The Democrats' (White) Male Problem

[n2doc]

There’s a cavernous gender gap in this country that’s hindering a party’s electoral potential, threatening its ability to win in November.

This is a common refrain about the Republican Party’s deep-rooted problem with women. But it could just as easily be applied to the Democrats and their disconnect with men.

In fact, in several of the headline U.S. Senate contests of the cycle, Democrats’ troubles with males are even more pronounced than the GOP’s deficit with the fairer sex, according to a U.S. News analysis of available public polling data.

The male drift from the Democratic Party, particularly white males, isn’t an entirely new phenomenon. Reagan Democrats were comprised largely of men who felt the party had abandoned them, and not the other way around. In 2012, Mitt Romney won 62 percent of the white male vote. But in a campaign cycle set to see a handful of margin-of-error races that determine U.S. Senate control, it’s an often overlooked and undervalued element of the election.

"If they don't find a way to reverse the trend, there will be a gender gap and it will favor Republicans," says Republican pollster Wes Anderson.

more

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/08/12/the-democrats-white-male-problem

[bravenak]

1. Says republican pollster.

They think the gender gap will favor republicans. Bullshit!! They just want us to be stupid enough to turn off our base by trying to get ahold of republican men. We'd be a bunch of dumbasses to listen to advice from a republican pollster.

[MADem]

2. You mean those white men who tell you who they voted for, but never show up at the polls, and never

order an absentee ballot, either?

I think a lot of those guys think that if they IMAGINE voting, then it happened...!

I also think Republican pollster Wes Anderson is whistling in the dark. If all the women are over on the D team, it makes sense that at least a few fellers looking to find themselves a nice female companion would wander over that way, too.

[davidn3600]

3. It's not news that white men tend to be the most potent in mid-term elections

This is how we got spanked in 2010.

Mid-term elections favor the party not in control of the White House. And on top of that, minorities don't vote in the numbers that they do in the presidential elections. The youth is also not very motivated according to the polls.

[brush]

4. Exactly

And duh . . . it should be no surprise that a majority of white males vote republican — that party is all about keeping white males rich and in charge of everything.

So they get white males who haven't (in their own minds) gotten rich yet voting for when they do get rich.

Dumb, I know, but it works and has worked for a long time on many not-so-smart white male voters.

Meanwhile women, blacks, Latinos, Asians (males included), politically aware white males, gays, etc. are not falling for the repug foolishness and will vote wisely in their own economic interests, thank you, and not for pie-in-the-sky-when-they-get-rich imaginings.

[sendero]

5. No ..

.... there is a problem with a large percentage of women in this country. They vote Republican against their own interests.

I have lost all interest in the abortion/contraception issue, if women don't care about it why should I?

[sendero]

9. Since...

.... the party in question is seriously lacking in every issue you mention, but particularly national security and the economy, I don't think you have a point.

[Savannahmann]

10. You haven't been paying attention.

The Rethugs read the polling and saw the the Economy was the biggest issue for the public. So they attached economic issues to their arguments.

The Job Killing Obamacare? Remember that?

The Job Killing Minimum wage?

They would have opposed the Job Killing Daylight savings time if they could have figured out how to pull it off. They put Job Killing in all their arguments, which we ignore thinking that people won't notice the arguments. Well they're noticing. To the average pay little attention folks on the street, the Republicans are fighting for jobs, and we aren't.

In the meantime President Obama has pivoted to the economy a dozen times at least, and done little but to swear things are going great now that we're in charge. The people don't feel like things are going great, and the reality is that they're not going all that well. But we are losing on the issue, and that doesn't bother anyone, because despite the polls that show us losing the Senate, we're confident that the people will come back to us.

The truth is our campaign strategy is to drop to our knees once a day and pray that the Rethugs fuck it up.

[sendero]

12. I totally get..

... that the economy is on life support. I have said here "there is no recovery" a hundred times and I still believe that.

But we wouldn't have nearly so large a problem to solve if it weren't for Republican policies.

The fact that people listen to blatant outright falsehoods (like which party ran up the Federal debt for example) and believe them, well idiots eventually get what's coming to them.

The point of my original post is basically "people are getting the government they deserve". And by and large, they are.

[Squinch]

6. So it turns out that Republicans' problem is just that they can't add, and now they want us to

become bad at adding too!

Silly Republicans!

[Gothmog]

8. For some reason white males are happier with the GOP crazy poliicies

As a white make, I really do not see the attraction of GOP dumb policies.

[kwolf68]

11. As a white male I have theories

I think many of us are locked in masculine primacy...

I think the Democratic positions at times can be touchy-feely.....

we are pro women
pro environment
we try to help poor people, Democrats try to UNDERSTAND nuance an issue. So instead of, "get to work slacker, pull yourself up by the bootstraps" we look at homeless people differently.
We are typically against the death penalty. Only a pussy wouldn't want retribution for a heinous crime

and the list goes on...

I would wager Democrats are more likely to drive a Prius, not spank our kids, find violence detestable, are peaceniks, etc...traits that some see as ostensibly 'soft'.

To me, it SOUNDS like many men just are not sure about their sexuality so they have to compensate by driving hummers, beating their kids, blowing war trumpets and talking with overt bravado about how tough (and manly) they are and voting Republican is part of the equation---Repukes are always the "tougher" politician. For shit skates, G.W Bush came off "tougher" than John Kerry. While Chimp was hunched over a bar Kerry was serving two tours in Nam. The thanks the OBVIOUSLY tough Kerry gets? They say he planned it so he could run for Prez one day...because afterall Kerry can't be tough, he's a Euro looking Liberal pansy who likes wind farms.