Sens. McConnell, Cornyn and Blunt, working hard to helm the most hated party in America.

Sens. McConnell, Cornyn and Blunt, working hard to helm the most hated party in America.

Last week, Pew delivered some pretty bad news to Republicans: Americans just aren't all that into them. And if Republicans wanted to turn things around, they had to do things like drop social issues, stop hating on science, and begin compromising a bit.

Today, Pew delivered even more bad news to the GOP:



Sixty-two percent of adults say the GOP is out of touch with the American people, 56 percent say it’s not open to change and 52 percent say it’s too extreme, according to a Pew Research Center poll released Tuesday. Forty-six percent of adults say the Democratic Party is out of touch with the American people, 38 percent of people say it’s not open to change and 39 percent say it’s too extreme.

That 39 percent fringe is alive and well, but it doesn't curry agreement from most Americans ("real" Americans, if you will).

That's not the only bad poll for our friends on the other side of the aisle:





@JohnJHarwood via web NBC-WSJ poll: By 48%-43%, Americans say Obama takes "unifying" rather than "partisan" approach. By 64%- 22%, they say GOP does the opposite

Those are brutal numbers, even if you account for the 22 percent of morons who think Republicans are in any way unifying. Hell, conservatives can't unify their own freakin' party, much less the rest of America.

Which leaves Republicans with their typical quandary—Americans don't like divisive leaders. Republicans are seen as divisive. But if elected Republicans take any steps to appear more conciliatory or open to bipartisanship, their rabid base will rebel and shred them from the Right.

In other words, what is popular with America is popular with the liberal base. What is popular with the conservative base is not popular with America. That ends up giving Democrats—so long as they follow public opinion—quite the electoral competitive edge. And nothing in the recent polling changes that assessment.