Can the GOP bounce back by appealing to minorities?

Republican National Committee leaders are hunkering down for a three-day annual meeting in Charlotte, N.C., to plot their path back to power, says Beth Reinhard at the National Journal. President Obama's second inauguration is "still ringing in their ears," and the sting of their failure to regain control of the Senate in last year's election is still fresh. Going forward, of course, there are plenty of "nuts and bolts" changes Republicans must make, such as figuring out how to match the cutting-edge ground operation Obama used to track and motivate his supporters. But the real key may be coming up with ways to appeal to black and Latino voters, along with women, young people, and others who overwhelmingly backed Democrats in 2012. "If we're going to be a party of purists, we're going to be a very small party," says Henry Barbour, a Mississippi strategist co-chairing the GOP's Growth and Opportunity Project. Can the GOP really win over minorities?

The answer, pretty clearly, is no, says Michael Tomasky at The Daily Beast. Symbolic moves — "More black speakers at the convention, three Latinos in office instead of one" — aren't going to cut it. And the minute GOP leaders start talking about actually supporting policies that appeal to minority voters, the party's implacable white base, which "consists of white people who are terrified of losing their skin privilege in Barack Obama's America," will start howling.

Actually, there are some pretty straightforward steps the GOP can take to make gains quickly, says Brian Bennett at the Los Angeles Times. The party's hardline positions on immigration drove Latino voters into the arms of Obama and other Democratic candidates in 2012, accounting for a big part of Obama's 5.4 percent margin over Mitt Romney in the national popular vote, according to Gary Segura of the Latino Decisions polling firm. But a few simple policy changes could tip the scales toward the GOP.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Republicans are certainly capable of curing "what ails their party," says Byron York at the Washington Examiner. They're just deeply divided over what, exactly, the problem is. Some blame the party's recent setbacks on its failure to win over Latinos and other minorities, and say the key to rebounding is broadening the GOP's appeal. Others, however, "stress the GOP's failure to master even the basics of voter turnout in the last election, along with the flawed candidacy of Mitt Romney," and they're convinced that the party can bounce back by changing how it gets its message out, instead of changing the message itself.