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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Tom's dirty little secret - He no longer approves of Bush

If you're into presidential polling data, Gallup has a demographic breakdown of Bush's poll slide since January of this year. Generally speking, the erosion this year has come primarily from white, christian, youngish, suburbanites who self identify as moderate Republicans.

(Note, this poll uses self identification so there's no way to know if those "moderate Republicans" used to self identify as "conservative Republicans.")

And, just as a bit of empirical evidence from down here in Houston, many of the people I know who were strong Bush supporters in 2004(not fervent, but strong) are beginning to turn on Bush. Among this group of successful, family, christian suburbanites, Bush is fading mainly on the issues of the deficit, oil prices, and Iraq. It's really kinda funny the way I've become aware of this.

At this point, it's not that they're openly badmouthing Bush, usually, they're catching me alone or pulling me aside at social functions, dinner parties, tennis groups, etc, and starting to talk about it. They know that I am firmly anti-Bush and it's almost like they're seeking some sort of validation for their change of opinion. They speak in low tones looking to see if anyone is coming over. It's like they feel they have come to some secret heretical belief and are afraid that other people in their group might find out that they no longer believe in Bush.

Yet, at the same time, they feel the need to talk about it. It's like they're afraid that they're outside the mainstream and wrong somehow, and just want me to tell them they're OK. I really just can't adequately describe it. It's just a very weird dynamic that's appeared in about a dozen conversations over the last month.

(And, I wouldn't project this as some sort of plus for the Dems come election time as only one of these conversations even mentioned the Dems.)

7 Comments:

  • That's interesting.

    Like Digby's post today on tribalism (and several he/she's done in the past), when it becomes "cool" to not like Bush and/or Republicans, Democrats have a chance again.

    While I agree with you that hating Bush doesn't necessarily equate to voting Democratic, it can lead to apathy in voting Republican. And that is a big plus for Dems. I know a number of Repubs that wouldn't vote for a Democrat. But they would choose to not vote for a Republican.

    By Blogger Greyhair, at 3:47 PM  

  • You are right about apathy and turnout, especially with the low voting rates around midterms.

    I read a couple of tribalism pieces, but oddly didn't make the connection when I was writing this.

    And, remember, this is Houston, Texas, a very atypical political city. Probably the only major metropolitan area that the Republicans carry in the country.(though not by alot.)

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 5:15 PM  

  • San Diego goes Repub every national election also. Considering its main job market is defense contracts this doesn't surprize me.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 7:24 PM  

  • Here in NW Ohio, there are very few open Bush supporters. Most have taken their W04 stickers off of their cars. Further, I haven't seen an American flag flying on a car here in months.

    The Bush bubble burst a long time ago here.

    By Blogger liberal_dem, at 9:06 PM  

  • Yeah, I've been watching the W04 stickers disappearing here as well. It started late last year, and now, they're getting rare.

    And, that doesn't surprise me that we're lagging on the Bush bubble burst. Again, Houston is the only major metropolitan area to go for Bush in the country. I think that's why I see the turn here as important. Suburban christian family folk in Houston are one of the core elements of the Bush base, and they're melting.

    Dusty, you're right. I forgot about San Diego, but Houston is huge. It's not New York/LA/Chicago, but it's the next tier, Atlanta/Dallas/Houston/Philedelphia.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 10:00 PM  

  • That would be anecdotal evidence. Interesting though.

    By Blogger Justin, at 7:23 AM  

  • By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:38 PM  

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