Voter turnout thread... (McKeesport, Beaver, Nixon: statistics, tuition, budget)

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by nei

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Very interesting. Beaver County was #6 in PA for Humphrey! (If I counted right.) Higher than Allegheny. Thanks.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by sparrowmint

it's perfectly correct to assume that "most" Hispanics are Democrats, and they will remain so until the Republicans put forth more faces that don't froth at the mouth with ethnic and racial hatred over the very idea of Hispanic immigrants.

I know right, those SOBs actually want those immigrants that come into the US illegally to go through the same process as everyone else does to become a legal citizen

[nei]

Originally Posted by Katiana

Very interesting. Beaver County was #6 in PA for Humphrey! (If I counted right.) Higher than Allegheny. Thanks.

It was also #7 in the state for Wallace, but a bit lower than Allegheny. The county I grew up in NY was #3 in the state for Wallace, but it was Nixon territory (these days it has a slight Democrat lean).

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by UKyank

I know right, those SOBs actually want those immigrants that come into the US illegally to go through the same process as everyone else does to become a legal citizen

What nerve they have.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by nei

It was also #7 in the state for Wallace, but a bit lower than Allegheny. The county I grew up in NY was #3 in the state for Wallace, but it was Nixon territory (these days it has a slight Democrat lean).

That's not surprising about Wallace. My dad voted for Wallace that year, so he said.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Katiana

It's pretty amazing. When I was a kid, Beaver County was strongly Democratic. I'm too lazy to look up stats, but "heavy majority" is not too strong.

I recently found a startling statistic.

At one point, 80% of the workforce of Beaver County were members of the Steelworkers. Not worked in the steel industry, but members of the Steelworkers union.

This is absolutely astounding. Union density at its height in America never broke 40%. Presumably some people in Beaver County were members of other unions (building trades for example) after all, and there had to be some non-union salaried employees.

Regardless, I think the death of mass unionization in Western Pennsylvania explains the most about why the Democrats declined here. Cultural attitudes among the white working class haven't changed much at all. It's really just that as economic opportunities get worse and worse, people might as well vote their social conscience instead.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I recently found a startling statistic.

At one point, 80% of the workforce of Beaver County were members of the Steelworkers. Not worked in the steel industry, but members of the Steelworkers union.

This is absolutely astounding. Union density at its height in America never broke 40%. Presumably some people in Beaver County were members of other unions (building trades for example) after all, and there had to be some non-union salaried employees.

Regardless, I think the death of mass unionization in Western Pennsylvania explains the most about why the Democrats declined here. Cultural attitudes among the white working class haven't changed much at all. It's really just that as economic opportunities get worse and worse, people might as well vote their social conscience instead.

Yes, I came across that stat once too, (or a very similar number) in a history of Beaver County. And you're right, that stat leaves out all the people who worked in the mills who were not members of the USW, such as my father who was an engineer for USS. My BFF's father was a member of some railroad worker's union. There were also a few people back then working in non steel-related jobs such as teaching, nursing, retail, etc.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by eschaton

At one point, 80% of the workforce of Beaver County were members of the Steelworkers. [b]Not worked in the steel industry, but members of the Steelworkers union.

Whoa. That's pretty crazy.

Though it's not like that anymore, Beaver County still has a majority of registered Democrats if I remember right, and they regularly vote for Democrats in local offices and sometimes for state rep/senator and statewide offices. Rob Matzie, who is the state rep in my district and a Democrat, was re-elected even though there was a challenger. The state senator, though, Elder Vogel, is a Republican, but then the districts are drawn differently for those and cover more area. Beaver County also voted for all 3 Dems in the state row offices this time, although the margin for AG was really close. EDIT: Oh and I left off Casey. So there's certainly still some Democratic pull there, although they don't vote that way for president.

The really local offices like borough council and mayor, and especially school board, sometimes have the same candidate filed under both parties, basically acknowledging that at that level it really doesn't matter. There's even a state rep from a neighboring district who was unopposed and filed under both parties. When we elect borough council and school board they are all at large, so it's not so much two candidates against each other as it is 5 candidates vying for 3 seats or something similar.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by ex-burgher

Maybe it's because they are so white (?)

Once you look at the high percentage of White people in the counties outside of Allegheny County, it does seem Obama's performance among those Whites may not have been much different (maybe even a little better) than he did with Whites as a whole nationwide.

[nei]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

Once you look at the high percentage of White people in the counties outside of Allegheny County, it does seem Obama's performance among those Whites may not have been much different (maybe even a little better) than he did with Whites as a whole nationwide.

I meant relative to the rest of the Northeastern US, where whites voted for Obama in higher % than nationwide.