out-groups are going to cause a lot of friction in the democratic party if it tries to open its tent up.
The democrats are hemorrhaging support from whites w/o a college degree. Compared to 2008, in the 2016 election college educated whites voted roughly the same as they did in 2008 while high school educated whites moved 25 points to the right. If there is a way for democrats to appeal to these voters without losing their values, I don’t know it.
---
### Author:  [@computergeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/computergeek)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2018, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647/37 "2018-01-21T16:44:07Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#):
>
> Here’s the part of the GOP agenda that IS popular with a good part of the public: sticking it to The Other. Blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, liberals. And increasingly, higher education. Science.
>
> **There’s also a streak of misogyny there. They always hated Hillary even more than Bill, even back in the 1990s when Hillary didn’t have any actual power. And they’ll never hate Chuck Schumer with the passion that they hate Nancy Pelosi.**
>
> These are the things that rally the Republican base. That’s what Trump tapped into in 2016.
That’s such a true comment. Hillary always got way more hate than Bill ever did it seems. Hillary was hated for trying to be a different kind of First Lady. She was hated for taking her own power when she ran for Senator. She’s the GOP’s boogeyman still today as if she became President or is still running for President
---
### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2018, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647/38 "2018-01-21T18:22:34Z")
> [@msmith537](#):
>
> It’s clear that many liberals don’t understand how conservative voters think, which is probably why they lose elections.
We understand how conservative voters think. We just happen to believe that governing according to the facts on the ground is more important than patting them on the head and telling them lies about them being the bestest, most smartest snowflakes in the country. And frankly, I’m done playing nice. If they want to vote for people who stroke their egos rather than HELP them, then they deserve to die in karmically appropriate ways, such as drowning in floods that are caused by their denial of climate change, or starving because the GOP they love so much does NOTHING for real jobs, or of easily treatable diseases that they can’t afford to treat because they voted in a pack of fucking jackals who were eager to take away their healthcare. Fuck 'em.
---
### Author:  [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2018, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647/39 "2018-01-21T18:35:47Z")
> [@msmith537](#):
>
> Most conservatives generally don’t see themselves as overtly racist xenophobic religious fanatics.
And yet nearly every “controversial” policy that Trump and the GOP have pushed this year has been overtly racist, xenophobic, or an obvious perversion of the church and state separation. Nearly ALL of them.
Conservatives keep telling us that we just need to listen to their viewpoint and stop calling them racists, bigots, etc.
I’d argue that we have listened far too much to their viewpoint–and watched their actions, not just their words–and it’s why we keep calling them racists, bigots, etc.
If the solution is for the left to just shut up and adopt the policies of the right (which seems to be basically what they’re telling us we need to do), well, let’s just say they’re going to have a long wait.
---
### Author:  [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2018, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647/40 "2018-01-21T19:07:12Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#):
>
> And they’ll never hate Chuck Schumer with the passion that they hate Nancy Pelosi.
I don’t know about that. If you read The\_Donald reddit - which anyone who keeps abreast of politics _should_ do occasionally, to get a peek “through the looking glass” and understand the culture of Trump’s base - you’ll see a lot more talk about “Cuck Schumer” than Nancy Pelosi.
Although maybe that’s just because his name is easier for them to turn into a derisive moniker. That’s a big part of the Trump culture, after all.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647.md?page=1)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-part-of-the-republican-agenda-that-is-actually-popular/804647.md?page=3)