Why the White Working Class Votes for the GOP

[Fatality]

Which republicans are saying that??

Where else do you think the cult-like [] hatred of working people comes from?

democrats

 

[jillian]

That's been the Republican mantra for years. Where else do you think the cult-like belief in the perfection of markets and hatred of working people comes from?

I recently read Deer Hunting With Jesus by Joe Bageant and he addresses that issue. Now at least one of the people on this board whom I respect thinks Bageant was patronizing to the people he was writing about. I didn't. But a good chunk of Bageant's hypothesis is that the left simply doesn't address their concerns... don't send the grass roots people into their communities to talk to them.... and fail to show how they'd benefit from more moderate and left policies. And Bageant went on to say that the left chooses certain issues that will naturally inflame white working class voters in more rural areas by focusing on things like guns (which are really an inner city issue), and "values" issues which don't respect the values of that constituency.

Yet, Bageant also goes on to show how horribly these people are treated at work and essentially had to beat out Mexico for a factory by cutting wages and denying benefits and how they're worked to death by their sixties.... and don't have decent healthcare

(that's a nutshell version... but you get the idea).

 

[noose4]

I am white working class and i would never vote for a republican.

That's because you're immoral. The data speaks for itself.

the data? is that code for the voices in your head?

 

[Toro]

Sorry, I find "research" based upon anecdotal evidence of a dubious nature.

Really? Its anecdotal? You read the study?

http://sociology.buffalo.edu/documents/Hoffmanundeservingrich.pdf

I only got through the first few pages of it but I plan on reading the paper later.

 

[Oddball]

Sorry, I find "research" based upon anecdotal evidence of a dubious nature.

Really? Its anecdotal? You read the study?

http://sociology.buffalo.edu/documents/Hoffmanundeservingrich.pdf

I only got through the first few pages of it but I plan on reading the paper later.

When you're asking 99.99% of people in the world why they do what they do, they'll most often manufacture some answer to rationalize it away. And since there's no real way of objectively proving that what they say is in fact true, it is -by definition- anecdotal.

This is the primary reason I find empirical "evidence" of this nature highly suspect.

 

[user_name_guest]

I am white working class and i would never vote for a republican.

Example of a hack. They vote because it's their team...not because they are right for America.

 

[William Joyce]

That's been the Republican mantra for years. Where else do you think the cult-like belief in the perfection of markets and hatred of working people comes from?

I recently read Deer Hunting With Jesus by Joe Bageant and he addresses that issue. Now at least one of the people on this board whom I respect thinks Bageant was patronizing to the people he was writing about. I didn't. But a good chunk of Bageant's hypothesis is that the left simply doesn't address their concerns... don't send the grass roots people into their communities to talk to them.... and fail to show how they'd benefit from more moderate and left policies. And Bageant went on to say that the left chooses certain issues that will naturally inflame white working class voters in more rural areas by focusing on things like guns (which are really an inner city issue), and "values" issues which don't respect the values of that constituency.

Yet, Bageant also goes on to show how horribly these people are treated at work and essentially had to beat out Mexico for a factory by cutting wages and denying benefits and how they're worked to death by their sixties.... and don't have decent healthcare.

This is why I believe that if Republicans are going to have any success, they need to pull in closer to 70-80 percent of the white vote, which they can probably do by slapping back corporate interests and tending to the working man's concerns more.

And, as Pat Buchanan advises, actually speaking up for white interests.

Take Frank Ricci. Here's a guy who's 1) northeastern, 2) a union man and 3) a government man. Yet he finds himself in the multiracial crosshairs... Republicans should have rallied like a MOTHERFUCKER for this guy, but for various reasons, silencio. Busy on their knees fellating AIPAC, I guess.

New Republican platform:

No illegals
No socialized medicine
Scrap affirmative action
Audit the fed
End "free trade"
Keep manufacturing in America
Put our troops on the border
Keep the status quo on guns
Keep the status quo on abortion

 

[noose4]

I am white working class and i would never vote for a republican.

Example of a hack. They vote because it's their team...not because they are right for America.

it has something to do with republicans weakening workers rights, why would i vote for a party whose policies basically hurt people like me?


how many democrats have you voted for?

 

[NYcarbineer]

I am white working class and i would never vote for a republican.

Well, you do have STUPID stamped on your forehead for a reason.

No, actually, voting for someone that you don't agree with on most of the issues because the other guy seems 'snooty' is STUPID.

 

[NYcarbineer]

I shouldn't think conservatives/Republicans should see this study as good news. What it really says is, the white working class is fertile ground for Democrats if only the Democrats run less snooty candidates.

Case in point - I'm in one of the most historically Republican districts in NY. My congressman, who almost got elected in 06 and then won in 08, is Eric Massa, a fairly liberal Democrat who ran primarily on opposition to the Iraq war and in support of single-payer healthcare.
He won in this historically Republican district because a more down-to-earth 'non-snooty' guy you'll never find. He was thus able to win on the ISSUES.

 

[NYcarbineer]

I am white working class and i would never vote for a republican.

Example of a hack. They vote because it's their team...not because they are right for America.

I am rural white working class and agree with the Democrats on probably 70% of the major issues.

