USA Today asks "How'd BUSH Win So Many GORE Voters? (Excellent Article)

liberalpragmatist

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Tue Feb-01-05 03:01 PM
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USA Today asks "How'd BUSH Win So Many GORE Voters? (Excellent Article)

The paper interviewed voters in Missouri, Michigan, Florida, and New Jersey, specifically in counties that went for Gore in 2000 but went to Bush in 2004.

What they found is that the "moral values" combined with the national security gap were what led to Bush's win.

Example:

Voters were drawn to Bush by memories of the 9/11 attacks and a reluctance to change leaders in the midst of war. They won't have that option in 2008, when Bush can't run again. But the craving for continuity helped him this time among swing voters and in areas with new voters.

Luis Cintron, 68, a retired school director, moved to Osceola County in central Florida two years ago from Puerto Rico. "I've been in the Army," he says during a break from an outdoor dominoes game with friends. "When we change the leader when the fight is hard, it's not a good idea."

<snip>

Cathy Harlow, 37, of Ocean, N.J., in Monmouth County... says she agrees with Kerry on social issues such as abortion rights but voted for Bush because of Iraq. "I wasn't necessarily happy to have Bush go into this war, but I was nervous to change things in the middle of it," she says. "I'm still on the fence. I may very well go Democratic next time."

<snip>

AFL-CIO official Richard Frantz says post-election calls to 150 union households in Calhoun County found ambivalent support for Bush: "If they had a son or a brother who was actively involved in Iraq, their idea was, 'We had to fully support him.' And then they reluctantly voted for Bush, because they didn't want to change leadership in the midst of a conflict."

<snip>

In Monmouth County, N.J., the view of the Manhattan skyline is a reminder of the terrorism threat and the dozens of people the county lost in the 9/11 attacks. William Denver, 34, a lawyer and Kerry voter from Middletown, says people who voted for Bush after supporting Al Gore in 2000 told him "they just felt safer with Republicans" after the attacks.

Wendy Katz, 32, of Manalapan, lived in Manhattan at the time of the attacks and says 2004 was the first time she voted for a Republican for president. "Security was the major issue on my mind," she says. "George Bush gets the urgency of dealing with that."

Also, so-called "moral values" did matter in rural areas, along with the gun issue despite Kerry's attempts to neutralize it.

Democrat Ben Miller, chairman of the Calhoun County (Mich.) Commission, was surprised as he campaigned door-to-door to hear even those who had lost their jobs say they would vote for Bush. When he asked why, they would say, " 'Well, I'm against gay marriage and so is he.' 'I'm against abortion and so is he.' "

The perception that Democrats want to restrict guns resonated in Missouri and Michigan, despite Kerry's efforts to portray himself as an enthusiastic hunter. Owning guns is "an inalienable right," says Keith Schnarre, a farmer and Republican who beat a Democratic incumbent to become presiding Boone County commissioner last fall. "People feel it's a protection against the government in some future century."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-01-31-red-america_x.htm