Why Poor People Vote Republican

[roddma]

It baffles my mind why the poorest of people vote Republican and some are not remotely religious. I used to be one of the same mindset. I know it isn't always the case and there are good and bad on all sides, but why vote against your best interests? This recent article article attempts to explain. I saw no reason to break link,.

http://www.forwardprogressives.com/5-re ... publicans/

[kpmom]

Somebody in the comments mentioned the "Obama's coming for your guns" scare tactics. I think that's a big part of it. Although if he's coming he'd better get to it. He's only got about a year and a half.

Some of my inlaws are very redneck and hate Obama. I believe racism is a big factor in their hatred, though they might deny it.

I also think social media can get the poorly educated very riled up with half truths and outright lies. I see evidence of this by what my inlaws post of FB.

Sometimes I really wonder if people like this truly understand they are voting against their self interests.

But then I've never understood how Log Cabin Republicans could exist either.

[halcionne]

IMO it's because very few poor people are willing to admit that they're poor. Also, there's this idea that rich people got rich because they work hard and deserve it, so if Joe Poor works hard, he might be rich someday, too, and he wouldn't want to have to pay all those unfair taxes on money he worked hard to earn just so the lazy poors won't starve. Bootstraps. Lentils. Warble garble. It's frustrating. :angry-banghead:

[roddma]

The right wing media tried to play not only the race card, but the 'fear of Muslim' in spoof emails etc to sway minority voters away from Obama in 2008..

[Toothfairy]

That means admitting that they're poor. That they need food stamps, or work two jobs to get food on the table. Or use medicaid. Republicans can't be poor. Being poor=lazy and uneducated. If someone like John Bonher or Ben Carson can get out of being poor you can too. No excuses.

[Geechee Girl]

Where I'm from, political party affiliation is like church membership. People tend to go along with family. The influence to vote along party lines is generational. There's also a point of pride in saying, "Our people would/have never vote for one of those yellow-belly liberals."

[TeaELSee]

The purposeful uneducation, ( not a real word) of the United States is real and it serves a purpose.

Under educated people vote lock in step with social issues, they have not developed critical thinking skills. Don't kill babies, don't have death panels and don't take my guns. Added bonus, you vote for the white guy.

[nomoxian]

I think all of those things are reasons why people vote conservative, and it crosses country lines - but I think racism is a bigger motivating factor in the United States compared to Canada.

It would be interesting to see if a majority of Republicans would vote for a black or Asian candidate. I think fear of racism making them lose the election is why there hasn't been a non-white Republican candidate for President.

[Peas n carrots]

I think all of those things are reasons why people vote conservative, and it crosses country lines - but I think racism is a bigger motivating factor in the United States compared to Canada.

It would be interesting to see if a majority of Republicans would vote for a black or Asian candidate. I think fear of racism making them lose the election is why there hasn't been a non-white Republican candidate for President.

We will see what happens. Republicans have Ben Carson, Bobby Jindal and Marco Rubio - three non-white candidates. You could even throw in Trd Cruz for good measure (born in Canada/Cuban father).

[Childless]

The American Dream. That's why. For some unknown reason, most poor people (and even middle class people) think they're going to be rich someday. They honestly believe that and want to make sure laws favor them when they get there. Why anyone buys into the theory that someday they'll live in that penthouse is beyond me. It so very, very rarely happens. Most people remain in the class to which they are born. Its sad, but its a fact of life. Its somewhat more likely that someone in poverty may claw their way up to lower middle class, but the Republicans don't have the middle class' best interest at heart either.

This coupled with the fact that Republicans are good at getting the less educated to believe that the sky is falling is why they win elections.

[salex]

In my state, the religion wraps itself around the social issues and then wraps the flag in religion.... the constitution (or the imagined idea of the constitution) might as well be another book in the bible, lately, given all the "That's not constitutional" and states rights and other related stuff.

Everything is couched in the idea and terms that Christians have already lost everything they value and the entire society is against them, so if they vote wrong, they are putting themselves and their children at risk. And the trend (which I honestly didn't hear when I was a steady churchgoer the first 20 years of my life) where God will punish you and your children and your nation for other people's sins, including the sins performed by non-Christians in your country makes people more adamant about stopping those evil sinners.

