Althouse makes an interesting observation about recent poll results suggesting that a third of Republicans would support a third party candidate if the party's nominee is too liberal on social issues (meaning Giuliani--or Romney if you don't trust his recent conversion).
On the face of it, this could seriously hurt the party in the near term by tearing apart the coalition that has emerged in recent decades. Evangelicals haven't always voted Republican. Democratic support for pro-choice and gay rights position caused them to shift allegiance, where once the religious championed the Democrats position on civil rights. Things change.
This should be a terrific example of how shifts in positions cause shifts in party coalitions, except the Althouse looks at the polling data and finds out that a sizable percentage of those who would break from the party actually support Giuliani. So we have a contradiction. Some Republicans don't like the party flirting with candidates who take moderate to liberal positions on issues, unless its Giuliani.
They like the man, not his policies.
She thinks it's due to political ignorance, but I think it's due to the fact that Republican respondents to the poll are responding to an abstract consideration when they are asked about issues, and think of the totality of the man, including contradictions, when they think of Giuliani. When thinking of the man, the positions on social issues has to be weighed with his leadership qualities, which Republicans tend to like.
It tells me that candidate characteristics trump issues for Republican at this moment.
