Demography Isn't Destiny When Voters Are Economically Informed

Forbes ^ | 10/19/2012 | Carrie Lukas

[SeekAndFind]

Political handicappers make it sound as if demography is destiny when it comes to which policies and candidates people support. Women are presumed to support Democrats; men to favor Republicans. Young Americans vote for liberals, while seniors go conservative. Voters in Southern states are reliably red; the coasts and Northeast are blue. Yet new research suggests that another factor powerfully affects one’s policy and political preferences: One’s awareness of basic truths about the U.S. economy.

The Independent Women’s Voice, an educational advocacy organization, has been researching the relationship between economic literacy and support for policy ideas. Most recently, IWV commissioned a study in Colorado, which began with a baseline survey of 800 Independents to test their knowledge about key economic facts. Ten days later, following an educational initiative by IWV’s 501(c)(3) affiliate, Independent Women’s Forum, another survey tested whether people had become more knowledgeable about those economic facts, and if so, what impact this knowledge had on their political preferences.

For example, here’s a fact: The five percent of Americans with the highest incomes pay almost 60 percent of all federal income taxes. You can find the complete breakdown of income tax payments by income at the nonpartisan Tax Foundation and National Taxpayers Union, and a more detailed discussion at the Congressional Budget Office.

Yet when asked if that statement about top five percent of taxpayers was true or false, the 800 Independent Coloradans were about equally divided on its veracity. The differences in political preferences between the two group were dramatic: 60 percent of those who failed to identify the statement as true support President Obama (who is associated in the public mind with wanting more taxes on the wealthy and more government spending), compared to just 27 percent who support Gov. Romney

[yldstrk]

psychlogists favor Democrats.

men with beards favor Democrats.

people on entitlements favor Democrats.

social workers favor Democrats

people that want to be considered “cool” favor Democrats

atheists favor Democrats

homosexuals favor Democrats

union members favor Democrats

liars favor Democrats

[2banana]

The cities of Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Newark, Camden, etc. have been controlled by democrats for the last 60 years.

In those 60 years, all these cities have gone from nice middle class places to bankrupt 3rd world ghettos.

Yet the “informed” citizens keep voting the same democrat fools in that destroyed them.

[Don Corleone]

All politics is LOCAL and all elections turn on economic issues.