what is a "Reagan Democrat"?

[pstokely]

Zell Miller? 80s yuppies?

[yurbud]

1. it's like a veal eating vegetarian

[LittleClarkie]

2. Sort of but not quite

A Reagan Democrat is a southern Democrat who has voted Repub since Reagan but still retains his/her party affiliation, for whatever reason.

Zell is more of a 9/11 Republican. Before 9/11, he was actually saying nice things about Kerry. Perhaps Kerry wasn't willing to throw enough money his way though.

[tritsofme]

3. Reagan Democrats were blue collar

types that were traditionally Democrats, voted Democratic for Congress but cast their votes for Reagan for President.

Remember that Reagan won over 60% of the vote in 1984, but he never controlled the House, and I think he only controlled the Senate from 1985-1987.

[sandnsea]

4. People who had no jobs

10% unemployment, run away inflation, 15% interest on homes, jobs flooding out of the country, not enough influence to get our hostages back. Democrats who decided peace-seeking diplomacy and social programs didn't work. Truth is, it was just another backlash due to our interference in foreign countries. And baby boomers entering the job market and the economy.

[Liberal In Texas]

5. I was one.

Carter had screwed the economy up so badly that us dems thought ANYTHIHG would be better.

Fool us.

Sorry, didn't vote for him the second time.

[unblock]

8. carter didn't screw the economy. oil shocks under nixon and ford did

remember ford's "whip inflation now" buttons?
oil spiked a few times, as opec flexed its muscle (and it had a LOT of muscle back then) and prices surged to well over what they are today (on an inflation-adjusted basis). gas at the pump reached over $1/gal., again, much more than today's prices on an inflation-adjusted basis.

there were shortages, long lines at the gas pumps. people would literally steal gas from other peoples' tanks.

car manufacturers then added features that were previously unnecessary -- locks on gas tank doors, gas full indicators that read "empty" when the car was turned off, e.g. -- due to how scares gas was.

all this predated carter. plus, we were less of a service-oriented economy back then, and therefore more dependent on oil. ANY president coming into office after that would have presided over an economy that was suffering. i often wonder how different politics would be today had reagan won in 1976....

carter did what he could. after trying to fix it fiscally, which didn't work because the fed was pumping too much money, he appointed paul volker to the fed, who was the one who got us out of that mess by jacking up interest rates until inflation vanished.

[blogbear]

13. Paper shortages, expensive gas, long winded (never asked clerics),

double digit inflation, disaster with Iran and Iranian embassy.. Don't know why Carter couldn't stick with things he knew about like peanuts..I wasn't a Reagan democrat but couldn't bring myself to support the Billy-beer bunch either..

[Gman]

14. In retrospect...

It didn't matter who the president was when the Viet Nam war wound down because the economy was going to crater because, for the first time since pre-WWII, we had moved into a non-wartime economy.

I think whether it was Carter or Ford, the economic situation at that time was inevitable. On the other hand, was the transition mis-managed? It probably was. Could Ford have done better? I think it would have taken more than "Whip Inflation Now" buttons to do that.

[ProfessorGAC]

15. Huh?

Whip Inflation Now? 13.5% 10 Year T-Notes? Negative GDP growth?

All were in place BEFORE Carter was even elected, let alone inaugurated.

What you meant to say is that in those days, you were fooled into BELIEVING Carter screwed up the economy? So, you bought the lie and voted for the first idiot president icon.

That's not Carter's fault. That's on you!
The Professor

[Solly Mack]

6. What's that saying? If you don't have anything nice to say?

well, mums the word...

[Liberal In Texas]

7. Nope.

[DIKB]

9. Hmm, not being

of age at the time. I would have thought that "Reagan Dems" were people similar to the "Reagan Youth"

They realized how bad he was and how opposed to their values were that they vehemently opposed him. Maybe I'm wrong on both counts, though I do know that * has made me decidedly ANTI-rethuglican.

[sweetheart]

11. Perhaps indeed, a "reagan youth democrat"

I was just of age in that time, and supported reagan, much out of
ignorance. I believed he was gonna be stronger with the cold war, and
all the rhetoric. I believed carter was weak and thorougly enjoyed
watching the 1980 debates where reagan thrashed carter.

Then i got to live through reaganism, and changed me mind... now i'm
a democrat. So perhaps a reagan democrat is a ex-republican who realizes
they were wrong, and now support the good guys. Sorry its too late
to fix, as reagan was merely setting the ground for the evil bush
cabal to follow... and had i known at the time, of course i would not
have supported the foul stench. Oh dear, the folly of youthful ignorance.

[xchrom]

10. a mythic white guy created by the media

to describe the angst created by the repukes through the 70's.

i.e. guys who were angry at welfare queens, taxes, reverse racism, inflation{dems were to blame for that}, manufacturing losses{dems were to blame for that}, etc.

it was the first major emergence of a core group of voters who responded to the anti-intellectual attacks by the repukes.

we've been redefining that crew ever since then.

the latest is by the guy who srote ''what's the matter with kansas''.

[H2O Man]

12. a confused human

often found on a window ledge