Democrats Shunning Moderates

By
Terry Crowley
– March 27, 2010Posted in: Terry Crowley

For more than three decades before 2008, no Democrat Presidential candidate had ever won a majority of the electorate. In part, that was because such a large part of the electorate has always favored a limited role of government. This year, 58% of Americans said they favor smaller government and fewer services. Among whites, 71 % of men and 56 % of women favor fewer services and smaller government. Obama managed to pull in 41% of the white male vote in 2008, mainly because of the financial meltdown in the months leading up to the November vote.

It was only after the economic recession in full blossom that Obama went above the magic number of 38% of the white male vote. And according to Gallup tracking, at that same time he got his first clear majority among all registered voters.Coincidence? I don’t think so. His percentage of the female vote has remained steady. These are smaller government, less services, moderate swing voters who were willing to give the Democrat President the time and the opportunity to show he cared about their interests.

He hasn’t. 

Since Obama took office, the margin between those favoring smaller government and larger government has moved from 5 to 20 points and 63% of Independents and 70% of Republicans now say more government is in fact a threat to citizens rights. In February, support for Democrats among the moderate swing vote dropped to three points under what it was in 1994. These Springsteen voters have given Obama the time and the benefit of the doubt, and now they are leaving. In droves. And they are taking their smaller government, moderate, middle of the road voices to the other side. They think government is broken and needs to do less to interfere in peoples lives, because it does it badly.

More like LBJ’s than FDR’s, Obama-style liberalism favors benefits over relief, a safety net over direct job programs, health care and environmental reform over financial reform and a stimulus package that has focused more on social service jobs — health care work, teaching and the like — than on the areas where a majority of job losses occurred: construction, manufacturing and related sectors.

Read more:

The Year of the Angry White Male

Branding voters who voted their interests in 1994 as merely “angry” was poor politics for the Democrat party. It kept those swing voters away for more than a decade. The Republicans toyed with repeating that mistake against Democrats on the war or with George W Bush, but they never quite reached the pique of arrogance at branding a whole group. Now you’ve got bank bailouts for the rich folks, healthcare bailouts for the poor under him, and a big fat bill for his middle class  support. Lots of cost. Little gain.

Today, 70% of voters are angry with the policies of the federal government. 48% are very angry. 55% favor repealing the recently signed Health Insurance Reform. A majority feel prescription drugs will go up, and costs will keep rising. And they’re right. Government can do nothing about “costs”. Only spending. That’s the voices of these moderate swing voters who are leaving the Democrat Party.

Now, I can hear some of the voices out there, saying “Good riddance!”

Hey Vern!

But, what we are left looking at is a Democrat Party that is less moderate, less responsive to the American people as a whole, and wholly unsuited to lead the nation. 61% of Americans think its better for the economy if the government stays out of the housing market and 49% think the economy is getting worse, while 26% think its getting better. That’s the same number who think the country is headed in the right direction. And a new Rasmussen Report finds only 35% of America thinks we’re safer today than before 9-11. That’s its lowest point since Obama took office.

So we should be concentrating on the economy, creating jobs, and spending more time making America safer. But we aren’t. We’re concentrating on creating more spending, 18,000 more IRS agents, 111 more bureaucracies, 30 million more government dependents, teaching children to stay on the parents health care bill years longer, and generally creating a bigger government to serve smaller citizens.

It’s gonna be a long summer.

*Update Approval/Disapproval Widening Again

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