Did Reagan Democrats make the Republican party more liberal?

[Feanorcurufinwe]

Poll question: Did Reagan Democrats make the Republican party more liberal?

[K-W]

1. Does the party look more liberal?

Edit: Early morning typo

Its hard to destinguish the specific effect of the Reagan democrats, but the Reagan years certainly thrust the republicans right.

[enigmatic]

2. Nope

Reagan opened the door for the Moral Majority/Falwell wing of the Republican Party to flourish..

[AndyTiedye]

3. Reagan Democrats Did Horrible Damage to the Party

Just like this boll weevil

[praxiz]

4. I love the fact that Reagan

.. believed in the existance of UFO's. And talked about this "threat" to Gorbatchev from time to time.

Ah, makes you wonder if all republicans suffers from some childhood trauma that feeds them with fear.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

6. So we should welcom Kerry Republicans with open arms

[Leilani]

5. Other...

They did not make the party more liberal, but they made the party more mainstream.

Before Reagan, elected repubs were moderates like Ford, or they scared people off, like Goldwater. Nixon, by standards today, would be a moderate.

Because Reagan was well liked, his conservatism was non-threatening.
It made normally more moderate & even liberals feel it was OK to support him.