Posted on 03/26/2010 10:58:32 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Millions of white men who voted for Barack Obama are walking away from the Democratic Party, and it appears increasingly likely that they'll take the midterms elections in November with them. Their departure could well lead to a GOP landslide on a scale not seen since 1994.
For more than three decades before the 2008 election, no Democratic president had won a majority of the electorate. In part, that was because of low support -- never more than 38 percent -- among white male voters. Things changed with Obama, who not only won a majority of all people voting, but also pulled in 41 percent of white male voters.
Polling suggests that the shift was not because of Obama but because of the financial meltdown that preceded the election. It was only after the economic collapse that Obama's white male support climbed above the 38 percent ceiling. It was also at that point that Obama first sustained a clear majority among all registered voters, according to the Gallup tracking poll.
It looked for a moment as though Democrats had finally reached the men of Bruce Springsteen's music, bringing them around to the progressive values Springsteen himself has long endorsed. But liberal analysts failed to understand that these new Democrats were still firmly rooted in American moderation.
Pollsters regularly ask voters whether they would rather see a Democrat or Republican win their district. By February, support for Democrats among white people (male and female) was three percentage points lower than in February 1994, the year of the last Republican landslide.
Today, among whites, only 35 percent of men and 43 percent of women say they will back Democrats in the fall election. Women's preferences have remained steady since July 2009. But white men's support for a Democratic Congress has fallen eight percentage points, according to Gallup.
White men have moved away from Obama as well. The same proportion of white women approve of him -- 46 percent, according to Gallup -- as voted for him in 2008. But only 38 percent of white men approve of the President, which means that millions of white men who voted for Obama have now lost faith in him.
The migration of white men from the Democratic Party was evident in the election of Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts. His opponent, a white woman, won 52 percent of white women. But white men favored Brown by a 60 percent to 38 percent margin, according to Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates polling.
It's no accident that the flight of white males from the Democratic Party has come as the government has assumed a bigger role, including in banking and health care. Among whites, 71 percent of men and 56 percent of women favor a smaller government with fewer services over a larger government with more services, according to ABC/Washington Post polling.
Obama's brand of liberalism is exactly the sort likely to drive such voters away. More like LBJ's than FDR's, Obama-style liberalism favors benefits over relief, a safety net over direct job programs, health care and environmental reform over financial reform and a stimulus package that has focused more on social service jobs -- health care work, teaching and the like -- than on the areas where a majority of job losses occurred: construction, manufacturing and related sectors. This recession remains disproportionately a "he-cession." Men account for at least seven of 10 workers who lost jobs, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Nearly half of the casualties are white men, who held 46 percent of all jobs lost.
In 1994, liberals tried to explain their thinning ranks by casting aspersions on the white men who were fleeing, and the media took up the cry. The term "angry white male" or "angry white men" was mentioned 37 times in English-language news media contained in the Nexis database between 1980 and the 1994 election. In the following year, the phrases appear 2,306 times.
Tarnishing their opponents as merely "angry" was poor politics for the Democrats. Liberals know what it's like to have their views -- most recently on the war in Iraq or George W. Bush -- caricatured as merely irrational anger. Most voters vote their interests. And many white men by the 1980s had decided the Democrats were no longer interested in them.
Think about the average working man. He has already seen financial bailouts for the rich folks above him. Now he sees a health care bailout for the poor folks below him. Big government represents lots of costs and little gain.
Meanwhile, like many women, these men are simply trying to push ahead without being pushed under. Some once believed in Obama. Now they feel forgotten.
Government can only do so much. But recall the Depression. FDR's focus on the economy was single-minded and relentless. Hard times continued, but men never doubted that FDR was trying to do right by them. Democrats should think about why they aren't given that same benefit of the doubt today.
-snip-
Today, among whites, only 35 percent of men and 43 percent of women say they will back Democrats in the fall election. Women's preferences have remained steady since July 2009. But white men's support for a Democratic Congress has fallen eight percentage points, according to Gallup.
White men have moved away from Obama as well. The same proportion of white women approve of him -- 46 percent, according to Gallup -- as voted for him in 2008. But only 38 percent of white men approve of the President, which means that millions of white men who voted for Obama have now lost faith in him.
Geesh, what's the deal with these airhead women who still support Obama?
The white liberal men know this fact very and it pains a lot and it frustrates more than anything else, without admitting it in public, that they are but a small minority among the general white men population.
Either hardcore libs or totally oblivious soccer moms? Just a guess.
Damn whitey bein racist and all, not supportin the good black brutha...
bump
Men shunned Democrats a long time ago and are shunning politics altogether.
Thank you for writing this. Many women have been hoping and praying that you’d return and defend yourselves and stand between this insanity and America herself. We knew you’d be there though when the chips were down. They are down.
This black woman walked away from the Democrats years ago.
ummm.....who actually talks like that?
Did you get that from a Stormfront editorial?
Never heard of them.
Boy, If I have to take off my belt, I’m gonna tan your @ss six shades blue. I’ve ‘bout had A-nuff.
And all this time, we've been sipping our beers at the bar, watching Gloria Steinem calls us bastards...and then, when women demanded to be allowed into the workforce, they got in, in one of the safest, calmest "revolutions" ever. (And now we have women on the tube 24/7 whining and crying about how hard it is having all that freedom. As if freedom was freedom to party, and not freedom to choose your way in this life.)
We listened to pussy males stroke female egos about how "all men" are like Bill Clinton. As if desiring female contact and even joking around equates to lying to one's spouse, to one's nation, shirking duty, taking advantage of employees under us in the workplace...
And on and on, we the horrible white males paid our taxes and were mocked when we DARED to actually assemble in public with the arrival of the Tea Parties.
I really think THAT is the key, the outpouring of loathing about the Tea Parties. Why...how DARE you people (male and female) who aren't young and pretty go out and ask for a voice in this government!
And just as we let our wives and kids spend more than we have, because we want them to be happy, even though we think maybe we've spoiled them a little, we let all these feel-good spending plans go through. Yeah, whatever...
But now we see the red ink rising.
And we're starting to say, "Enough."
The MSM and the libs ain't seen "The People" rise up. They ain't seen the males, white and otherwise, stepping up and saying "We've had enough of your guilt and your hate. The checkbook closes now."
...”This black woman walked away from the Democrats years ago”...
Were you ever threatened for making that decision? And, by the way, God Bless you for having the courage to think for yourself.
Does anyone still believe the so-called financial meltdown was not timed for maximum effect?
Odd. You do a perfect imitation of their racist filth.
great response!
I always look for that kid when this type of topic is posted, hee hee.
Women in general (not all women) are notorious for voting for what personally benefits them as an individual while completely overlooking the big picture and what is best for society. Women as a group are easily led. There, its not PC but I said it anyway and I'm a woman.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.