November 04, 2004
Post-Election Notes From The Blogosphere : David Neiwert of Orcinus
by Liza Sabater
David Neiwert at Orcinus
Ohio was a sea of red with urban islands of blue numerical strength. And all those red counties were, again, a deeper red. This tells you that, in particular, Bush gained real strength -- more than enough to offset Democratic gains in urban areas -- in all those rural Ohio counties. And it was the same way in state after state.
It's important to understand that these precincts are hurting economically and culturally, and have been for years, but particularly under Republican policy. But as Thomas Frank recently demonstrated in What's the Matter With Kansas?, Republicans have been able to consistently take these votes by making simple but sustained appeals to their values. The percentage of Bush voters for whom "moral values" (read: homosexuality) were the decisive factor was unusually high, and the bulk of these came from rural districts.
It doesn't have to be this way. If Democrats were to actually pay attention to the problems of rural America and try to address them in a serious fashion, they would begin to make inroads on this nonsensical monopoly on the rural vote. They might not immediately win those rural precincts, but they can certainly lighten their redness.
I don't it is only just a question of country vs. state --although it does fit perfectly with my theory that we are in the middle of one of the most intense baroque eras since Spain's Reconquista / Golden Age. I think that hard questions have to be asked about how social class, in both the urban and rural areas, played a part in these elections. Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York have rural and semi-rural areas that have been taken over by urban flight. There is no rural county in New York State that has not have had their property values go through the roof with New York City dwellers looking for cheap real state either for re-treats or complete relocation.
What if, and I ask a WHAT IF, the poverty rates are much lower in all those red states. Also, I would like to see the income composition of those areas broken down. I really want to see how these states electoral votes broken down by the average income in each locality.
In The Blogosphere:
jameswagner.com: we've destroyed it, and we have no excuses
Steve Gilliard's News Blog
Posted by Liza Sabater in 2004 Elections
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