Posted on 05/13/2012 6:53:17 AM PDT by Kaslin
CANTON, Ohio-Rudy is the quintessential average white guy, right down to his last name. "It literally is Guy," he said, laughing at the irony.
Born in New Eagle and raised in Charleroi in Pennsylvania's Monongahela Valley, Guy comes from a long line of Democrats. "My grandfather worked at Corning Glass, my father worked in the mines, the steel mill and finally at Corning," he recalled. "The family always had union ties, and that usually meant a tie to the Democratic Party."
That's no longer true for him, however: "As my life started to improve financially, I realized that unions seemed to be damaging the economy and Democrat legislation always seemed to impact my wallet."
Guy lives in a Canton suburb lively with soccer fields, businesses, car cruises and recycling programs. He has a blended family of six daughters and one son; his wife, Cheryl, is a nurse and a registered Democrat.
His story is not much different than that of those West Virginia Democrats who protest-voted for a convicted felon over a sitting president in last Tuesday's state primary.
The problem for President Barack Obama and down-ticket Democrats on November's ballot is that average white guys aren't just found in West Virginia; they're in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and other states, too, and they can tip this fall's election.
According to Gallup's latest battleground numbers, Obama's main electoral strengths are with voters who are nonwhite, nonreligious, single or postgraduates. Republican Mitt Romney's strength is with white voters, particularly men, those who are religious, and those who are 30 or older.
Romney leads Obama with white male and female voters and does significantly better among men, 59 percent to 32 percent.
Among white women, Romney leads by nine points, 50 percent to 41 percent.
Rudy Guy says Obama has lost his registered-Democrat wife's vote: "Cheryl and I pretty much see eye-to-eye on the Republican Party's legislation direction."
Some Democrats like to portray the GOP as a party of white, middle-class, married Christian men. Interestingly, the president, who ran as someone who would unite the nation, has disconnected with the next largest plurality in the electorate behind women - white guys, men who once were the backbone of the Democratic Party.
These are the men whose skills include fixing the wiring in your home, mining the coal that supplies 82 percent of Ohio's and 48 percent of Pennsylvania's electrical power, and running the small businesses that keep our communities (and other small businesses in them) rolling along.
They make the widgets and fix the computers we use, own the lawn-care companies that tend to our neighborhoods and schools, volunteer as our children's coaches, and attend church probably less often than they would like because of work or community commitments.
They are the sons, grandsons and great-grandsons of European immigrants whose commitment to work, family and God all held equal priority. College either was not an option or was skipped so that they could use their hands and their ingenuity to become gainfully employed.
Many also are employees of what today appears to be the next great economic frontier - the energy industry. Yet, oddly, they are ignored by Democrats, or used by the president to sell class warfare in his re-election campaign.
They did vote for him in 2008 - but the polls suggest they are not coming back this time.
The loss of the average white guy is why you see President Obama devoting so much effort on trying to encourage the college-educated young to vote, said Mark Rozell, political-science professor at George Mason University. "He needs to offset substantial losses among predominantly white, non-college-educated men who are a big component of those left behind by the struggling economy," Rozell explained.
And the quintessential example of that is Canton's Rudy Guy.
"It seems to me that Obama is intent on punishing anyone who is employed with a job over minimum wage," Guy said. "In the last three years, I've seen my spendable income drop, my cost for health-care insurance go up, and my benefits go down.
"Three years ago the question was, 'Are you better off now than when Bush took office?' Most of us weren't. But am I better off today than when Obama took office?"
His answer is simple: "No."
Two young women we buying paint for their new business lobby yesterday. Talking business led to talking economy and finally the election. They said they voted for Obama because they were caught up in the rock star enthusiasm and really didn’t know much about politics. But, after running their own business fro two years and listening to what’s happening they are with Romney this time.
I think Obama can certainly be given credit for that.
What is a “blended” family?
2nd marriage both with kids.
Remarried divorced parents with children from other marriages I think.
Wouldn’t know for sure, my family has always gone in for “Single Malt” families.
1968 version:
2005 version:
I’d say that non government union workers are about split 50-50, and the ones “for” Zero aren’t thrilled. I’d say half of those will do as they’re told and vote O. The rest will stay home.
Great article!!
Mostly single-malt here as well, but an elderly widowed uncle married widow (@ 75); technically a blended family, I guess.
Those white women 10 years older looking for Mr. Right are probably starting to realize that many “Mr. Rights” can’t find stable employment (at least in terms of providing for a family) because 1) the economy stinks, and 2) it is practically illegal to educate or hire a white man. Both of these are sufficient reason to explain why the average white guys will vote against Obama, and the former explains why many white women will as well.
All the warning signs were there.
Obama had no executive experience, all of us on the right pointed out his dubious background, but still all the white working people, swept up on a wave of media adoration, voted for him and his policies.
And who has suffered most by his policies?
Those same white working people.
They were warned, and chose to ignore it.
Yes. It's called learning the hard way. Now they've paid the tuition, let's hope they learned the lesson.
I agree with both points as an average white guy. Throw in being a conservative as well. Liberal white guys get a partial pass.
i.e. the guys who will have to “Pick Up The Pieces” from the Obama debacle.
The fewer Dem voters the better but the next step for the Rudys of the world is to question the existence and scope of all government no matter which party temporarily holds power.
PS the next time you hear a disillusioned Dem voter claim ‘both parties are the same’ tell him to vote Republican since it won’t matter anyway.
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