Republicans generally have a different worldview than I do

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DailyKos commissioned Research 2000 to do a nationwide poll of self-identified Republicans. Many of them have a very different view of things than I do. Some examples:

Do you think Barack Obama is a socialist?

Yes 63
No 21
Not Sure 16

Oh dear. I guess "socialist" is Republican for "centrist establishment Democrat quite willing to have a former Goldman Sachs executive as his treasury secretary and to re-appoint George W. Bush's selection for Chair of the Federal Reserve."

Do you believe Sarah Palin is more qualified to be President than Barack Obama?

Yes 53
No 14
Not Sure 33

Obviously, we have different ideas of what qualifies one to be president.
Do you believe your state should secede from the United States?

Yes 23
No 58
Not Sure 19

Egad. 23% of Republicans want their state to secede from the Union? 19% aren't sure? Hammering out policy compromises with representatives of these folks is going to be rather difficult.

It goes on. Now remember, this was commissioned by DailyKos, so a lot of these questions were probably chosen to draw out the wackiness in Republicans and make them look extreme. And it would be interesting to compare the answers on some of these to Democrats. But wow. Given the vast gulf in reality, is bi-partisanship even possible, much less desirable?

People vary greatly in the content of their beliefs. And these are our fellow Americans. How much greater must the gulf in worldview be between us and those in other cultures?

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