.cultureshield.com/

This group sounds benign-- Just a prayer group, after all, but the are all about political prayers and taking back the state, etc. And an innocent as a pray for your politicians group could be, this on is actively political. Our sitting governor is part of their dog and pony show... going on this speaking tour with a Christian author to various churches across the state

cultureshield.com/index.php/events.html

Of course, he hosted a big Christian rally in Topeka a few years ago, and seems to constantly issue religious based gubernatorial proclamations. And we couldn't unseat him in the last election. :? the local group tends to hit the "Take back our state for God" notes a lot and also the morality sins... abortion, same sex marriage, gambling, liquor sales in grocery stores (why no, we don't have that) and a lot of crap about various ministers having visions about Kansas, God and politics...

Another group, the Capitol Hill Prayer Partners is a national group. They seem to be very pissy about anyone who isn't a born in the USA white american christian. Highlights from their page include

Illegal Alien Minors Spreading TB, Dengue, Swine Flu

Hundreds Of Thousands Criminal Illegal Aliens At Large In U.S.

Senators: Obama Counter-IS Strategy Failing

Minnesota: Republican Joins Muslim Congressman to Form Somalia Caucus

Death to Islam" signs at Pennsylvania bar have been great for business

Then a ton of "support Israel" stuff and then political / morality stuff.

My favorite? Their use of a Bible verse to explain why the Confederate Battle Flag should still fly over the capitol in SC.

South Carolina House Approves Removal of Confederate Flag - Fox News

The South Carolina House approved taking down the Confederate flag from Capitol grounds early Thursday, a stunning reversal in a state that was the first to leave the Union in 1860 and raised the flag again at its Statehouse more than 50 years ago to protest the civil rights movement.

The move came after more than 13 hours of contentious debate and weeks after the deadly shootings of nine black church members, including a state senator, at a Bible study in Charleston. (Read more)

- Father as the United States moves to erase its own history, we thank You that no matter how hard they attempt to rewrite it, Your lessons and truth will remain. Maranatha, Come, Lord Jesus.

- "Do not remove the ancient landmark which your fathers have set." (Proverbs 22:28)

:roll:

These are examples of the religious political groups the next one spins itself as a political moral/religions group.

.politicalchips.org/ bits of tea party tossed in with conservative republican.

They say that CHIPS stands for Constitutional Heritage Institute for Principled Strenght....

They say they stand for these things:

Political CHIPS is an organization of American citizens who believe solutions for improving this great nation should be based upon conservative principles and Christian values. Our purpose is to formulate, support, and promote initiatives based upon the principles of free market enterprise, limited government, personal responsibility, and personal accountability. We are committed to fighting for an America in which freedom, opportunity, prosperity, and a responsible society flourish.

Conservative Principles: The CHIPS Platform contains 57 conservative assertions categorized under CHIPS: Constitution, Honor, Independence, Prosperity, and Sanctity. This is a comprehensive platform worthy of all conservatives!

Christian values promote peace and goodwill among people in accordance with the purposes of God. The Bible teaches kindness and respect of others versus power over them; humility versus status, fame, and vanity; forgiveness versus revenge; honesty and generosity versus greed; self-control and discipline versus pleasure. How can these values be applied in politics? It's as easy as standing on principle independent of, or above loyalty to any political party or group! Adhering to the principles of good governance is merely serving the people versus being their master.

. . . The CHIPS Hold 'Em or Fold 'Em Legislative Test is a great exercise for evaluating all prospective legislation:

Is it Moral?

Is it Constitutional?

Is it Affordable?

Is it Necessary?

If legislation does not pass all four of these requirements, a vote of "nay" should be rendered.

They sometimes change the term "necessary" to " Do the majority of taxpaying voters believe the bill should be passed."

[Jana814]

The right wing media tried to play not only the race card, but the 'fear of Muslim' in spoof emails etc to sway minority voters away from Obama in 2008..

Agree!!

[RosyDaisy]

They have been brainwashed. It's as simple as that.

[Cartmann99]

Somebody in the comments mentioned the "Obama's coming for your guns" scare tactics. I think that's a big part of it. Although if he's coming he'd better get to it. He's only got about a year and a half.

Some of my inlaws are very redneck and hate Obama. I believe racism is a big factor in their hatred, though they might deny it.

I also think social media can get the poorly educated very riled up with half truths and outright lies. I see evidence of this by what my inlaws post of FB.

Sometimes I really wonder if people like this truly understand they are voting against their self interests.

But then I've never understood how Log Cabin Republicans could exist either.

