Poll: Dems big tent bigger than GOP's

Bad news for the GOP hoping to avoid future New York-23s: Polling shows Democrats have become the party of electoral pragmatism, while Republicans are more rigid in their choice of candidates.

A CNN/Opinion Research survey shows that, when faced with a choice between an ideologically pure candidate who has little chance of winning and a less pure candidate who has a good chance, Republicans chose the first one 51-43.

Democrats, who have built their majorities in Congress on the latter philosophy, favor that type of candidate 58-38.

The numbers are significant because they are both majorities. And that’s generally what it takes to get a candidate out of a primary.