For the first time in forty years, we have a Democratic president who is polling well on national security. With President Obama’s string of successes—the bin Laden raid, ending the War in Iraq, and the drawdown in Afghanistan—this is unsurprising.
With all of that success, both substantive and political, you’d think that the myth of Democrats as being weak on security would have ended. But you’d be wrong.
Third Way and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research conducted a series of focus groups to explore views of the two parties on national security. What we find is surprising: negative stereotypes about Democrats on security are deeply rooted and remain, sticking to everyone but Obama himself. While our focus groups tilt towards the President over the GOP on security, they tend to trust Republicans more as a party—at least for now. However, there are signs that the Republican brand is weakening on security.
In this report from our National Security Academy, we lay out our focus group findings and make recommendations for Democrats on overcoming negative party stereotypes.
This publication was updated in February 2013. It is free for re-use with attribution. Check out our Issuu library to find embed code for your website or blog.
