We're certainly drowning in polls. And thanks to all the entrance and exit polls, this electorate has been been sliced and diced into subgroups by ethnicity, gender, age, income and more. To listen to the pundits, ethnic groups and gender groups are voting in lock-step...as some sort of prerequisite for being a member.
Now, since I belong to a bunch of different groups, I'm confused. Thanks to Texas' primary on March 4th, I have a chance to cast a "vote that matters."
So, given my profile, where should my vote go?
I am 40 years old, a white woman. I freelance a bit, but my prime job is as dinner cooker and carpool driver. I have a bachelor's in English and an MBA. My income is practically nil. I'd consider myself culturally Christian, but we don't go to church. I live in Houston, in the first ring of suburbs (built in the 1950s). My kids go to public school, as did I. I grew up in Saint Louis, Missouri. My father is a Vietnam Veteran and a physician; my mother a teacher. Both my parents and their parents were from southern Arkansas. I am concerned about the war in Iraq and the economy.
Here's my husband's data, a bit more interesting. Pollsters would consider him Hispanic, thanks to his last name. But it was only his grandfather (an undocumented immigrant in 1920, thank you) who was Mexican. His grandmother, who married at 16, was from Appalachian Virginia, where Mr. Dewberry's father was born, one of 10 children. Grandfather was a coal miner. My husband's father is a WWII vet who went to college on the GI bill, became an off-shore geologist and traveled the world. He met his wife in Argentina (the child of German immigrants herself) and they married, but still traveled; Mr. Dewberry has lived in 10 countries on 5 continents. He speaks decent Spanish and some German. Eventually his family settled in Houston and his mother is a naturalized citizen. His family is deeply religious, but Mr. Dewberry is not. He's an engineer who works on computers and he opts for science over religion as his world-frame. He makes a more-than-decent income.
I'm a white woman, so I should vote for Clinton.
I'm highly educated, so I should vote for Obama.
My husband is Hispanic (according to the pollsters) and should vote for Clinton.
But, he's also a high wage earner, so clearly he's for Obama.
Help me! You've read our data. Tell us who to vote for!