Some poor people do recognize that they are voting against their best interests, but are willing to take the hit if there's a chance that the people/groups they are against will be hurt. :?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the membership of Log Cabin Republicans mostly made up of higher income gay people? Maybe they think their money will protect them from the people in their party who hate them? :think:

[HoneyBunny]

The issue has divided my family to the point where I no longer talk with my siblings. They are lower middle class, high school educated, gun waving, gay hating, flag waving, racist pigs who believe in American superiority. George W. Bush and his unjustified Iraqi War started the divide (they were all for it, my husband, who was in the Army in Iraq, and I were not). For years I tried reasoning with them, pointing out the horrible impact Republican policies were having on their family economics, to no avail. Reagan was a saint, and all Republicans still happily exist in his heavenly glow.

When Obama was elected, things went from bad to worse. Meanwhile, both brothers lost their jobs in early 2009 as a result of Bush's recession, but all they saw was that Obama, who wasn't even yet in office when the first one lost his job, was to blame. Their families lacked health insurance, yet they opposed Obamacare. They were convinced Obama was coming for their guns. I began to see racism and homophobia in what they said and it really bothered me.

We haven't spoken for five years, their choice. My husband and I became the target of all their discontents in life. Ironically, some of our best friends (in our largely Republican community) are politically conservative, and we simply don't go there in our discussions. Presidential election years are a little sketchy, but we value our friendship more than our politics.

[zebra #13]

I think poor education/lack of education has been a rightie goal for long. The Walton family's support of school vouchers (kill public education--give us workers!). Walker and Brownback's war on schools come to mind immediately.

Add to that Faux Gnus, which makes you stupider than watching no gnus.

Can't fix stupid.

[zebra #13]

The issue has divided my family to the point where I no longer talk with my siblings. They are lower middle class, high school educated, gun waving, gay hating, flag waving, racist pigs who believe in American superiority. George W. Bush and his unjustified Iraqi War started the divide (they were all for it, my husband, who was in the Army in Iraq, and I were not). For years I tried reasoning with them, pointing out the horrible impact Republican policies were having on their family economics, to no avail. Reagan was a saint, and all Republicans still happily exist in his heavenly glow.

When Obama was elected, things went from bad to worse. Meanwhile, both brothers lost their jobs in early 2009 as a result of Bush's recession, but all they saw was that Obama, who wasn't even yet in office when the first one lost his job, was to blame. Their families lacked health insurance, yet they opposed Obamacare. They were convinced Obama was coming for their guns. I began to see racism and homophobia in what they said and it really bothered me.

We haven't spoken for five years, their choice. My husband and I became the target of all their discontents in life. Ironically, some of our best friends (in our largely Republican community) are politically conservative, and we simply don't go there in our discussions. Presidential election years are a little sketchy, but we value our friendship more than our politics.

My family of origin is largely Republican leaning (LDS and living in Utah). But for the most part, would have to travel too far from their roots (Mama and Daddy were Righteous Lefties!) to be really sealed to the party of the Elephant. I kind of looked at it as, they kept the faith, I kept the politics. I can argue occasionally with my brothers, and one of the sisters, but the other sister has become a young-earth creationist (also the only one of us without a college degree), and won't be moved. It's hard when these are people you were close to, but as my Dad drummed into us: "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still."

Interestingly, I'm seeing more and more of their grandkids leaving the church and wandering over to my side politically. . . .

[Jana814]

They have been brainwashed. It's as simple as that.

Agree!

[ADoyle90815]

I think poor education/lack of education has been a rightie goal for long. The Walton family's support of school vouchers (kill public education--give us workers!). Walker and Brownback's war on schools come to mind immediately.

Add to that Faux Gnus, which makes you stupider than watching no gnus.

Can't fix stupid.

I agree with this, the Republican party has been taken over by fundies, and that includes anti-intellectualism where they want to destroy the public school system through defunding it, or supporting vouchers. The thought of a person developing critical thinking skills is a threat to them, as they can't easily manipulate the poor to vote against their own interests.

[Cartmann99]

I agree with this, the Republican party has been taken over by fundies, and that includes anti-intellectualism where they want to destroy the public school system through defunding it, or supporting vouchers. The thought of a person developing critical thinking skills is a threat to them, as they can't easily manipulate the poor to vote against their own interests.

2012 Republican Party of Texas platform:

Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.

www.texasgop.org/about-the-party/

[FloraKitty35]

The purposeful uneducation, ( not a real word) of the United States is real and it serves a purpose.

Under educated people vote lock in step with social issues, they have not developed critical thinking skills. Don't kill babies, don't have death panels and don't take my guns. Added bonus, you vote for the white guy.

