Study finds educated, affluent GOP members moving to Dems

[Bravo Zulu]

Study finds educated, affluent GOP members moving to Dems
Friday, February 06, 2009
By James O'Toole, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Recent Republican losses in Pennsylvania have been spurred by defections from among the party's more affluent and better-educated voters.

One of the strongest recent currents in Pennsylvania politics has been a shift of registered voters from the Republican to the Democratic Party. A new survey suggests that this change has been led disproportionately by some of the GOP's more upscale members, estranged by the Bush administration and the unpopular war in Iraq.

Muhlenberg College's Institute of Public Opinion looked at a sample of the hundreds of thousands of former Republicans who have swelled the ranks of Democrats over the last two federal election cycles.

In May 2006, just months before an election in which the GOP lost four U.S. House seats along with Rick Santorum's Senate seat, Democrats held a registration lead of roughly 550,000. By last November, as President Barack Obama was carrying the state by the widest margin of any White House contender in decades, the Democratic advantage had grown to 1.2 million voters.

The Democratic registration tide was swelled by the unprecedented grass-roots organization put together by the Obama campaign. But the Muhlenberg findings suggest that it also reflected a longer-term reaction against Republican policies.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09037/947359-100.stm

[ecstatic]

1. Turns out the Bushesque tax cuts don't make up for the

massive losses they incur in other areas.

[rufus dog]

5. my bush tax cut got eaten up by increased gas costs and energy

in less than one year. I told one of my hardcore rightie neighbors that fact and he called b.s. We pulled out a pencil and he walked away agreeing.

[Botany]

2. Hey Karl Rove

How is that permanent republican majority going for ya?

Like 'em or not but the republicans used to have tons
of smart and well educted people working for them
or as party members ..... throw in a Sarah Palin,
an obstructionist repulican congress members,
and kill the American economy and those people are gone.

The old fashioned "rock ribbed" republican in the N.E.
and New England have left the party or died off ....

Rush and these nitwits in the Senate are helping to kill the
party too right now.

[Ian David]

3. LORLEAN! ALL OUR FANCY-PANTS FRIENDS ARE BECOMING DEMOCRATS, LORLEAN! N/T

[Cirque du So-What]

4. What took them so long?

I don't buy the characterization of these affluent flip-floppers as 'educated,' however. If they were sofa king smart, they'd have realized a long time ago that they'd have been better off with Democrats in office. They'd see that the ultra-rich are willing to take some losses by having repugs in office because their policies ensure that the working class will never threaten the power and wealth they've accumulated.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

6. Voters earning over 250K voted for Obama over McCain/Palin.

Yes, that's right. People who KNEW they were going to have their taxes raised.

That oughta be food for the GOP to chew on.

[cascadiance]

16. Hey, I make enough money (NOT $250k mind you), that I probably won't get a tax cut...

... but that's OK to me.

I could live on my salary now. But the main thing is getting the economy in shape.

- Not feeling much job security is a problem...

- Not having the security of something like single payer health plan is a problem. Getting to an age where something like that out of left field could sink me.

- Not having social security taken care of is a problem. (... and someone like me paying as high as ANYONE percentage-wise and dollar-wise for it at my salary level for payroll tax).

- If housing prices were to come back to some sanity and not be in a volatile state, I MIGHT buy a house...

- I would like seeing something done about outsourcing and inflow of H-1B Visa people that keep our salaries lower, and don't allow us to be properly paid in this economy.

- Something needs to be done to change this economy towards prioritizing green energy and a less carbonizing one, if all of us are going to survive the coming environmental crisises, which in a way have already started in many areas.

In short, I probably like many other folks joining the Democrats, see the NEED to change the income tax and other tax structures to give an infusion to those making less than me, who've been screwed for so many years so that they can be a healthy part of our economy again, and to tax more those above me who've been stealing from the rest of us for so long (either intentionally or as a side benefit of being "rich").

I'm guessing many of these other Republicans see it from this view too. They don't see that the stealing at the top that's been going on now for so long and has only hurt the rest of us, will help them any more, and even if they don't get a tax break, or get taxed a little bit more, they see the benefits of a healthy economy, and other things getting "fixed" as noted here as still a net positive for them.

[CitizenPatriot]

17. ooopsie

that fundy leader came out today and said he was moving away from the republicans because they fail to deliver on the campaign promises over and over again. he came close to saying that obama walked his talk, but he didn't come right out and say that.

I imagine obama's policies will do more to stop abortion than any right wing crazy morals campaign has ever done.

it's called education, family planning, access to birth control and opportunity.

so the smart rich goppers are gone and now comes the steady trickle (OH! it's trickle down finally at work!) of the moderate fundies leaving...

so it's david duke and the party of bigots. nice.

[Vektor]

7. Not surprised - I never bought the theory that the Repubs were the rich, educated ones...

...and the Dems were just the poorer working class.

I spent ten years living in a conservative right wing hell hole, and the bulk of the Republican voters were poor, uneducated, and living in squalor. The few folks in town that were Dems were the doctors, business owners, teachers, educated professionals, etc.

I definitely believe the less educated you are, the more likely you are to be conservative. There are exceptions to that of course, but generally, most Republicans I know don't have a pot to piss in.

[ShortnFiery]

8. GOP values = "cognitive dissonance" for those blessed with both common sense and intelligence.

:shrug:

[cherish44]

9. The fundies will be the only hold outs before too long

nt

[One_Life_To_Give]

10. Rockefeller's leaving

The fiscally conservative socially liberal members have nothing in common with Bush et al. Their brand of big government, big religion doesn't sit with them. It's like the return of the Church of New England. Wasn't popular in many places hundreds of years ago and won't be now.

[crimsonblue]

11. Well, no shit Shirlock.

In my neck of the woods, GOP mean Intelligent Design, pro-coal power plants, ending Choice, and refusing to fund schools. I'd have to be ignorant to be a republican... It's a no brainer that smart people aren't self-defeating GOPers.

[county worker]

12. Yet the Dems in congress are still afraid of the repukes!

[applegrove]

13. They just don't want the USA to become a new Mexico which will happen

if the GOP is in power for another few terms. The USA's distribution of wealth is already close to that of Mexico's and Russia. Rich people in Mexico have to worry about kidnappings and such. Government is incompetent and underfunded (look at the police in Mexico). It is a choice as to which country you want to live in. A Mexico like USA or a 20th Century type USA. Their choice.

[eridani]

14. We owe it all to Palin

It's one thing for the wealthy to back a guy who can fake being a drooling fundie but has his primary loyalty to his base, the "haves and have mores," and quite another to risk having the genuine article a heartbeat away from the presidency.

[Phx_Dem]

15. Bwahahahahahah!! That's rich (no pun intended)!

They're going to be the party of mean-spirited stupid people and racists. Although, they kind of already are.

[MagickMuffin]

18. I guess Rove was right, but just this one time

"As people do better, they start voting like Republicans - unless they have too much education and vote Democratic, which proves there can be too much of a good thing."






edit title

[HOLOS]

19. What Took Them SOOO Long?? Like the Winners?? The Light?? Caring??

[struggle4progress]

20. Personally,I think most is just visitin, not movin in. But ain't nothin wrong with

bein neighborly with them what behaves theyselves

[santamargarita]

21. An "Educated Republican" is an oxymoron

The few I've come across are scared shitless, toothless, uneducated rednecks.

[depakid]

22. Depends on what they're educated in

Engineers don't study (or have to know) civics and public policy.