Looking back on the Republican loss in the 2012 presidential election, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus thinks the party wins in arguments on spending and math, but loses in the emotional cultural vote, he said Wednesday.
“The fact is our Party has had a tough time over the last 24 years winning decisive presidential elections. And it’s our job as a party to get to the bottom of why that is,” Priebus said on The Daily Rundown.
This week the GOP unveiled a detailed post-election report that contains 98 pages and 219 recommendations for how the GOP can be competitive in the 2014 and 2016 elections.
In the “Growth and Opportunity Project,” the party notes that policy always matters.
“The perception that the GOP does not care about people is doing great harm to the Party and its candidates on the federal level, especially in presidential years. It is a major deficiency that must be addressed.”
Priebus told guest host Luke Russert Wednesday that he expects the Republican Party to be inclusive, listen to people, and allow differences of opinion within the decade.
He did not specify legislation that Republicans will implement to reach a competitive level in future elections. Republicans are trying to market and brand the party on a regular basis, he said.
“I think our Party needs to have the attitude that, ‘if I disagree with you on one issue, it doesn’t mean that you’re a lousy Republican. It means that you’re a good Republican. It means that we agree on most issues, and it means that we need to unite our Party,’” he said.
There has been intra-Party fighting over the report’s ideas, which some argue includes shallow analysis on immigration reform.
“We’re competing with Barack Obama’s organization that is a granular, community-based organization that’s perpetual in its nature,” Priebus said. “And the fact is we have to get with it and do the same thing and try to do it even better.”
Michele Richinick