Democrats Blunted GOP Edge in Key Blocs
From The Washington Post:
Democrats won big in Tuesday's election by undoing GOP gains among groups President Bush once envisioned as essential ingredients of a durable, conservative governing majority in Washington: Catholics, married mothers and Latinos.
These voters, who were instrumental in electing Republicans in recent elections, took flight from the GOP in large numbers and helped push Democratic pickups to the highest level since the post-Watergate election in 1974.
While it will take years to determine whether the exodus of voters is a passing phenomenon or something more fundamental, the final exit-polling data showed Democrats not only winning a strong majority overall but also eroding the Republican edge among some of the most important voting blocs in politics today.
The numbers suggest a return to the political landscape that preceded Bush and his effort to use policies and political appointments to build what some of his aides called an effort to restructure American politics. Democrats, for instance, won women by 55 percent to 43 percent, their highest margin since 1988. They won independents, the key swing vote, by 18 percentage points, the biggest margin in House races in the past 25 years.
Republicans also suffered losses among the groups White House political adviser Karl Rove specifically targeted for support over the past six years. Democrats benefited from a 14-point increase among Latinos since the last election, and also won their highest percentage of white voters (47 percent) since 1992. Democratic support among white Protestants -- the base of the modern GOP -- returned to the levels the party enjoyed before Bush's 2000 election. Democrats saw a 10-point gain among Catholics.
[T]he damage could have been worse for Republicans. Their losses were not out of line with the historical average for the sixth year of a presidency.
Democrats clearly did a better job at turning out their voters than in recent elections, with exit polling showing them winning 53 percent to 45 percent nationally. They also did a better job of recruiting and preparing their candidates, strategists in both parties said.
Democrats won big in Tuesday's election by undoing GOP gains among groups President Bush once envisioned as essential ingredients of a durable, conservative governing majority in Washington: Catholics, married mothers and Latinos.
These voters, who were instrumental in electing Republicans in recent elections, took flight from the GOP in large numbers and helped push Democratic pickups to the highest level since the post-Watergate election in 1974.
While it will take years to determine whether the exodus of voters is a passing phenomenon or something more fundamental, the final exit-polling data showed Democrats not only winning a strong majority overall but also eroding the Republican edge among some of the most important voting blocs in politics today.
The numbers suggest a return to the political landscape that preceded Bush and his effort to use policies and political appointments to build what some of his aides called an effort to restructure American politics. Democrats, for instance, won women by 55 percent to 43 percent, their highest margin since 1988. They won independents, the key swing vote, by 18 percentage points, the biggest margin in House races in the past 25 years.
Republicans also suffered losses among the groups White House political adviser Karl Rove specifically targeted for support over the past six years. Democrats benefited from a 14-point increase among Latinos since the last election, and also won their highest percentage of white voters (47 percent) since 1992. Democratic support among white Protestants -- the base of the modern GOP -- returned to the levels the party enjoyed before Bush's 2000 election. Democrats saw a 10-point gain among Catholics.
[T]he damage could have been worse for Republicans. Their losses were not out of line with the historical average for the sixth year of a presidency.
Democrats clearly did a better job at turning out their voters than in recent elections, with exit polling showing them winning 53 percent to 45 percent nationally. They also did a better job of recruiting and preparing their candidates, strategists in both parties said.
posted by Sid Cottingham | 1:03 PM
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