With all of this destruction, how does Scott Walker keep getting elected in Wisconsin?

[Still In Wisconsin]

My opinion is that it has been a combination of things. I've lived in Wisconsin for 48 of my fifty years so I feel like I've got a pretty good understanding of the people here.

I think the most obvious reasons are a massive funding advantage... as all know Scott Kevin Walker is the Koch's boy, and he is rewarded handsomely for doing their bidding. As far as the Legislature goes, they have a big money advantage there too (some Koch money, some Bradley foundation, some other).

But it's not only money. The R's won big in the Republican wave of 2010, and gerrymandered the hell out of the state. They even wrote many sitting Dems out of their own districts. Then, we have had (in my opinion) a comically inept State Democratic Party Chair, who believes that we can win by turning out Madison and Milwaukee and ignoring the rest of the state. We have also not exactly had awe-inspiring candidates on our side. I have no big problem with Tom Barret or Mary Burke, but they did nothing to excite the base or swing independents.

Finally, I think the Milwaukee area media is incredibly adept at whipping up the closet racists in the 'burbs into a frenzy about the brown President, and they flock to the polls in droves. I grew up in the Milwaukee suburbs, and there's this prevailing notion there that the City is full of lazy black people who exist for nothing more than to collect welfare and drink malt liquor from 40 ounce bottles on their front porches. Most suburbanites who feel this way are not open about it, but watch their reaction when their daughter asks to go to prom with a black kid. I know, because that black kid was my best friend growing up. Anyway, that's in my opinion where the huge margins Walker gets in Waukesha, Ozaukee, and Washington Counties come from.

(X-post in Politics)

[SheilaT]

1. It's not just Wisconsin.

It's Kansas, Michigan, Florida, and every other state that consistently elects Republicans.

The Republicans are incredibly good at convincing people to vote against their own self-interest. The book "What's the Matter With Kansas" is incredibly enlightening in this respect.

Another important thing is that too many people are one issue voters, usually they are calling themselves Pro Life. They have zero concept of the realities behind abortion, but will vote for someone, anyone, who vows to outlaw abortion and to hell with any other consequences.

Another factor is that too many people don't understand the reality of poverty, homelessness, or even being unable to find a job for a while. They are outraged that someone else is getting unemployment benefits, or Medicaid, or SNAP, and are oblivious to the billions of dollars that go into corporate welfare.

Most of us here on DU are passionate Democrats, which is why we fight so hard with each other about so many things. But the vast majority of voters out there don't pay very much attention at all to politics, let alone the actual issues involved. They never vote in primaries. They get the information only from what they see on TV or hear on the radio. So they are completely swayed by the ads. I feel amazingly fortunate that a side benefit of not owning a TV is that I never get to see political ads. It frees me to think about the issues, or at least what I think I know about them, and make my own decisions with almost no input from the campaign meisters.

But more to the point, for a remarkably long time, at least since Reagan first ran for President, the Republican Machine has been singularly adept at shaping their message They also do a remarkably good job of co-opting people to work for them who absolutely ought to know better.

I just read the book "Philomena", which became the movie about the Irish woman searching for her son who was taken from her and adopted in America. That son was gay, grew up to become a lawyer and to work for the Republican National Party, helping them with redistricting issues. He was never out, although most people who knew him also knew he was gay. And his gay friends constantly took him to task for what he did, and he'd say things like, "Oh, well the Reagans aren't really like that. They had their gay decorator as their guest at the White House." He never fully acknowledged what he was doing, to what extent he was working very much against his own self-interest as a gay man.

He died of AIDS in 1993.

Too many who vote for Republicans are like that. They resent it that union members have decent job protection and decent pensions. So they support a politician who takes down the unions. They think that someone collecting Unemployment is just gaming the system, so they support limiting those benefits. And so on. The Republicans know exactly how to stir up resentment out there, and rather than offering the kind of solutions that would make things better for all, they propose to tear down everything.

Sadly, it works.

[riversedge]

2. Walker has been great at the Conquer and Divide strategy--and

it has worked. It is a major factor I believe in his re-elections. Setting up people and resentments--and yes hatred for the "other' works.

[Goblinmonger]

3. Yup. As a teacher,

I was shocked when we so quickly became the bad guy. Like we were single-handedly responsible for the poor economic situation of every other person on the state. And WAY too many people just lapped that shit up.

I'm at the point that if my wife gets a job in Minnesota, we are moving. I have put in for my Minnesota teaching license so I'm good to go. Doesn't seem like things are going to get any better here in the near future. The damage this asshats are doing will take years, if ever, to undo.

[hue]

4. Here are some of the reasons

http://americablog.com/2015/06/wisconsin-laundry-list-voter-suppression-laws-challenged-court.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Americablog+%28AMERICAblog+News+%29&utm_content=FeedBurner

A group of voting rights advocates, along with Hillary Clinton’s general counsel, Marc Elias, have filed a lawsuit against the state of Wisconsin, claiming that the state’s recently-passed electoral reforms are blatantly racist. While Hillary Clinton’s campaign is not officially behind the lawsuit, they said in a statement that they “are aware of it and strongly support its goal of ensuring the right to vote is not unduly burdened.”

Last month, Elias filed a similar lawsuit in Ohio, challenging similar voting restrictions on identical grounds.

Following Scott Walker’s election in 2010, Wisconsin Republicans enacted what amounted to an entire voter suppression platform. The state has passed practically every 21st Century voting restriction we thought Republicans were capable of and then some:


Photo ID requirement for voting

Reducing early voting from 30 days to 12, while eliminating it entirely on evenings and weekends

Require proof of residence when registering to vote

Eliminated the certification of statewide voter registrars, meaning that anyone who registers others to vote can only do so in the county in which they’re certified

Increased the residency requirement for voting from 10 days to 28 (excepting presidential elections)

Require that citizens who move within the state less than four weeks prior to an election vote in their old locality

Eliminated faxing and emailing of absentee ballots to anyone other than military or overseas voters

Prohibited municipal clerks from returning absentee ballots to citizens to fix mistakes on their forms

Required an area for poll monitors be set up between three and eight feet from the table where voters sign in

Eliminated straight-ticket voting for all but military or overseas voters, increasing wait times at polling locations

Made it harder to use a student ID as proof of residence when registering to vote