THE PARTY OF TRADITIONAL VALUES HAS NO VALUES EXCEPT WINNING

This poll was mostly overlooked a couple of days ago:

The POLITICO Poll finds President Donald Trump’s MAGA supporters are the most loyal of any group of voters — with majorities saying they would stick by GOP candidates confronted with an array of scandals, from a DUI conviction or accepting lobbyist gifts to more serious accusations including domestic violence, sexual assault and antisemitic social media posts.

Two-thirds of self-identified MAGA Trump voters say they would continue supporting a GOP candidate accused of sexual assault — 13 percentage points higher than the share of Trump 2024 voters writ large, which include those who do not identify as MAGA. By comparison, 40 percent of voters who backed former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 would continue backing a Democratic candidate accused of sexual assault.

This is framed as evidence that MAGA voters are especially amoral, but note that 53% of Trump voters overall -- a majority -- would continue supporting a Republican candidate accused of sexual assault. (It's disturbing that even 40% of Harris voters would continue to support a Democrat accused of sexual assault, but at least 40% isn't a majority.)

Seventy-two percent of MAGA Trump voters say they would stick with a GOP candidate accused of domestic violence, more than 10 ercentage points higher than the overall share of Trump 2024 voters who would back a GOP candidate (61 percent). Thirty-nine percent of Harris voters say they’d stick with a Democrat accused of domestic violence.

Again, it's not just MAGA. A majority -- in this case, a solid majority -- of Republicans overall would continue supporting a Republican candidate accused of domestic violence. Approximately four in ten Democrats -- not a majority -- would support a Democrat who was similarly accused.

Here are the MAGA numbers for other scandals:

Some of this might reflect Republicans' belief that any accusation of scandal against a Republican they like is a lie, however well documented. And some Republicans might not believe that domestic violence, say, or wearing blackface is a bad thing.

I think the discrepancies here come down to two differences between conservatives and the rest of us. First, conservatives generally decide who is a good person -- someone who agrees with them politically -- and conclude that whatever is done by a person they like must be moral. That's why they've shrugged off Donald Trump's sexual improprieties for years. That's why MAGA Republicans, at least, continue to believe Trump isn't corrupt. They like Trump, therefore he's a moral man.

Democrats try to give people they like the benefit of the doubt, but only up to a point. In just the past few months, we've cut Graham Platner and Eric Swalwell loose. Over the years, here in New York State alone, we dumped Anthony Weiner, Eliot Spitzer, and Andrew Cuomo. (Cuomo almost made a comeback, but not quite.)

The second difference between Republicans and Democrats is that more Republicans than Democrats see politics as an existential battle between their party and the opposition. To some extent, this is because Rupert Murdoch figured out how to tabloidize politics, turning every story into a drama about good (them) vs. evil (us). Fewer Democrats see politics that way.

Beyond that, Republicans relentlessly promote (and defend) their own while attacking Democrats. Democrats attack one another even when there's no scandal involved (see: DSA vs. the establishment), regularly berate themselves (calling their own party "weak and woke"), and brag about bipartisanship while wishing for "a strong Republican Party." Republicans never admit error and close ranks around party members who are under attack nearly every time. (They also close ranks around candidates whom they don't consider ideologically ideal.)

I don't really want Democratic voters to defend immoral candidates, but I wish we had a higher level of party loyalty -- or maybe Republicans should have a much lower level.