You forgot to mention don't be LGBT, God hates that. And education is just indoctrination.

[Toothfairy]

I just don't understand why conservatives have a fucked up way of thinking. John Bonher and a ton of other Republicans grew up poor. Michelle and Barack grew up poor. They all go themselves out of being poor. Some were even on ssi and food stamps growing up. So why in the world would you want to cut funding and try to take away programs that benefited you but don't want others to benefit from it? So it's okay for your family to use food stamps when you were growing up bitch about others using food stamps.

[Johanna25]

As far as identifying with the rich, I like the saying that in America, we are all "temporarily embarassed millionaires". I got into it with one of my nephews one time, telling him that my grandfather would be ashamed of him. My grandfather was a blacksmith who was black-listed by all the big steel mills in Pittsburgh for union organizing. He defended himself saying he would have been a union man in those days as well but today things are different. I called bullshit, he's just carrying water for the billionares.

[2xx1xy1JD]

A few other reasons:

1. Not all liberal policies benefit all poor people equally. For example, stronger union and job protection for existing workers can actually work against young people who are not yet in the full-time workforce.

2. The interests of workers and consumers are not the same (even though many of the people are). Poor people don't have the funds to shop at small locally-owned stores for fair-trade or locally made goods. They may shop at Walmart instead.

3. People can be judgmental. "I did it, so can you." "I work my butt off, why should you get to be lazy and live off of assistance?"

4. Fear of government. I happen to live in an area with a ton of immigrants from the former Soviet Union. They are consistently more right-wing than the rest of the community.

[louisa05]

A few other reasons:

2. The interests of workers and consumers are not the same (even though many of the people are). Poor people don't have the funds to shop at small locally-owned stores for fair-trade or locally made goods. They may shop at Walmart instead.

I actually have a rant about this point.

I live in a red state (albeit one with an odd independent streak every now and again that leads to things like being the first red state to abolish the death penalty and voting to raise minimum wage). And I see and hear on a regular basis the ways in which the liberal elite hurts the Democratic party because of how they view not just poor people, but most conservatives and--worse--the realities of living in the agricultural states of the Midwest. The result is a conception among many more moderate people in the region that liberals (and thus, Democrats--candidates don't need to say any of this stuff to be identified with it in people's minds) are snobs that don't understand or care to understand us.

Hang out at sites like Daily Kos for awhile and you will get all of it. Probably in less than a week. And you don't even need to go there, I see it almost daily on sites that are not even political in their focus. Some examples:

--Telling us not to shop at Walmart. Sure, good idea. Walmart does suck. But for many of us in small towns in this region, it is the only convenient choice. In my small town, there was no other choice before it opened. It did not drive any businesses out. They were already long gone.

--Diatribes about people who drive too much. Great. Except that if I'm not supposed to shop at Walmart and I'm not supposed to drive out of town to shop...am I just not allowed to wear socks? And the Midwest is vast. Driving is just part of life here. When you live in a tiny town without doctors, stores, or--in many cases--jobs, or you don't live IN town--biking and walking everywhere are not options. And there is little or no public transportation.

--Shop local. Yeah. Well, that leaves Walmart. Which they said isn't local. Also, in many cases, as already pointed out, shopping local means much higher prices. We can wax eloquently about economics and how cheap goods are not really cheap and all of that...but that is a pretty meaningless discussion for people just trying to keep food on the table and clothes on their kids.

--We should all be vegetarians. Nebraska has sometimes been nicknamed "the beef state". You don't win hearts (or votes) in a state that exports more meat than any other commodity by telling everyone not to eat it. You can make every argument in the book about it, but when you do it here, you are often talking about people's livelihoods, or their FOO's livelihood.

--Sports are barbaric and stupid, especially football. I'm so over college football that I should avoid that topic. But the fact is that in many parts of the Midwest and South, identification with college football in particular is huge. It is part of the culture and (sadly IMO, but I'm in a tiny minority here) the identity of whole cities and even states.

--Religion is stupid or makes you stupid or whatever. Church is part of the culture of small towns. Even mainline Protestants and Catholics, not evangelicals or fundamentalists, begin to feel attacked by liberals who denigrate Christianity without qualification. There are more mainline churches in my little town (pop. around 9000) than evangelical or fundamentalist churches. But people still feel that there is no respect for their faith on the left.

And the result of all of this is a sense that the left and, thus, the Democrats in general, do not, can not and will not identify with their lives.