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Why are white men leaving the Democrats?
The Week ^ | March 30, 2010 | The Editors

Posted on 03/31/2010 10:21:26 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

White male voters are increasingly turning away from the Democratic party, according to a recent Gallup poll, and the shift could prove decisive in November's midterm elections. Here, a brief primer on why white men are making the move, and how the change affects the electoral math:

How many white male voters are leaving the Dems? According to a recent Gallup poll, only 35 percent of white males said they would back the Democrats in the fall election. That figure has dropped 8 percentage points since July 2009. White male support for President Obama has dropped, too -- from 41 percent in the election of 2008 to 38 percent now.

Why are they leaving?

One explanation: The "he-cession," says David Paul Kuhn in the Los Angeles Times. "Nearly half" of those who lost their jobs in the recession are white males. Between "financial bailouts for the rich folks" and a "healthcare bailout for the poor folks," the ordinary white male voter feels "forgotten" and angry.

Is that the only reason?

That theory is popular among conservative commentators, but some of their liberal counterparts chalk up the change to race-baiting by Republicans. With "catcalls, joker posters, N word slurs," and boisterous tea parties, says Earl Ofari Hutchinson in The Daily Voice, conservatives have rekindled the notion that Democrats want to raise taxes to create social programs for minorities "at the expense of hard-working whites." It's the same "win with white vote strategy" the GOP has used for a half century.

How might the shift affect the fall vote?

Obama won big in 2008 partly because he attracted the highest percentage of white male voters for a Democrat in 30 years. "Unless the president and his party find a way to reverse" the white exodus and address the anger of the millions of white men who have lost faith in them, says Wesley Pruden in The Washington Times, "they must prepare for an epic bath" in the November midterm elections.

Will these numbers really tip the balance?

Many factors will come into play. One of the most important, says Tom Schaller in FiveThirtyEight, is whether the "Obama surge voters" go to the polls. Millions of first-time voters came out to support Obama in 2008. The numbers put Obama over the top in states that had leaned Republican for years. But it's anybody's guess whether those voters will return in the fall without Obama on the ballot. If they show up, they could buffer "expected Democratic losses." If not, Obama's party could be in for deep pain.


TOPICS: Issues; Parties; Polls; U.S. Congress
KEYWORDS: 2010; backlash; bho44; democrats; malevote; obama; obamacare; whitevote
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1 posted on 03/31/2010 10:21:26 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Racist


2 posted on 03/31/2010 10:22:28 PM PDT by LukeL (Yasser Arafat: "I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I’m on a trip to Seattle soon. We shall see how they are. (It’s a family reunion).


3 posted on 03/31/2010 10:23:12 PM PDT by eyedigress ((Old storm chaser from the west)?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a pathetic moron.


4 posted on 03/31/2010 10:23:46 PM PDT by Psycho_Bunny (Socialism is for people who've given up.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Not to worry. Obama will more than compensate with imported brown men.


5 posted on 03/31/2010 10:25:42 PM PDT by libh8er
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

They have to ask?


6 posted on 03/31/2010 10:26:17 PM PDT by Regulator (Welcome to Zimbabwe! Now hand over your property....)
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To: libh8er

Hijacker! :^)


7 posted on 03/31/2010 10:27:11 PM PDT by eyedigress ((Old storm chaser from the west)?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
... some of their liberal counterparts chalk up the change to race-baiting by Republicans.

The Polarization Express, with Obama as the engineer, is going full steam ahead.

8 posted on 03/31/2010 10:28:46 PM PDT by mlocher (USA is a sovereign nation)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The rats are toast in the mid terms.Viginia,NewJersey and taxachussets proved that.They saw how the hope and changie thing was working out.


9 posted on 03/31/2010 10:29:13 PM PDT by HANG THE EXPENSE (Life is tough.It's tougher when you're stupid.)
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To: imahawk

With no page to see are you from Iowa?


10 posted on 03/31/2010 10:31:18 PM PDT by eyedigress ((Old storm chaser from the west)?)
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To: imahawk
"The rats are toast in the mid terms.Viginia,NewJersey and taxachussets proved that.They saw how the hope and changie thing was working out."

Ummm... no they aren't. Game over. RNC is working to get votes for the DNC.

Steele has promised to deliver amnesty votes.
11 posted on 03/31/2010 10:31:54 PM PDT by Minus_The_Bear
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To: LukeL

Racises.


12 posted on 03/31/2010 10:32:11 PM PDT by Stentor
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

If white men are leaving, white women will quickly follow....we are evolving into a system of the Party Of Whites (Repubs) and Party of Browns (Dems). Parties based on groups are a recipe for disaster...


13 posted on 03/31/2010 10:33:04 PM PDT by rman04554
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Here’s another reason: the false claims of racism made against the Tea Parties and other Obama critics. Non liberal white men are targets for that sort of thing and are alienated by the race-baiting of the Obama crowd.


14 posted on 03/31/2010 10:33:05 PM PDT by Rockingham
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
"You can fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time".

Abraham Lincoln

15 posted on 03/31/2010 10:33:13 PM PDT by SWAMPSNIPER (THE SECOND AMENDMENT, A MATTER OF FACT,NOT A MATTER OF OPINION)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

That theory is popular among conservative commentators, but some of their liberal counterparts chalk up the change to race-baiting by Republicans. With “catcalls, joker posters, N word slurs,” and boisterous tea parties, says Earl Ofari Hutchinson in The Daily Voice, conservatives have rekindled the notion that Democrats want to raise taxes to create social programs for minorities “at the expense of hard-working PEOPLE” Fixed it.


16 posted on 03/31/2010 10:33:22 PM PDT by Walkingfeather
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Why would any white men at all have been Democrats during the past three decades or so?
Were they stupid?


17 posted on 03/31/2010 10:34:37 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
says Earl Ofari Hutchinson in The Daily Voice, conservatives have rekindled the notion that Democrats want to raise taxes to create social programs for minorities "at the expense of hard-working whites.

No, idiot. Democrats have done that themselves.

Obamas economic advisor no "White Male Construction Workers"

18 posted on 03/31/2010 10:35:13 PM PDT by Clock King (There's no way to fix D.C.)
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To: rman04554

The Dems are still the party of the liberal white guilt...

Here in L.A., it’s a study of society. The liberal whites live in affluent white neighborhoods. They are out of place if they take public transit with the latinos. PLUS, the DNC leaders are more anal about selling their votes for the Latinos so they, in essence marginalize the lib whites.


19 posted on 03/31/2010 10:36:46 PM PDT by max americana
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
...conservatives have rekindled the notion that Democrats want to raise taxes to create social programs for minorities "at the expense of hard-working whites."

Notion? That's just a simple fact of the vote-buying process. And their hatred for white males - regardless of political affiliation or willingness to abase themselves - comes through loud and clear.

20 posted on 03/31/2010 10:37:55 PM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ( "The right to offend is far more important than any right not to be offended." - Rowan Atkinson)
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