Arkansas Democrat Online
a href=http://algaepedia.org/gushadow/GUShadow/a
p br /
PEMBThe health care /Bdebate has exposed the ideological tension in Barack Obamarsquo;s political coalition between moderates and liberals. But it has also offered hints of how another, less obvious divide built into the Democratic majority could wreak havoc on the administration during the years to come./EM/Pbr /
PEMIn 2008, the Democratic Party blossomed into a successful alliance of the upscale and the downscale#8211;wealthy and needy marching hand in hand, sharing animosity to George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. The extent to which Democrats are relying on the far extremes of the income spectrum is striking. Democrats have generally performed well among low-income voters in the past, but now, the phenomenon has become more pronounced. Voters from households making less than $30,000 backed Obama by 31 points last November. That margin was 13 points higher than Jimmy Carterrsquo;s advantage over Gerald Ford with poor voters in 1976#8211;and 21 points better than Walter Mondalersquo;s advantage among the same demographic in 1984./EM/Pbr /
PEMDemocratic gains among the rich have been even more dramatic and, given the partyrsquo;s history, surprising. Carter in 1976 and Mondale in 1984 were crushed by the wealthiest voters. Obama, by contrast, actually carried those making $200,000 or more by 6 points. True, these very affluent voters make up only 6 percent of the electorate, but Obama fared well in other upper-income categories too. Among non-Southern white voters#8211;that is, voters living in states a Democrat must carry or have a shot at carrying to win an election#8211;Obama claimed a majority of those making $80,000 or more. And this group makes up over 30 percent of the electorate outside the South.BRBR/EMSTRONGSource: /STRONGSTRONGThe New Republic/STRONGBRBRThe Democratic Party has arrived at a crucial junction and the path taken will define the future of the party.nbsp; It is very difficult to sell to middle class voters additional government programs and possible new taxes, especially during times of economic anxiety.BRBRHealth care is a serious issue in dire need of reform but in order to successfully overhaul the sector, Democrats need the support of middle income Americans.nbsp; At the present, middle income Americans are worried about job loss and are concerned that health care reform will take more money out of their ever shrinking pockets.nbsp; BRBRI do not blame middle income voters for being skeptical of health care reform.nbsp; My wife and I are middle income Democrats and we are fearful that a government overhaul of health care will place new burdens on people like us.nbsp; I wish the history of our policy was different, but middle income Americans seem to always bear the responsibility for the rich who can hide assets and avoid taxes and the poorest who often times can work but choose public assistance because it is easy for them.BRBRThe President was wrong to place health care reform on the agenda before seeing the economy improve.nbsp; Health care reform will be much easier to acheive in a growing economy when folks are less fearful of losing their jobs.nbsp; BRBRThis mistake may cost Democrats in 2010!/P
pspan class=chicklet_groupnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;/span/p
p class=postmetadata alt
This entry was posted
on Martedigrave;, Ottobre 20th, 2009 at 06:05 and is filed under Politics and Tagged arkansas democrat classifieds, arkansas democrat gaz, arkansas democrat gazette, democrat gazette classifieds, dupage county democrats, durant democrat newspaper, johnstown tribune democrat, log cabin demo, stonewall democrats los angeles, sullivan county democrat You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
/p
