Are People Deserting Republicans?

The Wall Street Journal has a longish article on how business is deserting the Republican Party. Much of it relates to Bush’s failure to balance the budget, understandable to me since we are at war, and anyway, our strong economy is reducing the annual deficit’s size every month. But the article does point out that Republicans seem to be on the wrong side of some popular positions. According to the article:

 Schwarzenegger at last month’s state Republicans convention sounded the alarm. Noting that California Republicans have lost 370,000 registered voters since 2005, the former actor said, "We are dying at the box office." The voters that Republicans need, Mr. Schwarzenegger argued, "often hold conservative views on fiscal policy and law-and-order issues, while taking more liberal stands on social and environmental issues."

 [In a recent poll, ] Pew found that between 1987 and this year, support for "old-fashioned values about family and marriage" had dropped 11%. Those who said gay teachers should be fired dropped 23%. But 75% of the population is worried about growing income inequality, Pew found, while two-thirds favor government-funded health care for all [emphasis added]. Support for a government safety net for the poor is at its highest level since 1987.