How does voting Democrat make me a hack? How would voting for the party that I DISAGREE with 70% of the time make me smarter?

 

[Care4all]

I am white working class and i would never vote for a republican.

That's because you're immoral. The data speaks for itself.

good call! Then so am I!!!! Nice to know that about me! Thank you!

And good morning to you...I suppose!

Care

 

[skookerasbil]

Lets face it...........not all people have common sense!!! Folks who vote for Democrats might have SOME common sense but its certainly not a personal strength!!! I think too that folks who vote for Democrats clearly have some profound inability to be able to assess necessary tradeoffs in life. Accepting tradeoffs IS what life is about. But not to the liberal thinking person............
Life almost always comes down to choices between "suck" vs "suckier" and you gotta pick one!! Not to the liberal. They are convinced there is a third choice!!!

 

[PLYMCO_PILGRIM]

Because they share their values and aren't as snooty as Democrats.

Democrats seen as the 'undeserving rich' face rejection by party voters

Because the republicans directly appeal to their core values
- anti gay
- anti abortion
- pro-gun

And the ignorance flows forward once again.

 

[jillian]

That's been the Republican mantra for years. Where else do you think the cult-like belief in the perfection of markets and hatred of working people comes from?

I recently read Deer Hunting With Jesus by Joe Bageant and he addresses that issue. Now at least one of the people on this board whom I respect thinks Bageant was patronizing to the people he was writing about. I didn't. But a good chunk of Bageant's hypothesis is that the left simply doesn't address their concerns... don't send the grass roots people into their communities to talk to them.... and fail to show how they'd benefit from more moderate and left policies. And Bageant went on to say that the left chooses certain issues that will naturally inflame white working class voters in more rural areas by focusing on things like guns (which are really an inner city issue), and "values" issues which don't respect the values of that constituency.

Yet, Bageant also goes on to show how horribly these people are treated at work and essentially had to beat out Mexico for a factory by cutting wages and denying benefits and how they're worked to death by their sixties.... and don't have decent healthcare.

This is why I believe that if Republicans are going to have any success, they need to pull in closer to 70-80 percent of the white vote, which they can probably do by slapping back corporate interests and tending to the working man's concerns more.

And, as Pat Buchanan advises, actually speaking up for white interests.

Take Frank Ricci. Here's a guy who's 1) northeastern, 2) a union man and 3) a government man. Yet he finds himself in the multiracial crosshairs... Republicans should have rallied like a MOTHERFUCKER for this guy, but for various reasons, silencio. Busy on their knees fellating AIPAC, I guess.

New Republican platform:

No illegals
No socialized medicine
Scrap affirmative action
Audit the fed
End "free trade"
Keep manufacturing in America
Put our troops on the border
Keep the status quo on guns
Keep the status quo on abortion

The GOP will never drop the corporatists (which would cut off their money supply) or stop using reproductive choice as a wedge issue (since it would cost them "the base")

 

[NYcarbineer]

Obviously Democrats are winning enough of the white working class vote to win overall.

 

[rdean]

That's been the Republican mantra for years. Where else do you think the cult-like belief in the perfection of markets and hatred of working people comes from?

I recently read Deer Hunting With Jesus by Joe Bageant and he addresses that issue. Now at least one of the people on this board whom I respect thinks Bageant was patronizing to the people he was writing about. I didn't. But a good chunk of Bageant's hypothesis is that the left simply doesn't address their concerns... don't send the grass roots people into their communities to talk to them.... and fail to show how they'd benefit from more moderate and left policies. And Bageant went on to say that the left chooses certain issues that will naturally inflame white working class voters in more rural areas by focusing on things like guns (which are really an inner city issue), and "values" issues which don't respect the values of that constituency.

Yet, Bageant also goes on to show how horribly these people are treated at work and essentially had to beat out Mexico for a factory by cutting wages and denying benefits and how they're worked to death by their sixties.... and don't have decent healthcare.

This is why I believe that if Republicans are going to have any success, they need to pull in closer to 70-80 percent of the white vote, which they can probably do by slapping back corporate interests and tending to the working man's concerns more.

And, as Pat Buchanan advises, actually speaking up for white interests.

Take Frank Ricci. Here's a guy who's 1) northeastern, 2) a union man and 3) a government man. Yet he finds himself in the multiracial crosshairs... Republicans should have rallied like a MOTHERFUCKER for this guy, but for various reasons, silencio. Busy on their knees fellating AIPAC, I guess.

New Republican platform:

No illegals
No socialized medicine
Scrap affirmative action
Audit the fed
End "free trade"
Keep manufacturing in America
Put our troops on the border
Keep the status quo on guns
Keep the status quo on abortion

You forgot "circle the wagons".

 

[rdean]

Because they share their values and aren't as snooty as Democrats.

Democrats seen as the 'undeserving rich' face rejection by party voters

Because the republicans directly appeal to their core values
- anti gay
- anti abortion
- pro-gun

And the ignorance flows forward once again.

Core Republican values:

- anti gay
- anti abortion
- pro-gun

Those aren't "core Republican values"?

 

[shart_attack]

Because they share their values and aren't as snooty as Democrats.

Democrats seen as the 'undeserving rich' face rejection by party voters

I agree.