. . . they are also Cruz Democrats and any other Republican candidate who is an authentic advocate of their core concerns
This story is front-page in the print edition of the QC Times. You really have to hunt for it online as ace investigator TN indicated in bringing it to our attention by helpfully sending the link. The subject matter did not appear in the Argus-Dispatch.
Study: Democrats’ challenge in Iowa is working-class white vote
It is an Ed Tibbetts story based on a study by The Center for American Progress a left-wing advocacy organization. Excerpt:
The study, released Thursday by the Center for American Progress, analyzed the 2012 election results and forecast demographic shifts in 12 key swing states, including Iowa. And it said that while Republicans nationwide face a challenge with a minority population expected to make up a larger part of the 2016 electorate, a key factor in Iowa will be how working-class white voters cast their ballots next fall.
“The Democratic nominee’s most difficult challenge — and the GOP’s greatest opportunity — is the possibility of a sharp drop in the Democrats’ solid white working class support, which was clearly central to their 2012 victory,” the study said of Iowa.
The story is consistent with our observation and report last week of who turned out for Trump’s campaign stop in Davenport the week before. As the article indicates working class whites are a large component of the GOP voter base and potentially larger with the prospect of drawing working class Democrats and unaffiliated voters. That they are showing up for Trump events is based on a full-throated appeal by him and made successful by the can-do persona he projects.
The key issue this election is immigration and it is an indicator of a lot for the aforementioned demographic. It is an overlay for the economy, jobs, border security, and middle class concerns in general including bankruptcy of the welfare system This demographic is also big on defense, big on the Second Amendment and not big on global warming concerns or multi-lateral trade deals.
Whatever their degree of concern for traditional social issues a candidate who also advocates for them does not turn them off as long as the previous identified concerns are advocated strongly and believably. For example trump has indicated his support for the right to life and opposes funding Planned Parenthood.
This study implies the folly of the GOP 2012 postmortem which essentially called for pandering on the issue of immigration. Border security and rejection of citizenship for illegals (amnesty) is the critical motivating issue for this multi-party demographic. The Republican nominee who advocates their concerns believably will get this blue-collar support whatever their nominal party registration. Right now Trump is doing it better or rather most recognizably.The GOP postmortem must have been written by the Chamber of Commerce as cover for their maneuverings to obtain cheap immigrant labor with the true costs to be born by the country’s welfare system. Anyway it is a study that the GOPe needs to take heed of.
R Mall
If the establishment GOP was listening to Trump and accepting the essential wisdom of his message, it wouldn’t have allowed the devious Paul Ryan and his establishment co-conspirators to design the atrocity now known as the “Omnibus Bill”.
Trump may or may not be the guy he says he is today. But his positions resonate with those Americans with a modicum of understanding of what this country was before Obama initiated its “transformation”. They intuitively know that simply inviting any and all from any culture or ideology, or political or economic system, known or unknown, to flood the nation is simply, insane.
They also know that when the nation’s leaders ignore and violate current laws, then proclaim that the “system is broken” and in need of “comprehensive new laws”, they are being lied to by dishonorable people who have no intention of adhering to the “new” laws, if they don’t like them. The American people know that those kind of “leaders” are “NOT WHO WE ARE”!!!—nor what they want.