Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
A common way to divide up the American political battlefield is into quadrants with social and fiscal issues being the two axes.
Socially liberal and fiscally liberal: Democrat base
Socially liberal and fiscally conservative: libertarians
Socially conservative and fiscally conservative: Republican base
Socially conservative and fiscally liberal: ?
The Democrat and Republican bases are roughly offsetting, with the Democrats usually slightly more numerous. Libertarians, despite an outsized online presence and a voice in media through various publications, are numerically few.
Why is the fourth quadrant above so quiet?
Because they are working class. Working class people do not generally have their own publications nor do they contribute a lot of money to either political party. So despite being much more numerous than libertarians and maybe comparable in size to the two party bases, especially if counting those.who do not vote, they have little voice.
This is a good piece touching on some of these themes, from the perspective of a Democrat who laments his party's abandonment of the working class.
This is a huge trove of voters, but to reach them the Democrat base will need to moderate socially, and the Republican base will need to moderate economically.
Read the article. It's basically normies who want a higher minimum wage and better healthcare.
But they may not oppose abortion and gay marriage strongly enough to vote Republican over it. People who are primarily concerned with economic issues when they vote are less likely to be wrapped up in the culture war, even if they hold conservative values in their own lives. In fact, the culture war is a tactic in and of itself to keep people voting Republican who would otherwise consider voting Democrat because of economic issues.
A common way to divide up the American political battlefield is into quadrants with social and fiscal issues being the two axes.
Socially liberal and fiscally liberal: Democrat base
Socially liberal and fiscally conservative: libertarians
Socially conservative and fiscally conservative: Republican base
Socially conservative and fiscally liberal: ?
that last one, those are the religious cons, who people sometimes think of as conservatives, but they support the massive welfare state and have no problem going into debt to try and buy happiness with taxpayer money.
But they may not oppose abortion and gay marriage strongly enough to vote Republican over it. People who are primarily concerned with economic issues when they vote are less likely to be wrapped up in the culture war, even if they hold conservative values in their own lives. In fact, the culture war is a tactic in and of itself to keep people voting Republican who would otherwise consider voting Democrat because of economic issues.
I would have believed this ten years ago but a lot has changed since then.
The Democrat base is now made up of post-material, college-educated values voters. Their values are liberal, not conservative. They don't vote for kitchen-table issues.
Contrast that with the working class which has drifted to Republicans, across races although to differing degrees.
that last one, those are the religious cons, who people sometimes think of as conservatives, but they support the massive welfare state and have no problem going into debt to try and buy happiness with taxpayer money.
More likely they are going into debt to fix their car so they can get to work or pay medical bills.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
