The PPP survey also found that "some GOP voters are so unhappy with the outcome that they no longer care to be a part of the United States. 25% of Republicans say they would like their state to secede from the union compared to 56% who want to stay and 19% who aren't sure."

Do all these Republicans really think that ACORN stole the election? Do they really want their state to secede from the union? Given the depth of misinformation spread in some corners of the conservative media, I've no doubt that seemingly lunatic beliefs are genuinely held by some of the respondents. But my guess is that most respondents who gave these answers were less worried about the specific questions than signaling that, in general, they judge the outcome of Election 2012 to be illegitimate, perhaps in ways they themselves haven't articulated.



Again, that most charitable interpretation is itself problematic. So long as Republicans insist, even in their own minds, that Obama's win was illegitimate, they won't be able to begin the business of figuring out what it is about the GOP, its platform, and its candidates that voters are rejecting. Fault can be found with the Romney campaign, the Republican establishment, the conservative movement, and right-wing media. To maintain that the election result was illegitimate isn't just to absolve those entities -- it is to refuse to even to look at them with a critical eye, even while chasing ghosts like ACORN as if that is the way to triumph in the next election.



It isn't surprising that nearly half of Republicans are unwilling to place the blame for this year's loss on the candidates and political party that Americans rejected. But it doesn't augur well for their future.

