Few states are as strongly Republican as Kansas. The state is in many ways the quintessential GOP stronghold. Kansas, after all, was chosen as the archetypal red state for Thomas Frank’s book, What’s the Matter with Kansas: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America. However, a new poll shows that if Republicans won the heart of America a decade ago, that is no longer the case. Kansas voters appear to be heartbroken by Governor Sam Brownback’s decisions as the state’s Governor.
A Survey USA poll conducted between June 19th and June 23rd shows Democrat Paul Davis leading the incumbent Republican Sam Brownback 47-41 percent. Brownback’s right-wing ideology has turned off most of the states voters. Moderates prefer Davis by a whopping 69-23 margin. Independents back Davis by 19 points. Women choose Davis by a decisive 51-37 spread. Even 26 percent of Republicans would sooner vote for Davis than endure another four years of Sam Brownback as the state’s Governor.
Kansas overwhelmingly supported Mitt Romney over Barack Obama in 2012. Romney carried the state 60-38. Given the conservative lean of the state, the fact that Sam Brownback is losing by 6 points, is a testament to just how thoroughly he has mismanaged the state in his tenure as Governor.
Brownback’s drastic tax cuts for the wealthy starved the state of revenue and plunged Kansas into financial chaos. Brownback’s dogmatic insistence on ignoring fiscal sanity, in deference to rigid anti-tax ideology, has been an unmitigated disaster for the people of Kansas. Moody downgraded Kansas’ bond rating and the state continues to see budget shortfalls that are way below the Governor’s unrealistically optimistic projections.
While Brownback’s economic policies may have been popular with Grover Norquist and the Sons of Wichita, they are doing nothing for the middle and working class residents of Kansas. Sam Brownback will no doubt try to draw support from wealthy contributors like the Koch brothers to keep himself in power, but his financial mismanagement of the state will not be forgotten by Kansas voters. The Kansas economy is in ruins thanks to Sam Brownback’s ill-conceived tax cuts. Brownback’s chances for re-election are also in ruins, and deservedly so.
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