Even as Newt Gingrich
warns fellow Republicans not to ignore the implications of the party's narrow victory in Tuesday's special election in Ohio, a new
Pew Research Center survey points out some disturbing trends for the Democratic party:
"...even though there hasn't been much change since 1992 in party identification at the top and bottom of the income curve, there has been some significant pro-Republican movement in the middle. Indeed, among whites, Republicans now enjoy a clear edge over Democrats not just in the upper income brackets, but also in the middle bracket and have made gains even in the lower-middle income bracket. These income groups contain the people who are either union members or likely targets of membership drives. They also typically contain many swing voters who decide close elections."In the 2004 election, Bush carried the white vote in seven out of eight income brackets (all but the poorest) - and he won by significant margins in six of the eight brackets, including by a 17 percentage point edge among whites with annual incomes of $30,000-$49,999.
That's bad news for Dems, as even if the Bush administration crashes and burns under the weight of scandal, all those middle-income Republicans are still going to tip the scales to the right in their state and local elections. That's why it is imperative for Democrats to unify, to find and define their message, and invent a coherent and effective way to present it to the American people.
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