Republicans admit needing reform to win votes

The US Republican Party is "scary, narrow-minded, run by stuffy old men" and requires root-and-branch reforms if it has any chance of winning power in 2016, according to a major report.

A 100-page "autopsy" into the drubbing Republicans received at hands of Barack Obama's coalition of minorities, women and young people during the 2012 general election called for a series of reforms to make the party more appealing to modern America.

"There's no one reason we lost," Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee said, announcing the 219 recommendations from the inquiry into the failings of the party.

"Our message was weak; our ground game was insufficient; we weren't inclusive; we were behind in both data and digital; our primary and debate process needed improvement. So, there's no one solution: there's a long list of them."

The inquest by the party establishment pointed the finger of blame at the insurgent grassroots - the Tea Party and mainly white rural, religious conservatives - for creating an atmosphere of intolerance towards minorities, women and the more liberal younger voters.

"Younger voters are increasingly put off by the GOP," the report said, citing post-election surveys of voters in battleground states which found that Democrats were preferred over Republicans by a ratio of two to one.

"For the GOP to appeal to younger voters, we do not have to agree on every issue, but we do need to make sure young people do not see the party as totally intolerant of alternative points of view."

As the party debates the need for immigration reform, including allowing America's 12?million illegal immigrants a "path to citizenship", the report warned that Republicans could not ignore that more than four fifths of ethnic minorities voted Democrat.

"If Hispanic Americans hear that the GOP doesn't want them in the United States, they won't pay attention to our next sentence. It doesn't matter what we say about education, jobs or the economy; if Hispanics think that we do not want them here, they will close their ears to our policies," it said.

Other "fixes" include spending $10?million (pounds 6.6?million) on community outreach and shortening the marathon primary process that included 23 televised debates, giving far too much airtime to Republicans attacking each other.

Aside from immigration reform, the report was light on policy specifics, but urged a greater focus on helping the hard-pressed middle classes, rather than getting hung up on "hot button" social issues such as gay marriage and abortion.

The report, released days after the Conservative grassroots organisations gathered for their annual CPAC conference, will dismay many of the traditionalists who argue that the party must stick to its core values rather than attempt to become a poor imitation of Obama's inclusive, middle-of-the-road agenda.

The core Republican values - self-reliance, small government, vigorous economics - would be made relevant through a compelling candidate such as the Florida senator Marco Rubio, not by cosmetic adjustments, Jeffrey Lord, a former Reagan aide and Republican historian, said.

"Mitt Romney was a moderate candidate, and it didn't work," he said. "This is put together by establishment Republicans who don't understand the grassroots and effectively want to nationalise the party."