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White Working Class Voters
I'm re-posting something written by "livelongdem" yesterday as a response.
The white working class is shrinking, especially the body of traditional union blue-collar workers.
In the primaries, Hillary is getting blue-collar whites through longtime political relationships with unions, transparently false denial of support for NAFTA in the 1990s, and exploiting racial divisions based on pre-existing prejudice and simmering resentment over things like affirmative action and busing (noted in Obama's speech on race).
So far you'd have to say Clinton has played this issue like a virtuoso. It's like she's convinced mainstream media to talk primarily about Pennsylvania, and when talking about Pennsylvania, to talk only about white blue collar guys and what a problem they are for Obama. Haven't heard a peep about how the surges in voter registration are historic, favor Obama, and favor the trend you are talking about.
Today her propaganda basically says the big news isn't that Richardson prefers Obama to her, whom he has known for years and clearly has big reservations about. No, the real news is that a shrewd politician like Richardson is so insane he staked his political future on a guy he thinks is going to lose. It paints Obama as a loser and Richardson as a madman all in one sentence. Nice. Wouldn't matter if MSM didn't eat this stuff up.
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Comments (1)
Maria, I'm flattered you reposted my comment, but would like to point out some more interesting comments on this topic by far more knowlegeable people at the Democratic Strategist, which I just stumbled onto (see below). In summary, I missed the point that Pennsylvania's blue collar population is quite old. That may be a factor skewing those voters to Hillary. Also, Obama has done horribly with Appalachian voters, but 1) so has every Democrat running against a Republican practically forever and 2) so has John McCain running against other Republicans.
Kind of complicated. Highly recommended The Democratic Strategist.
http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org/
From writer identified as "staff" on their home page:
"However, PA is not the perfect test for winning white working class voters because the demographic is skewed toward older workers, as Powell explains:
Mr. Obama grabbed a big chunk of the male working-class vote in Wisconsin, and another chunk in Virginia and in Maryland. But Pennsylvania is both blue-collar and aging — it has the third highest median age in the nation. And that has proved to be a troublesome demographic for him and a rich target for Mrs. Clinton.
If Obama wins PA, or does substantially better than expected, McCain will have a lot to worry about with this pivotal constituency."
I seem to remember that age was also a big factor in how Latino voters chose between Hillary and Obama in Texas.
April 4, 2008 4:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
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