According to this exit poll from CNN, the Republican Party is heavily supported by older (60+) white males who make over $100,000 per year and consider themselves "evangelical/born again" religiously. In contrast, Democratic voters were:
*African Americans by huge margins (89%-10%)
*Latinos by large margins (69%-30%)
*Asians by large margins (62%-37%)
*People making under $30,000 per year(63%-37%), and people making between $30,000 and $50,000 per year(56%-43%).
*Union households (71%-25%)
*Jews (87%-10%)
*Catholics (55%-44%)
*No religion (74%-22%)
*Unmarried (64%-34%)
There's lots more information in the poll. I think it's particularly telling that people who aren't wealthy, people of color (African American, Latino, Asian), and people who are young tend to vote strongly Democratic. In all these cases, the groups in question are growing fast. For Republicans, their remaining base of supporters is older, richer, whiter, and more religious than the population as a whole. If these trends continue (e.g., the growth in the Latino and Asian American populations), the Democratic Party could be in for a long period of national dominance. We'll see, but for now, I'm just happy we won back Congress on Tuesday!
Lowell Feld is Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.
The challenge is to build a Democratic Party of strong leaders, with an agenda. The Six in '06 agenda is a start. And Virginia just gave the effort a fighting champion, a fear killer, a leader. This is just the beginning. Everyone that believed in Jim Webb in those early days need to become his back-up. He can't do this alone, and neither can we. Forward Together.
Check out the lead photos from these diaries to see how underrepresented women really are in leadership roles:
Their frame of us begins with operationally defining "religious" by counting how many times a week someone goes to church. Two or more and the person is said to be more religious.
I was at church twice the first two days of this week. In a recent week I was there three times. And I wouldn't claim to be more "religious" than another of my fellow Americans. Nor would I appreciate being measured that way. It's divisive. And it's a political devise. Besides, churches have long been gathering centers, not just for worship, but also for interest groups of varying types.
Church going doesn't measure anything close to how religious a person is. That depends on the private thoughts, meditations, strong connection to some form of spirituality, which canot be measured, despite Pew's effort to try. AND it depends on humility (not superiority), sincerity (rnot hypocrisy), and the respecing the right of others to belong to different faiths or ethical systems (without condescension). And where do ethical behaviors fit in?
For example, research on ethical behavior simulations have shown that atheists actually performed more ethically than churchgoers of varying faiths. And before trolls jump all over that, I am not one (not that there is anything wrong with that). Several atheists I've known are among the best people I have ever encountered. Still Pew gets hosted all over the media and the so-called MSM continues to foster the absolute myth that Republicans are better people than Democrats. Worse, it fosters demonization of atheists.
As the recent downfall of a major "religious" leader (and Bush confidant) shows, you can just about live at the church, attend dozens of events, even lead a mega-church, and be of questionable religiosity.
A chain letter going around the internet purportedly from a Mom of a teenage girl, asked people to sign and forward her chain letter. She bet her daughter that there weren't more than 200 people in our country who believed in God. Do you believe the narrowness and arrogance of this thinking? In fact more than 9/10 of Democrats believe in God and go to church. Examining Pew research, in 2000 there were minimal differences between Bush and Gore supporters in churchgoing. To frame the findings otherwise (to create the myth that the religious were more likely to vote for Bush), the media only looked at the extreme ends of the continuum of data. Because the 2% of the those going more often to a church facility (not necessarily for service), supported Bush, then we are told that shows Bush supporters are "more religious." Give me a break! That's how to mislead the public, defame, an entire political party, and demonize half of America.
People of faith aren't just Republicans. Never have been (just Republicans).
Also, it's about time to change the ridiculous voting hours in Virginia. Having voting end at 7 p.m. in Virginia is completely out of step with the realities of people's work lives in Northern Virginia. It's time for us to change those hours to 7 a.m. - 8 p.m., as it is in D.C. and Maryland, so working people can get to the polls.
We need to jump on the momentum here in Virginia to improve our voting processes so more people can vote.