How Pew Divides the American Vote

Democracy is really working when two coalitions of nearly equal strength compete in a way that improves each side, and the country itself. And the competition should be about helping the voters, making their lives better, more secure.

America is closely divided today partly because each party efficiently gathers its resources and gets its voters to the polls. In 2004, the Democrats did well, the Republicans slightly better.

Working from Pew Research Center data, David Brooks wrote about how America divided itself in the aftermath of that election (New York Times, 5.15.05). The affluent top of the scale are pretty well set in their ways. Liberal Democrats are well-educated, antiwar, pro-choice, anti-tax cuts, and Pew says are 19% of voters. The balance of the upper 30%--11% of the total--are conservative: pro-war, pro-life, pro-tax cut business class Republicans.

The bottom 70% are more conflicted. About 10% are pro-government conservatives, poor Republicans who want government programs, but are foreign policy hawks and social conservatives. Another 11% are strongly socially conservative, but want government to check business power and protect the environment. This group is also anti-immigrant. Both groups of lower class Republicans are strongly individualistic, believing one can make it with hard work and good character. They oppose government handouts.

Pew divides lower income Democrats between conservative Democrats (15%), mostly older, more religious, socially conservative, and moderate on foreign policy issues, including many blacks and Hispanics, and disadvantaged Democrats (10%), many minorities, financially insecure, poorly educated, pessimistic, mistrustful of business and government, but want government help for the needy. Pew notes, “most Liberals live in a world apart from Disadvantaged Democrats and Conservative Democrats.” http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=242

The middle ground (23%) is divided between upbeats (13%), who are well-educated and positive about their own situation, business, government, and the nation in general, and much less affluent disaffecteds (10%), financially insecure, cynical about government, and less likely to vote. Both these groups, so different in their attitudes, went heavily for Bush in 2004.