Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

kpete

(71,898 posts)
Tue Jul 31, 2012, 04:37 PM Jul 2012

NPR's Cokie Roberts: Romney's trip to Poland was racially motivated.

Cokie Roberts says Romney’s Poland trip meant to excite ‘ethnic white voters’

ROBERTS: Well, I think that part of it was a desire to portray President Obama as something of a wimp and say he has abandoned Eastern Europe. But look, you remember well the Reagan Democrats, those ethnic white voters who had been Democrats for many years, turned out for Ronald Reagan and have been fairly predictable Republicans since then. Now, it's a smaller percentage of the population, of the voting population than it used to be, but white voters are still much more Republican than any other group in the electorate.

They went for McCain in 2008 by 55 percent, and I think that, you know, getting those ethnic voters excited is really what Romney has in mind here. It's more for the folks at home, the descendants of the people that he will be speaking to in Poland.

http://www.npr.org/2012/07/30/157580706/week-in-politics-romney-headed-to-poland

18 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies

slampoet

(5,032 posts)
1. She is right to a small extent.
Tue Jul 31, 2012, 04:45 PM
Jul 2012

the "ethinic white" voters are LESS republican than the average White voter.

This is because They are usually not Protestant and are instead Catholic or Orthodox (Greek, Russian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian....)

The only reason they might vote for the GOP has to do with being small business owners or the fact that they are now 3rd or fourth generation and have lost contact with their ethnic and blue-collar roots.

JVS

(61,935 posts)
4. Anti-communism has traditionally worked well for the GOP among this group
Tue Jul 31, 2012, 04:52 PM
Jul 2012

More recently I've met Serbs who resent Clinton.

JVS

(61,935 posts)
2. The term is ambiguous
Tue Jul 31, 2012, 04:48 PM
Jul 2012

Does she mean ethnic white voters as all white people, or does she use the term to mean voters who are white but still have ethnic identities (eastern European and catholic or orthodox) that are more typical of the traditional democratic base than the republicans' base.

Igel

(35,191 posts)
9. In the end, she's clear.
Tue Jul 31, 2012, 07:00 PM
Jul 2012

She's talking about the "Polish" vote.

If you can play to the Latino vote, why not the Polish vote?

Except that this isn't going to be how it's interpreted. All Euro-Americans are the same, don't you know. Apparently they all like pierogi

(In my family pierogi was a New Year's treat. Like the Thanksgiving lasagna that accompanied the turkey.)

ProgressiveEconomist

(5,818 posts)
10. Millions of Polish-Americans live in PA, WI, and MI, according to a NY Times
Tue Jul 31, 2012, 07:55 PM
Jul 2012

story at http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/a-trip-to-poland-with-an-eye-on-swing-states/ .

While the largest bloc of Polish-Americans are hometown Obama supporters in Chicago, and Obama beat McCain among Polish-Americans 52-42 overall, 44 percent of Polish-Americans say they are "conservative".

Thus a trip to Poland COULD HAVE been a smart way to target millions of white ethnic American voters had it been executed properly. Can you think of a bigger or better or more politically neglected group of white ethnic voters for Boston to have targeted?

 

Motown_Johnny

(22,308 posts)
11. the descendants of the people that he will be speaking to in Poland
Tue Jul 31, 2012, 07:59 PM
Jul 2012

Seriously?



She thinks those people living in Poland have direct descendants over here?



Wow.

 

nadinbrzezinski

(154,021 posts)
14. Cokie speaks the truth on this one
Tue Jul 31, 2012, 10:35 PM
Jul 2012

And believe it or not, there are families with roots in both countries.

madrchsod

(58,162 posts)
16. cokie means.....`white ethnic european racist voters'
Tue Jul 31, 2012, 10:54 PM
Jul 2012

i bet the poland forum at stormfront was a buzz with mitten`s poland campaign

 

RZM

(8,556 posts)
17. I think your data doesn't hold up to real scrutiny
Tue Jul 31, 2012, 11:02 PM
Jul 2012

Yes, whites voted 55 percent for McCain. And they will probably do the same for Mitt. But Poles are concentrated in traditionally Democratic areas in the Great Lakes region. That region is pretty solidly Democratic. So both you and Cokie are probably guilty of not doing the most basic research.

And the beat goes on . . .

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»NPR's Cokie Roberts: Romn...