The above word cloud was made with the text of the Pledge to America. Words that appear most often in the Pledge are displayed with the most prominence in the word cloud.
WASHINGTON — On first glance, the Republicans’ new governing proposal, the Pledge to America, appears filled with every time-tested GOP principle: lower taxes, less government spending, stronger national defense.
But traditional conservative values on social issues – gay rights, abortion and gun control – receive noticeably little attention in the 48-page document that was unveiled with just more than a month left before the midterm elections. Political experts say that judging from the Pledge, Republican candidates will focus on job creation and reigning in the federal government while downplaying controversial social issues.
The Pledge does contain a small nod to social issues. One sentence vows to “honor families, traditional marriage, life and the private and faith based organizations that form the core of our American values.” And there’s a promise to permanently ban federal funding for abortion.
But the vast majority of the Pledge focuses on topics like the economy, the dominant issue of the current campaign season.
Brendan Buck, spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner, said the guiding principle behind the Pledge was “that it should address and solve the top priorities of the American people. We carried out a months-long dialogue with the American people and they told us issues like job creation and spending restraint were at the top of the priority list.”
Political analyst Isaac Wood of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics called the Pledge’s avoidance of the lightning-rod social issues smart.
“It’s a savvy move this year, which is going to be your traditional pocketbook-hurting election focused on economic issues,” said Wood. “There’s no reason to go to the social issues well, so to speak.”
And that’s because the conservative positions on many of these issues are often divisive. Republicans don’t want to alienate swing voters who might agree with the GOP on the economy but disagree on social matters, Wood and other political observers said.
For example, young people concerned about high unemployment might be more likely to vote Republican with a decreased emphasis on certain social stances. Peter Levine, the director of CIRCLE, a group at Tufts University that researches political tendencies among young Americans, said even most young conservatives disagree with traditional GOP stances on issues like gay rights.
“Young conservatives are relatively tolerant on these social issues,” Levine said. “Even self-identified Evangelical Christian young people tend to be in favor of civil unions.”
Youth voters are not the only demographic Republicans risk turning off, though. Democratic political pollster Celinda Lake said the GOP is also trying to attract independents and women by avoiding discussion of wedge social issues.
Lake said these groups are focused on the economy, so Republicans would do best to keep it that way. She also noted that the GOP does not need these social issues to energize their base, as they have in previous election years.
“They’ve used it in the past to motivate turnout on their side,” Lake said. “I think they are taking for granted that defeating Obama and the Democrats is motivation enough for voters to turn out.”
Indeed, with polls currently projecting the GOP to make significant gains in both the House and the Senate, Republicans may have crafted the Pledge as an attempt to shore up their lead and fend off any potential controversies.
“There’s a sense that Republicans are headed toward victory,” Wood said. “They want to avoid any arguments that could stir the pot too much.”