What the hell is a "Reagan Democrat" supposed to be?

[matt007]

I listen to right wing radio because its all there is on the air here and its good to know your enemy.

The buzz phrase used by Hannity, Limbaugh, Levin, etc. is Regan Democrats coming to vote for McCain.

So What is a Reagan Democrat? I'm inclined to think its in the category with the toothfairy,Santa, and compassionate conservatives.

[SPKrazy]

1. It was a phenomenon of Reagan years

where some more conservative Dems crossed over to vote for Reagan... dunno how true it is, but it is a term that has been around a long time.

[DarkTirade]

2. Maybe it's some overlap with the 'Dixiecrats'.

:shrug:

[matt007]

3. Thanks

I've had my share of poli sci classes for years.....never heard of it. Dixiecrats yes.

Its annoying to hear.oh well i doubt many exist any more anyway. Dodo bird type thing lol

[RoyGBiv]

9. What, what?

You've actually never heard the term?

Not even in poli-sci classes?

Really?

There's been a running debate for years over whether the 1980 election cycle constituted political realignment akin to the shifts in 1896 and 1933, and the term "Reagan Democrat" runs through all the arguments.

[matt007]

10. my degree is international studies

which is 80prcnt or so Poli sci classes. I only had to take a handful of domestic ps classes.

[Wetzelbill]

15. same here, lots of poli sci classes

Never heard anybody outside the Beltway use the term.

[Chan790]

4. My mother:

A morally-conservative pro-war anti-abortion anti-labor pro-taxcut deluded person who thinks they're progressive because they opposed the Viet Nam war 30 years ago. She's still on the registration list as a Democrat.

Oh...yes, she's voting for McCain because Obama is a Muslim and Hillary is a (something which rhymes with "witch")

Trust me, she voted for Nixon, Reagan (twice), GHW Bush (twice), Dole, GW Bush (twice)...we're not talking about a defection from the party base here.

[Deep13]

5. Nothing. They don't exist anymore.

They were blue-collar guys with traditional patriotic, social and religious views. They felt that the D. party had stopped being the party of common people and started becoming a bunch of ivory-tower hippy radicals with nothing in common with them. When the economy hit the skids in the 1970s, Reagan looked pretty good to them.

[Oeditpus Rex]

6. White, working-class Democrats

who bailed from the party to vote for Reagan.



The work of Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg is a classic study of Reagan Democrats. Greenberg analyzed white ethnic voters (largely unionized auto workers) in Macomb County, Michigan, just north of Detroit. The county voted 63 percent for John F. Kennedy in 1960, but 66 percent for Reagan in 1984. He concluded that "Reagan Democrats" no longer saw Democrats as champions of their working class aspirations, but instead saw them as working primarily for the benefit of others: the very poor, the unemployed, African Americans, and other political pressure groups. In addition, Reagan Democrats enjoyed gains during the period of economic prosperity that coincided with the Reagan administration following the "malaise" of the Carter administration. They also supported Reagan's strong stance on national security and opposed the 1980s Democratic Party on such issues as pornography, crime, and taxes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_Democrat

[last_texas_dem]

7. The personification of gullible

[Wetzelbill]

14. I almost said an effing moron, but yours is more civil

:)

[JTG of the PRB]

8. A bigger oxymoron than "Compassionate Conservative"?

:shrug:

[krispos42]

11. Reagan Democrats are suppose to be...

...extinct.



Unfortunately, stupidity is a powerful and vibrant force.

[leftofthedial]

12. a republican

one of the stupid ones who votes consistently against their own interests in the name of some vaguely understood "social" wedge issue.

raygun allegedly got many members of democratic demographics to "vote" for him (labor union members, working class whites, southern whites . . .).

[Wetzelbill]

13. definite oxymoron. Like Jumbo Shrimp.

:) I like the earlier post, "Compassionate Conservative."