In an op-ed in the Washington Post, pollster and Fox News fabulist, Frank Luntz, has virtually surrendered in the battle for the hearts and minds of the American voters. His opinion piece lays out what he calls the “Five myths about conservative voters,” and in the process reveals the reality that Americans are more closely aligned with the values of progressives than those of conservatives. And much of this is thanks to the Occupy movement.

The first myth that Luntz seeks to debunk is that “Conservatives care most about the size of government.” It’s clear that Luntz is referring only to conservative voters, rather than to the conservative politicians that represent them in office. The Republican Party is still just as fixated on shrinking government as it has been since the spawn of Ronald Reagan. However, Luntz has discovered that average Americans, even those who identify as conservatives, realize that…

“…it’s not the 1980s anymore. Today, conservatives don’t want a reduced government so much as one that works better and wastes less. […] For conservatives, this debate is less about size than about results, along with a demand that elected officials demonstrate accountability and respect for the taxpayer, regardless of whether they’re spending $1 million or $1 trillion.”

That’s a fairly good summary of what the Occupy movement has been advocating for the past year. And it is an abandonment of the extremist rhetoric of conservative icons like Grover Norquist, Sarah Palin, and the Tea Party contingent.

Luntz then moves on to the delicate issue of immigration and denies that “Conservatives want to deport all illegal immigrants.” Once again, he is reporting his research of people, not politicos, and he asserts that they…

“…don’t want to round up all the illegal immigrants and deport them. They believe in the American dream and understand that immigrants built our country. That’s why conservatives embrace legal immigration. A solid majority believe that there should be an eventual path to earned legal status.”

That is the precise policy of Democrats who are sponsoring the DREAM Act to provide a path to residency for undocumented immigrants who came to this country as children and who commit to service in the armed forces or completing a college curriculum. Yet Republicans are fiercely opposed to this plan, that they derisively refer to as amnesty, even though it puts them at odds with their own constituents.

The third “myth” Luntz cites about conservatives is that “They worship Wall Street.” There is no doubt that the Republican hierarchy genuflects at the feet of Goldman Sachs. Mitt Romney has raised more money from Wall Street than any other candidate. And his GOP colleagues in congress are the first place Wall Streeters go to secure their special treatment in the form of legislation and regulation that enhances their prospects for ever greater wealth and power at the expense of 99% of the rest of the population. Luntz, however, observes that most conservatives…

“…agree with moderates and liberals that things on Wall Street have gotten out of hand. They believe that those who abuse the system should be held accountable and that those who work hard and play by the rules should be free to advance.”

Didn’t I hear that in an Obama speech about a hundred times over the past six months?

Number four on the Luntz list is a perennial: “Conservatives want to slash Social Security and Medicare.” It’s worth noting that while Luntz labels these items myths, there is abundant evidence that they are in fact the positions taken by conservative Republicans and have formed the basis of their platform for decades. This one is a good example of that. And it is also another example of where conservatives in Luntz’s research agree with liberals, as Luntz notes…

“70 percent of them oppose cuts to Medicare. They want the program strengthened, not dismantled.”

Finally, Luntz attacks the notion that “Conservatives don’t care about inequality.” The wealth gap has been a primary objective of the Occupy movement. Republican politicians, beginning with multimillionaire Mitt Romney, desperately try to portray this as class warfare. However, when actual people are consulted about their opinions, even right-wing pollsters like Luntz discover that…

“Fully 66 percent of conservatives consider the growing gap between the rich and the poor a ‘problem.’ […] Like all Americans, they are outraged that there hasn’t been a single prosecution by the Obama administration for the corporate abuses that led to the economic meltdown.”

Unfortunately, even with regard to Obama and the Democrats, much of the discussion about this has been no more than lip service and much more needs to be done.

When conservative pundits talk about this country being a center-right nation, they are describing a situation that may be decades out of alignment with reality. The American people consistently side with liberal values in most polls, and now even the research conducted by the right’s most reliable propagandist has published findings that affirm this. And this isn’t the first time Luntz has had to concede ideological defeat. Last December he said this to a select audience at the Republican Governors Association:

“I’m so scared of this anti-Wall Street effort. I’m frightened to death. They’re having an impact on what the American people think of capitalism.”

At that time Luntz advised Republicans to avoid certain words and replace them with others that he had focus-group tested. For instance: “Out: Capitalism / In: Economic Freedom.” When conservative PR flacks tell Republicans not to talk about capitalism, a significant shift is taking place (see this InfoGraphic of the other words that Luntz highlighted).

The bottom line is that the American people fully recognize who their advocates are, and now conservative strategists recognize it as well. Consequently they are spinning furiously to try to avoid losing an even bigger percentage of the populace and a blowout in November. But it’s going to be a difficult sell if the GOP has to persuade voters to support them by advocating policies long-held by Democrats. Luntz knows that and that is why he is frightened to death.