Posted by Dinah on November 3, 2004, at 16:58:51
In reply to Re: Who are all these people voting for Bush????, posted by SLS on November 3, 2004, at 14:52:21
Scott, I appreciate your civility, and I certainly wouldn't be averse to talking demographics and elections with someone who isn't ready to condemn an entire majority of the electorate. I think the answer may be more complex than mere morality, or Clinton wouldn't have appealed to many of the same voters that Gore and Kerry were unable to carry. Perceived strength, or more likely strength of purpose may also play a role, although again... But at any rate, as a social conservative I would have voted for Tsongas had he won the nomination because I liked his strength of purpose, even if it didn't mirror mine.
I suspect it may be just a matter of social values. Clinton came across as a democrat who understood the social values of much of the south and the rural areas of most of the nation. Whether or not he shared them, I have no idea. But he seemed to understand and respect them. I think the democratic party's best bet for the white house would be another candidate like that. The large liberal states are unlikely to vote for Republicans, so it would seem wise to factor the South and rural American into a choice of nominee.
Personality often plays a part, but I'm not sure it did in this election. While it's true that the stiffer candidates have fared very poorly since Nixon, Bush doesn't give one the warm fuzzies either.
But the gains for Republicans in the House and Senate seem to validate the social values theory - something deeper than Bush alone. Even the loss of a Senate seat in Colorado for the Republicans seemed to pivot on social values issues.
I think that once the dust settles and passions cool, the Democrats could really benefit from looking at the demographics involved and work to adapt to that rather than just work on mobilizing the vote in their base. They did a bang up job at that, but that's not enough. Especially with some of the changing ethnic demographics with population growth in minorities that are basically conservative in outlook.
Just my 2 cents.
poster:Dinah
thread:410892
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20041026/msgs/411237.html