I was reading the news this morning, and came upon this article in the Daily Beast. I read it all the way through, then read it again.
I recommend reading the whole article, but this part is a summation:
Sean Trende, the conservative movement’s heavily asterisked answer to Nate Silver (that is to say, Silver got everything right, and Trende got everything wrong), came out with an analysis this week, headlined “Does GOP Have to Pass Immigration Reform?,” showing that by golly no, it doesn’t. You can jump over there yourself and study all his charts and graphs, but the long and short of it is something like this. Black turnout and Democratic support have both been unusually high in the last two elections, which is true; Democrats have been steadily losing white voters, which is also true; if you move black turnout back down to 2004-ish levels and bump up GOP margins among whites (by what strikes me as a wildly optimistic amount), you reach White Valhalla. Somehow or another, under Trende’s “racial polarization scenario,” it’ll be 2044 before the Democrats again capture 270 electoral votes. Thus is the heat of Schlafly’s rhetoric cooled and given fresh substance via the dispassionate tools of statistics.
(emphasis mine)
Democrats have been losing white voters? I wasn't aware of that. So I searched. To my disgust, this was one of the first things that turned up:
Why the mass exodus? One explanation is that white liberals are becoming an endangered species. After all, a group that exalts murdering unborn babies in the womb as a right and cherishes a free lifetime supply of contraceptives doesn’t have too bright of a future. You have to have children in order to have a future and people who view “reproductive rights” as the right to not reproduce are destined to go the way of the dodo. This doesn’t mean that the Left is facing imminent defeat. Far from it! The shrinking of white liberals will be offset by the influx of new immigrants, which doesn’t bode well for the cultural left. (Hint: gay marriage isn’t well-received in the third world).
(emphasis mine) What an
asshole.
According to this guy, though, what the Democrats are actually losing is the less-educated white voters.
These trends would clearly be disastrous for the Democratic Party — except for two well-documented counter-developments: first, the white working class is declining steadily as a share of the electorate; and second, Democrats have made huge gains in a previously Republican constituency, well-educated white professionals, many with advanced degrees.
The GOP, in my opinion as a FORMER Republican voter (ugh, that is so embarrassing) is losing women like me in DROVES.
Here's why:
Coupled with ongoing debates over immigration and abortion, the court rulings mark a return to culture wars that could hamstring Republican outreach to women, young voters and minorities in the wake of the 2012 election. Recent skirmishes include a House vote banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, another House vote rejecting President Obama’s policy to halt deportations of illegal immigrants brought here as children, and this week, an explosive filibuster of a bill backed by Republican Gov. Rick Perry of Texas to regulate abortion clinics. Democratic attacks portray these efforts to block immigration reform or limit abortion as proof of the GOP’s hostility toward minorities and “war on women.”
I don't know why Tomasky never once mentioned women voters. President Obama DID win unmarried women, although I don't recall whether that demographic was ever broken down by race. Funny thing is, most of the activists that I know IRL are...married white women. Like me. We are passionately protesting, we are fighting for our daughters, we are vilifying the GOP for its constant assault on our personal freedom and liberties. On Twitter, my female friends, women that I follow, and my followers are pretty equally black and white. We're united in a common cause. Same thing with men on my Twitter feed.
So, in conclusion, I think Tomasky should have taken pro-choice women into account. Particularly after Wendy Davis' historic filibuster, and the outpouring of bile towards Perry and the Texas GOP, as well as the GOP in general. Many of us became single-issue voters in 2012, because Romney bragged that he'd "shut down Planned Parenthood" and "overturn Roe vs. Wade." I have to wonder if the GOP can ever admit those statements contributed to Romney's staggering gender gap and eventual loss? Nah, apparently not. But I personally persuaded four female GOP friends to vote for the President on that issue ALONE. Two more voted for Obama because of the ACA, even though they thought that Romney would be better for their small businesses.
My personal experience in the last couple of years, since I embraced the left, is that liberals, on the whole, ARE better educated and certainly more intelligent than most Republicans. It's funny how quick and easy it is to make mincemeat out of wingnut arguments.
It does seem to be true that less-educated whites are drawn to the GOP. This no doubt explains why the GOP is pushing to make student loans more expensive, teach creationist crap in voucher schools (ensuring that students probably can't attend a public or non-Christian college), make life harder for teachers, why Santorum and other idiots like these two jackasses spout nonsense like this:
Kevin Swanson: Now remember, the goal is that these women have to be independent. The goal is lots and lots of birth control. The goal is lots and lots and lots of fornication. The goal is abortion. The day-after pill will help. And it will help a lot. Remember, the goal is to get that girl a job because she needs no stinkin’ husband, she’s got the fascist corporation and government-mandated insurance programs and socialist welfare that will take care of her womb to tomb. Who needs a cotton-pickin’ husband? Who needs a family? That’s pretty much the worldview that’s dominating, my friends. That’s what the college is all about.
Dave Buehner: Because her feminist professors have told her her husband will abuse her, she will be like a slave to him. Instead she will just go to the slave market and sell herself, at least sell her body, to the highest bidder. See, that’s much, much better!
I just rolled my eyes so hard, they hurt.
I've been rec'ing and running because I was frantically cleaning my house. I have an appt at 1:30, but then I'll be back. I want to respond to a bunch of comments!