Obama and Democrats
Abandon Working White Voters

by Robert P. Heslin, for Touchdowns.com

It's not news that the Democrat party has bled support among white voters for decades now. But as the 2012 elections approach, party activists have made it increasingly clear that they intend to cut ties with the white working class.

According to the New York Times, "A top priority of the less-affluent wing of today's left alliance is the strengthening of the safety net," which includes such things as unemployment insurance, food stamps, infant nutrition, and even diapers. Recent findings by the Department of Agriculture put the number of people depending on government aid at 45.8 million. Almost 15% of the populace is dependent on food stamps as well. Left unasked is a question we'd like to see answered: how many of these same children are already receiving three meals a day at school?

The situation is apparently so bad for Democrats that they're no longer willing even to pretend to compete with the GOP for the votes of working whites. Instead they are openly and methodically trying to build a center-left alliance of educated elites on the one hand and minority low-income voters on the other. Rush Limbaugh, commenting on his radio show, was pungent as always:

"If you work, we don't want you," he said. "If you work, we know you don't want us. If you work, you're the targets. If you work, you are the people we are gunning for. If you work, we are coming after you to make sure that the other elements of our constituency are able to eat."

According to Limbaugh, the realignment can also be looked at another way:

"What this means is the white working class is the Tea Party. The white working class has abandoned the Democrat party is what this means. This is the old Reagan Democrat coalition in part. White working class people have decided that they're voting Republican. That's who voted in the 2010 midterms."

Yet these voters, many of whom never attended or graduated from college, are often looked down upon by establishment Republicans. Still, they represent a sizable bloc, and Democrat officials will have to scramble to make up for their loss. Strategists say Obama must keep his losses in this demographic at or below the same level John Kerry did in 2004; Kerry lost them to George W. Bush by 17%. Supposedly Obama can absorb this electoral hit because the Caucasian share of likely voters has declined since 2008. But working against that guesswork is the sharply-reduced level of intensity enjoyed by Democrats in that year. If 2010 is any indication, that intensity will again favor Republicans.

Limbaugh, for one, is hardly surprised.

"This is what the Democrat party has been doing for years. They're admitting it now. They're admitting it. They are saying they're not interested in voters who work."