Dems Make Big Inroads In The Suburbs

Washington Post: Exit Polls Show Obama Got Bigger Share Of Suburban Voters Than Any Prior Democrat

(Washington Post) 
"McCain did slightly better in southwest Virginia, but so what? You win Prince William and Loudoun, and you win Virginia," said Robert Lang, a demographer at Virginia Tech's Metropolitan Institute in Alexandria. "The Obama campaign clearly understands where the battleground of this election was. Do [the Republicans] have the basic math skills to sit with an Excel spreadsheet and figure out where the growth is, or are they out of their minds?"

He noted that a McCain adviser had referred to the parts of the state outside Northern Virginia as "real" Virginia. "If you're going to divide Virginia up, I'm going to take the one with more people," Lang said. "Did they not realize that for every one of these dying mill towns there was a languishing exurb that had suffered since the 2004 reelection of Bush, which in 2004 were all growing smartly and had house prices moving up?"

The narrowness of the Republican coalition was evident across the board. Ninety percent of McCain's supporters were white, according to exit polls. Obama attracted a significantly more diverse coalition: 61 percent white, 23 percent black, 11 percent Hispanic, 2 percent Asian, 3 percent "other." This is particularly significant, given that whites made up a smaller proportion of the electorate than at any point going back to the first exit polls; they were 74 percent of voters, down from 77 percent four years ago and a high of 90 percent in 1976.

Obama had a far broader generational coalition as well -- nearly a quarter of his voters were under 30, compared with 13 percent of McCain's. Obama beat McCain by better than 2 to 1 with them, far exceeding Bill Clinton's 19-point win in 1996. Obama won whites under 30 by 10 points, the first time a Democrat has picked up a majority of these voters going back to 1972.

To expand their coalition, Lang said, Republicans will need to find ways to talk about issues relevant to metropolitan areas. "You don't have to have the same policies as the Democrats, but you have to talk about this and not just talk about values in the small towns," he said.

Charles Bass, who lost his New Hampshire congressional seat in 2006 as that state turned more Democratic, said he and other moderate Republicans plan to do that at the Republican Main Street Partnership, a group that he heads. Suburban voters want a "family agenda, which is not abortion and gay marriage but drug-free schools and good public education," he said. "Tax cuts and gay marriage and Iraq don't sell as strongly in suburban areas -- it's education and health care and the economy."

He said McCain's choice of Palin instead of a moderate such as former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge or Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) exacerbated Republican troubles with suburban voters in states including New Hampshire, despite Palin's attempt to bond with Granite State voters over moose-hunting and hockey. "At that point he narrowed his options," Bass said. "New Hampshire has the third-highest percentage of high-tech workers in the country, and high-tech people don't hunt moose."

Not all Republicans see trouble in Tuesday's numbers. Robert Clegg, a New Hampshire state senator who lost a primary bid for Congress this year, predicted that younger voters will become more Republican with age as they assume more responsibilities, and that Republicans will hold onto college-educated voters over the long term. "The more educated people are, the more they understand economics, the more they realize nothing in life is free," he said.

And as much as Davis worries about his party's future, he predicted that Democrats will have trouble holding onto suburban voters as Obama starts governing and tries to balance their interests and those of the party's urban base. Suburban voters in places such as Henrico, for instance, may not look kindly on Obama's tax increases on the wealthy, he said.

Obama "knows where his margins come from, and these folks have a different agenda than a suburban agenda," he said. "Any government has to make choices, and you start to disappoint groups in your coalition, and the Republicans can start picking up the pieces -- except right now, they're not prepared to do that."

Exit polls suggested that there are already some potential fissures within the Democratic coalition. Nearly a quarter of Obama voters said the government is already doing too much. Nearly half of them favor offshore oil drilling. And more than half described themselves as moderate or conservative.

But Schwartz, of suburban Philadelphia, is confident that the coalition is sustainable. Suburban voters have "identified with Democratic principles -- that the government should not intervene when it does not have to, but that we're not the enemy, that we're in this together. Republicans have tried to say government is the enemy, step aside, just me, me, me," she said. The trend "is growing, and it's going to continue."

Polling analyst Jennifer Agiesta and assistant polling analyst Kyle Dropp contributed to this report.

[misha128-2009]

... That is called socialism ...

Posted by ken3331 at 01:47 PM

You are behind on the Republican talking points again. Karl Rove has proclaimed that Obama won because he ran a center or center-right campaign. Republicans are not using that "socialist" word anymore in comments about President-elect Obama. Being a Republican is really tough -- I cannot see why an election loss changes the opponents position from the far-left to the center or center-right. Sometime in the future the Republicans really need to explain how that works to the rest of us.

[lovegetpeace]

For the Republicans,

Before 2042, LEGAL Hispanics will become the Majority race because of High-Negative Birth rate among Anglo-Saxon Whites and High-Positive Birth rate among the LEGAL Hispanics in America.

Because the Republican Party been attempting to deport our Undocumented brothers and sisters and relatives, we will, with the help of our Black friends and Neighbors, make the Republican Party disappear without a Fight unless you folks are considerate of their dreams to live the American Dream just like your ancestors and you did.

Republicans have no way out because they cannot afford having offsprings.

[wogerwabbit]

Cry babies. As you told us in 2000, "Get over it!"

[pony1225]

Impeach Obama....STOPPA OBAMA!!!!!
Impeach Obama....STOPPA OBAMA!!!!!

[hatesthecolt]

Wake up and smell the coffee, while you can still afford it. HAHA



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by ken3331

Keep saying it over and over and over again but it doesn''t make it true. Sorry you are feeling so marginalized, but the rest of us woke up from the Republican trickle down dream and realized they were just *** us over for their own benefit. If you are one of them, shame on you. If you are one of the trickle down believers at the lower end of the pay scale still waiting for that big fat promised trickle down payday, you are an idiot and I feel sorry for you.

[ken3331]

For those who are under the impression that 95% will not pay higher taxes you better read up.ONLY about 35% pay taxes in this country and those who make 100k or less will pay through the A-- under Obama. The tax will be given to those who don''''t pay taxes. That is called socialism- look it up.

More than half of this country is made of small businesses and those companies will have to pay higher taxes if Obama pushes for mandatory health insurance. They will not pay the highter tax, instead lay off workers.

Large companies will go overseas and the USA will faulter deeper into a recession.

Obama will try to overturn the 2nd Amdendment- The right to bear arms- OH, yes,this will not go over real well.

Obama wants to control freedom of speech, no more conservative radio. Sure, you libs would like that, but that is not only what you call real ''change'' that is called: " communistic change. "

Wake up and smell the coffee, while you can still afford it. HAHA

[ken3331]

INroads? You mean INBREDS, don''t you?

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has congratulated Barak Obama on his election win %u2014 the first time an Iranian leader has offered such wishes to a U.S. president-elect since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Ahmadinejad sent a message to Obama in which he congratulated the Democrat on "attracting the majority of voters in the election."

And so it begins...............