Adivce to Republicans: Adapt or Die

After the Republican Party was denied its bid for the White House and lost two Senate seats to Democrats, Yahoo! asked voters what they'd like the GOP to focus on in the next two to four years. Here are one voter's thoughts.

COMMENTARY | It's time for the Republican Party to adapt or die. The 2012 elections made that abundantly clear. It is imperative that the GOP keep pace with social and, more importantly, demographic shifts in American society, or the party risks growing increasingly irrelevant. Already considered the refuge of rich old white men, the GOP particularly needs to work on its relationship with and policies toward Hispanics and women, two groups that voted overwhelmingly for Obama on Tuesday.

President Obama won a resounding 71 percent of the Latino vote, compared to just 27 percent for Mitt Romney. Hispanic turnout was higher in 2012 than four years ago, and more importantly, the Latino population is growing faster than any other ethnic group in America. And crucially, Latinos are changing the demographic makeup of key swing states like Florida to Nevada, both recently reliably Republican bastions that voted for Obama partially on the strength of Hispanic turnout.

Mending fences-- no pun intended-- and appealing to Latinos shouldn't be that hard for Republicans. The party just needs to celebrate Hispanic immigrants as the latest chapter in the American success story rather than demonize them as unwelcome interlopers. The rise to prominence of Latino GOP stars like Florida Senator Marco Rubio and New Mexico Governor Susanna Martinez will help.

"This is a defining moment for the Republican Party," GOP strategist Leslie Sanchez told the Washington Post in the wake of Romney's defeat. "If Republicans don't heed this warning, we are certainly in danger of becoming politically irrelevant at a national level."

Then there's the GOP's often-tumultuous relationship with women. While Republicans vehemently reject the notion of a conservative "war on women," facts on the ground tell a very different story. Attacks on reproductive rights, rejection of equal pay legislation, scapegoating single mothers and working women and blocking domestic violence legislation all hurt the GOP on election day.

So have some of the shockingly insensitive things some Republican candidates have said about women, from Todd "legitimate rape" Akin to Richard "God wants you to have rape babies" Mourdock to numerous other GOP candidates who were beaten on the strength of strong female voter turnout.

President Obama won the female vote by a margin of 55 percent to 43 percent. Clearly, the GOP must stop alienating women-- who are the majority of the electorate-- or keep slipping inexorably towards irrelevance.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/adivce-republicans-adapt-die-224200454.html

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