Where Will The “Republican Regular” Voters Go? The Forgotten Voters

By: Dan McLaughlin (Diary) RED STATE  |  January 25th, 2016

What will Republican voters do? That’s the big question of this primary, and everyone seems to be dividing the voters into “the conservatives,” “the establishment,” liberal Republicans, and – somewhere way out there – Trump supporters. But there’s a significant factor being ignored, which is hard to quantify but crucial in any Republican primary. I call them “Republican Regulars,” and they are about to become a whole lot more important.
This is not precisely the same thing as “the Republican base,” which in any event can be an imprecise term – who is the base? There are two possible definitions – either (1) “the base” is the people who always show up to vote for you or, more expansively, (2) “the base” is the people who always vote for you when they show up.
But let’s step back and describe a particular type of voter that has been a part of the Republican base since the 1860s, and who anyone involved in GOP politics has encountered frequently over the years: the “Republican Regular.” I would describe the Republican Regular as having the following characteristics:
1. A “medium-information” voter. High-information voters follow blogs and/or talk radio, are plugged tightly into small distinctions between the candidates and the ideological factions in the party, have strong opinions many months ahead of elections, and have strong loyalties to particular segments of the party. Low-information voters, at the opposite end of this scale, tune in late and often have only a superficial grasp of the issues and ideologies.

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