Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) was one of several anti-Trump Republicans who spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this year to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris — and particularly notable was how he tried to convince fellow Republicans to join him, wrote Philip Bump for The Washington Post on Friday.
Specifically, he wrote, Kinzinger tried to break Republicans' preconceptions of patriotism.
“I’ve learned something about the Democratic Party, and I want to let my fellow Republicans in on the secret: The Democrats are as patriotic as us,” Kinzinger told the audience. “They love this country just as much as we do. And they are as eager to defend American values at home and abroad as we conservatives have ever been.”
This matters, wrote Bump, and the polls tell a stark story. He pointed to polling released in June by YouGov of how Americans viewed Democrats and Republicans. Among the terms given to respondents — who were asked if they applied to the parties— were "patriotic" and "anti-American."
About 20 percent of Americans said they believed the Democratic Party was patriotic. For the GOP, that number was about a third.
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"Independents were twice as likely to describe the Republican Party as 'patriotic' than they were to say the same of the Democratic Party," noted Bump. "Democrats were less likely to describe their own party as 'patriotic' than Republicans were theirs."
Similarly, polls showed that historically Republicans are much likelier to identify as proud to be an American.
"We understand this intuitively, that Republican perceptions of patriotism don’t comport with Democratic perceptions," wrote Bump. "Democrats make room for criticism of the country with an eye toward improvement or addressing problems. Republicans are more likely to focus on America’s international primacy — except, as is often the case with Trump, when amplifying America’s perceived shortcomings is a useful political argument."
Kinzinger, then, wants his fellow Republicans who need a permission structure to vote for Harris, to understand that Democrats' critical analysis of America and desire for reform is also patriotism, said Bump.
"Kinzinger’s fight was an uphill one. But it’s easy to see the intent," Bump wrote. "If he could get Republicans to admit that Democrats are motivated by patriotism and by love of county, he could erode the idea that their criticisms of Trump’s 2020 response were merely partisan. And if Republicans reconsider Trump’s actions that led to the Capitol riot? Well, maybe they’d reconsider voting to return Trump to power."
