Posted on 05/29/2005 5:46:04 PM PDT by bitt
This is the kind of headline Democrats have come to expect from their opponents: "Middle Class Voters Reject Democrats at the Ballot Box." But this time, the charge comes from inside the party, in a new report issued by the centrist group known as Third Way.
The study represents a slap in the face at Democrats who pride themselves on being the party of working families and a challenge to party leaders as they prepare for next year's midterm elections and the 2008 presidential race.
NELSON (Alex Wong - AP)
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"Rather than being the party of the middle class, Democrats face a crisis with middle-income voters," the study argues.
"The 45% of voters who make up the middle class -- those with household incomes between $30,000 and $75,000 -- delivered healthy victories to George Bush and House Republicans in 2004."
The study is based on Third Way's analysis of 2004 exit polls. Among the five principal findings are that white middle-income voters supported President Bush by 22 percentage points. The study concluded that the "economic tipping point -- the income level above which white voters were more likely to vote Republican than Democrat -- was $23,700."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
"The study concluded that the "economic tipping point -- the income level above which white voters were more likely to vote Republican than Democrat -- was $23,700.""
$23,700! Republicans - party of the rich... NOT!
In my experience, people who leave the Dim party lately are mad as Hell-they've finally figured out the Dims have been playing them for fools. These are votes that the Dims have lost forever. There won't be a swing back in their direction, I promise you. They're toast...
Bizarre.
Because in 2003, the median income in the US was $43,000.
"Democrats talk and legislate a great deal about issues that they believe are of concern to the middle class, such as better schools, affordable health care and job security," the report concludes. "This has not translated into middle-class votes."
Why would it? The members of the middle class know that those things are just "code words" that will end up raising their taxes, taking away their "choices" and destroying their jobs and their children.
It doesn't take making a whole lot of money to look around and see that your not much better off than the slacker who sits on their tail all day and walks to the mailbox for their paycheck.
Yes, you are right, next the "upper middle class" and then the "upper class" and then maybe a few more levels until you get to actually RICH!
Not enough divisions...I mean, it can be helpful to try to put things into broad categories, but, ya, that definition of 'upper class' is too low here, even for just three broad income levels.
Another point: I would expect these findings to be muddied by the differences in cost of living between areas. $300 a month rent in city A compared to $1200 a month rent in city B for pretty much the same apartment in the same kind of area of town, etc.
Not to mention their most cherished values.
Try it by educational level attained. For instance, what percentage of the population (male, female, both) has only a high school education and no college? What is their medium income? How do the population numbers, education and income compare with the category which possesses a professional degree?
Pretty quick you start to see that $86,000 is most definitely outside the middle class.
If you can define a yearly wage or salary as "Class" then that assumes that it can't go up or down. Anyone losing a job or getting a promotion belies that. Or if wealth is "Class" then if a person gets ill or has a disaster and loses some or hits the lottery than their "Class" changes, I guess.?
Anyway, why does sane ppl want to use their words and terms to discuss anything.. I dono...
The middle of the road is no plase a sane person wants to be because it is where you get run over.
It is a elusive thing. Middle class once meant pretty much business ownership and a particular set of values. Upper class generally meant that one did not work, though someone in the family might manage the family's business, and a whole other set of values.
Now it seems to be mostly income level, and one could be a middle manager in a large business. Values are almost uniform across "classes." Now a days one can go across a broad spectrum of income in a lifetime as well, but inflation is also quite wild too or one's life.
The probably need to just group them as "income brackets," but of course they would have to give up their marxists terminology.
If they are just figuring this out now, then they are dumber than I thought.
BTW, there is no thrid way, if you ask me. The democrats need to junk the whole socilist business. After all the Democrat party is older than the legacy of FDR. Fat Chance though.
I don't think the trend reverses for the upper income as a group but instead with tiny subgroups of rich who have a lot of money that they have done very little to earn it, i.e. Hollyweird trash.
I would guess 500 million.
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