Campaigns Hunt Votes Among "Anxious Xers," "Angry Independents"

[DeepModem Mom]

Bloomberg News: Campaigns Hunt Votes Among `Anxious Xers,' `Angry Independents'
By Catherine Dodge

Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- "Anxious Xers'' and "angry independents'' may replace "soccer moms'' as the object of desire for presidential candidates in 2008. It's the time in the campaign season when Washington's legions of pollsters, policy wonks and political consultants go looking for that elusive bloc of swing voters large enough in number and cohesive enough in outlook to make the difference in a close election.

Some of the nominees for the target group of 2008 include "anxious Xers,'' members of the so-called Generation X worried about job security, income inequality and the environment, "angry independents,'' those non-aligned voters fed up with the government, "populist conservatives,'' working-class voters worried about their jobs in the global economy, and "waitress moms,'' economically struggling single parents....

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Anxious Xers are in their early 40s. That group, most of whom grew up during the administration of Ronald Reagan, has been a good target for Republicans. Yet they have grown frustrated over domestic issues and the war in Iraq during Bush's two terms in office, (Andrew Kohut, director of the Washington-based Pew Research Center) said. The populist conservatives, generally blue-collar, less affluent residents of rural areas and small towns, have been nurtured by Republicans. They, too, have grown dissatisfied with Bush, Kohut said....

(John Feehery, a onetime top aide to former House Speaker Dennis Hastert who now runs his own lobbying firm) sees the angry independents as having a big impact. "Independent voters broke dramatically for the Democrats'' in the 2006 congressional elections, he said. They are critical of the government. "They want a non-ideological, competent government,'' Feehery said.

For Celinda Lake, a Washington-based Democratic pollster, it's the broad category of unmarried voters, especially women. "We are seeing a sea change in our society now where 50 percent of our households are unmarried,'' she said. The group is against the war and feels economically marginalized. "It's more the waitress moms than the soccer moms who will be key,'' Lake said....

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=anqkXhnvh9Jo

[YOY]

1. Actually, most "X-er" are in our 30s

and I know quite a few "anxious X-ers". I would describe us as "pissed-off" and "entrapped" instead of "anxious".