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“Democrats have a problem with white middle-class voters,” added Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center, which has studied that electorate in depth. “Those voters are very disappointed and very critical of Obama as president.”

Some convention-goers say more effort is needed.

“I believe the president’s losing support among the blue-collar workers. A lot of people feel he promised a lot, and they’re angry,” said Bob Miller, an electrician from Hatfield, Pa.

Many people Miller knows were already sympathetic to Republican social positions – opposition to strict gun control, for instance – but backed Obama in 2008 because of his message of economic hope.

Obama rewrote recent political history that year. Until the late 1970s, blue-collar whites were usually strong Democrats. They tended to be labor union members, often with ethnic urban roots, and came from families that had voted for Democratic presidential candidates for generations.

A variety of factors pushed them away. Democrats became champions of affirmative action, which many whites thought threatened their jobs and promotions. Cultural conservatives were often uncomfortable with the party’s pledge of easier access to abortion, gun control, and gay rights.

Democrats also seemed willing to keep tax rates up and to funnel dollars to the less wealthy, dollars that workers felt were often going to irresponsible people who were not working.

President Ronald Reagan successfully tapped this vein, creating an army of “Reagan Democrats,” a term that still lingers. Democrats occasionally won them back in tough economic times. In 2008, Republicans struggled to only a 46 percent to 44 percent edge, according to Pew.

This year, the Republican advantage has returned. A Pew survey released Aug. 23 found white working-class voters this year preferring Republicans 52 percent to 40 percent.

The gain among whites crosses many lines. Democrats gained a big lead among whites with family incomes below $30,000 in 2008. Today, that lead is gone.

Whites earning between $30,000 and $74,999, generally considered the working middle class, had split between the two parties four years ago. Republicans now have a 17 percentage point advantage.

The Democrats’ answer is that the convention is putting strong emphasis on economic security for the middle class and portraying Republicans as hopelessly out of touch. “We’re going to have an honest conversation about where we were in 2008,” said Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt. “We’ve made progress.”

Democrats are reminding delegates how Obama pushed for the auto industry bailout, while Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was opposed. They’re telling viewers how Obama would maintain current income tax rates for people earning less than $250,000. Romney would continue current, lower rates for everyone, including the wealthy.

Dave Green is ready to spread the word. He’s president of United Auto Workers Local 1714 in Ohio, a crucial state where votes of his 1,500 members could help decide the election. The Lordstown, Ohio, Chevy plant, for years a popular presidential campaign stop, is running three shifts, up from one about four years ago.

Obama carried Ohio in 2008, but in 2010, Ohioans turned against Democrats and elected a conservative Republican governor and U.S. senator.

“A lot of people just thought the economy didn’t get good enough fast enough,” Green said. “And a lot still vote single issue, against gays, for God and for guns.”