This isn't news as much as it is "So and so is still dead" reportage.
The facts have been in for some time (see May 11 blog post) concerning the failures of the belief system called libertarianism. This largely explains the desperation of the GOP and its increasing move rightward. The Republican policy platform is well beyond (to the right of) what most Americans want on the major policy issues. By dialing up the social conservatism, they hope to solidify their voting base - which happens to be middle class.
With this move rightward, the party unsurprisingly attracts people like Todd Akin and Paul Ryan, who both lack Groucho Marx's integrity to not "want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member." Akin and Ryan are indicative of the new GOP culture.
The middle class will have a hard enough time under Democratic administrations, principally because the Democrats are now operationally Republicans. As for the GOP, it's not clear whether it has a future given the party's current trajectory.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/08/22/news/economy/middle-class-pew/index.html
