THINKING ONE WAY AND VOTING ANOTHER

The federal government is too big, too powerful, said 66 percent of respondents to a Gallup poll in January. Only 42 percent in Gallup’s annual governance survey last September had "a great deal" or "a fair amount" of confidence in Washington’s ability to handle domestic problems. Just 19 percent in a Pew poll in October trust Washington to do what’s right "all or most of the time."

The government "does too many things," said 53 percent in the Gallup governance survey. A smaller government that provides fewer services would be better, said 55 percent in a Washington Post poll in 2012.

Big government is "a threat to individual liberty," said 54 percent in a Rasmussen poll in April; a bigger threat than big business or big labor, said 72 percent in a Gallup poll in December.

The tax system needs sweeping changes, said 72 percent in a Pew poll last May. Replace it with a flat tax, said 62 percent in a Reason-Rupe poll in April.

A special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate the IRS, said 76 percent in a Quinnipiac poll in February. Abolish the IRS in its present form, said 60 percent in a Wenzel Strategies poll last July.

Budget deficits are caused by "spending too much on programs," said 73 percent polled by Gallup in April, 2011. Spending should be cut, said 71 percent in a Rasmussen poll that December.

Abortions should be restricted to the first three months of pregnancy, said 84 percent in a Marist poll in January.

Build the Keystone XL pipeline, said 61 percent in a Pew poll in March.

Those views are more in accord with what Republicans think than with what Democrats think.

But many who hold them vote for Democrats. Why?

Democrats gain roughly an 8 percentage point advantage from a news media that parrots their talking points and spins, downplays or ignores news that reflects poorly on them, according to the formula UCLA Prof. Tim Groseclose devised for measuring media bias.

The brainwashing young people get from left wing teachers and professors is another reason.

A third is the fact that for many Republicans, "outreach" consists of posting comments on each other’s blogs.

More important than all but media bias is this fundamental difference between the bases of the two parties:

There is virtually no sin a Democrat officeholder can commit so grievous it will cost him or her the support of liberals and "Yellow Dog" Democrats in a general election.

There is virtually no sin a Republican officeholder can commit so trivial it won’t subject him or her to a torrent of personal abuse from other Republicans.

Contrast the strong support Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid — a brazen liar, the Joe McCarthy of our times, the most corrupt influence peddler in Congress — gets from Democrats with the contempt so many Republicans express for House Speaker John Boehner, who is none of those things.

Democrats never forget who the enemy is. Many Republicans treat each other as the enemy.

Conservatives who regard any deviation from their long list of ideological litmus tests as treason are the prime offenders. But establishment conservative pundits Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post and Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal, who savaged Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY, are no slouches when it comes to vicious personal attacks.

I share their concerns about his views on national security policy, so I won’t be supporting Sen. Paul for president. But I applaud him for taking his libertarian message to inner cities and college campuses, where other Republicans fear to tread. His message is more likely than any other to attract to the GOP those young people who don’t want to spend the rest of their lives living in their parents’ basement.

Rand Paul treats even those Republicans who’ve attacked him personally with civility and respect. His views on most issues differ from those of Sen. Susan Collins, R-Me, about as much as is possible for people in the same party, but he’s enthusiastically endorsed her for re-election.

You win elections by getting votes from people who agree with you on some things, but not others — not by driving them away.  Sen. Paul understands this, so he focuses on the handful of issues he considers paramount, agrees to disagree on others.

If more followed his example, Republicans wouldn’t lose so many of the votes of people who agree with them more often than not.

Jack Kelly is a former Marine and Green Beret and a former deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration. He is national security writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

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