It's all racism and class-ism. 100%. Don't try to find any Sense in it

[cthulu2016]

Why do people vote against self interest? Why do people believe weird conspiracy theories? Why do people seem to want to have no health insurance and want to give all their money to the rich to wipe their asses with?

It is just racism and class-ism. It is not always crude racism and class-ism. It is not aways about hating the poor or hating non-white people.

It is about supporting (however irrationally) one's own perceived race and one's own perceived class.

Many millions of white Americans simply cannot deal with having a black president. They assume it must be against their interest. There is no rational evidence that it is against their interests, but that is not how they perceive it.

Romney is like the white Marion Barry. Marion Barry kept getting elected because he infuriated white people so much it was assumed he must be the best choice for black people. But when he famously said his snow removal plan was "spring" it didn't help black people any. (In that case DC was like the USA in that DC is a black majority as America is white majority.)

A lot of white people, many of whom are not coarsely racist see that their life sucks and they assume that given a choice between a white person and back person the white guy must be relatively on their side, even though he is demonstrably, and aggressively not on their side.

Race can make Americans fools.

The fact that Obama is black magnifies the previous dynamic, which was Democratic presidential candidates being perceived, by the 60% of white people I'm talking about, as liking black people and thus presumably not being in the best interests of white people.

As long as 50%-60% of white people perceive their interests as racial and/or class-oriented, and uniquely their own, then they will continue to overlook all common ground with other groups and assume that the Republican must somehow be on their side.

[Romulox]

1. Incumbents are almost never re-elected with the economy as bad as this. That Obama leads is some

evidence to exactly the opposite point you make.

[cthulu2016]

2. The OP does not suggest Obama will not win. It is about why he will

lose the white vote, and why every Democratic presidential candidate since LBJ has lost the white vote.

I am careful in the OP to say I am talking about a bloc of 50%-70% of white voters, not 100% of white voters.

When a Democrat gets 40% of white voters he will be slightly ahead. When a democrat gets 45% of white voters he will win easily.

I agree with you that Obama is hanging in impressively, given the economy.

But I suggest that we have not seen a candidate so nakedly against the interests of the people as Romney is since the 1920s. Romney is extraordinarily hostile to all non-rich people. We have never seen anything quite like it. In that sense, it is also surprising that Obama isn't up more. (And the fact that Romney has more than 50% of white votes in his pocket explains why he is able to run a campaign of overt hostility to the voters while remaining close.)

The OP says that a very large chunk of white voters do not look at issues, they look at who is against black people, and thus is assumed to be on their side.

They perceive America as a racial zero-sum game.

[dawg]

3. It is very cultish.

There is no getting through to these people. Since they don't believe in birth control, they are outbreeding us. Some days, I fear the best we can manage is to delay the inevitable.