Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: Theodore R.
Illinois began moving sharply left in the 1990s though a conservative temporarily held a Senate seat.

You're correct. People have this perception that Illinois is a conservative state. Illinois has a long history of picking RINO governors, senators and reps all under the guise of "getting along" with Chicago politics.

82 posted on 03/19/2012 6:23:43 AM PDT by sillsfan (Reagan and Sarah are right- WE win, they lose!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 80 | View Replies ]


To: sillsfan
The Romney counter-argument here is that he will attract economically conservative but socially liberal votes that concentrate in the "collar counties" around large Northern and Western cities. Until 1988, states such as New Jersey, Illinois, and Delaware were swing states because these voters tended to be Republican. As the GOP grew more socially conservative in the 1980s and 1990s, these voters drifted toward the Democrats. The Republicans recognized the losses, but realized that they were offset in the South and the Plains states, which had become GOP dominated in the 1992 elections and thereafter.

If Romney can do well among this group, which tends to be middle to upper middle income, Illinois, Delaware, Michigan, and New Jersey, written off by the GOP in the last 20 years, would come into play. A drop in Democrat support in suburban Philadelphia and Cleveland would strengthen the Republican chances of carrying Pennsylvania and Ohio.

OTOH, Santorum has not proven his narrative, that he can carry the Reagan Democrats, usually Catholic and mainly blue collar, in the Rust Belt states. He lost both Michigan and Ohio, and appears to be losing Illinois. This devout Catholic from a Northern state plays well among evangelical Protestants in the South, but this is a constituency that is taken for granted as being Republican. This may be a foolish assumption, as a lack of Southern evangelical voter enthusiasm for McCain enabled Obama to win Virginia and North Carolina.

87 posted on 03/19/2012 7:22:49 AM PDT by Wallace T.
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 82 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson