Gay marriage ruling not enough to clinch White House
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E-mail Xinhua, July 7, 2015
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The Supreme Court made history last month in a landmark ruling that legalized gay marriage in all 50 U.S. states. |
U.S. Supreme Court's decision to legalize gay marriage could galvanize rank-and-file Republicans to vote in the 2016 presidential elections, but that won't be enough for the Republican Party (GOP) to clinch the White House as it needs to reach out beyond its base.
The Supreme Court made history last month in a landmark ruling that legalized gay marriage in all 50 U.S. states, reflecting an overall leftward shift in the U.S. but roiling many conservative Republicans and their leaders, such as former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.
Huckabee, the GOP presidential candidate and darling of social conservatives, said he would not "acquiesce to an imperial court any more than our Founders acquiesced to an imperial British monarch." New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who announced his plans to run for president last week, also criticized the Supreme Court's landmark decision.
While the high court's decision will galvanize rank-and-file conservative Republicans, the GOP cannot depend on its traditional voters -- typically older, white men -- to win the election, and as such it needs to do more to reach out beyond its base, experts said.
"The Supreme Court's same sex marriage decision will rally the base, but not help Republicans extend its coalition," Brookings Institution's senior fellow Darrell West told Xinhua. "It needs to figure out new ways to expand its base. Unless it makes some significant policy changes, it will be difficult to do that."
Ironically, several of the party's rising stars do not fit the party's profile of older white men, such as presidential candidate Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a Cuban-American, as well as Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, whose parents hail from India.
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