Obama in November movement. And all you have to do to join in is wait for it to come around again on the guitar (or in this case the November election) with feelin'... Sorry to paraphrase the old song from Arlo Guthrie but it really seems to fit. For those bloggers to young to remember or for those who are old enough to still have the LP but are having a senior moment just google "Alice's Restaurant". My point is that what I thought was just my own personal feelings of the way the Democratic Party has treated Hillary and her historic bid to be the first woman President is not mine alone. And this feeling is being translated into lost votes come November if the Dems don't do somthing to stop it and fast.
We have all seen and heard the exit polls of how a large segment of the older white women voters will not vote for Obama come November or will just not vote in the election. We have seen how Dan Abrams is shocked at this statistic. We hear Dan Abrams showing dismay at the statistic and then his pundits declaring unequivicable that this demographic will be there on election day no matter what they say now. But is that true? I decided to do a little polling of my own.
I thought I would ask any of the women I meet in this demographic to see how they felt about the election. No scientific data, no sophisticated polling strategy. Just a simple question to different women I know. And I asked the simplest question of them all: If Obama wins the nomination will you vote for him in November? The responses I received startled even me.
Who did I ask? And what were their responses? As I said no scientific poll here. I met up with 12 women of my demographic over the course of 3 days this week for either social outings, business meetings or appointments. I do want to make one thing very clear, up until this week I had never discussed the primaries with any of these women and did not know their intention of voting for Hillary with the exception of one of the women and that one I will cover last. So I did not pick out or seek only those women whom I thought would give me the answer I wanted. These meetings were set up several weeks to over a month in advance and convened for purposes other than the presidential campaign.
The first group of women were meeting for fun. I belong to a women over 50 organization and we meet once or twice a month for social outings only. Politics has never been discussed. In fact I had no idea the ladies in my group were Democrats until this week. So when we met over dinner I asked my question. Five out of five said they would never vote for Obama if he got the nomination. All are Hillary supporters and were deeply upset at the way she has been treated by the party. One of the ladies will be voting for McCain.
I was pretty shocked. Usually these ladies are high spirited and fun-loving. Seriousness doesn't play in this group. But the moment I asked the question you could see the daggers come out for the Dems as each one spoke. All were either life long Dems, or converts in the 1990's. All spoke of the betrayal they felt at how Hillary has been handled.
After that poll, I figured that it was a fluke that it was 100% of the ladies. Since it was a social group, I chalked it up to like ladies gravitating together socially as well. So I was sure my next group would be more mixed.
The following day I attended a "government affairs" committee for a local organization here in my home town. We are just starting up. It is a women's organization so all of the members of the committee are women. It is a new committee, only just forming last month. I have never socialized nor had a discussion with any of the women for more than a few moments at different events and had no idea of their political leanings. The organization is a nonprofit that relates to business women owners and is not affiliated with any political party. In fact our speaker that day was the former Lt. Gov of the state, a woman, who is a life-long Republican. I asked my question before she arrived.
The response was overwhelming. Of the six ladies there of my demographic (over 50 white female) all six responded with a resounding and deafening NO!. They would never vote for Obama and were in utter dismay at how the Dems had treated Hillary. I think the response that really got to me was the one woman who, a life long political activist, actually has decided that for the first time since she was 18 years old she was not going to vote in an election. The woman at the meeting who was under 50 (well under) said she could understand our sentiments as her mother (62) had voiced the same opinions just a day or so ago. All of these women are educated, women business owners and all are politically active. If they weren't they wouldn't be on a government affairs committee for a nonprofit. All want to make a difference and all feel the same.
I think I spy a trend here, Dems.
My last lady is the owner of a business near my house. She is a staunch Hillary supporter. She has pictures of herself with Hillary, Hillary bumper stickers and Hillary yard signs in the office. So you know the answer she gave when I asked her. But I deliberately asked her because I wanted to ask a follow up with a woman who I already knew how she would answer the first question. My follow up was also simple. If Hillary asked you to would you vote for Obama? The answer was a flat no. You see it was beyond the mere fact of Hillary. It was the treatment of her and by proxy the treatment of our demographic by the party that she was upset about. Not that the voters had decided that someone else should be nominated. That you can accept. But that the party had trivialized her candidacy and what it meant to us. And if we can be brushed aside like that then maybe the Dems are not our party afterall.
Was I surprised by the results of my mini poll? You bet your sweet a*s I was! I thought 5 out of 12 or even 9 out of 12. But 12 out of 12. I did not expect that.
So before anyone starts posting how this stupid little meaningless poll by one disgruntled Hillary whiner means nothing. Let me just say this. Yes it is in one town (in a now red state that the Dems wanted to turn blue this time) and only 12 women. But if I can randomly find 12 out of 12 women in a town of over a million people who feel this way then maybe it is a movement. And one that may just run over the Dems in November if they aren't careful
Just a side note to a poster to my last diary. The poster stated that this hostility towards the Dems by older white women was only in the blogs and in the real world we all get along just fine. The ladies in my social group have never heard of Daily Kos and have never been on a blog. The women on my committee do not partake in any blogs on a regular basis and none have diaries on Daily Kos. The Hillary supporter only uses her computer for her business and doesn't have one at the house. So it is not the virtual world but reality the Dems need to worry about come November.