The Biggest Primary Backfire of them all.

[denem]

Remember the 'Reagan Democrats', an "American political term used by analysts to denote traditionally Democratic voters, especially white working-class Northerners, who defected from their party to support Republican President Ronald Reagan ...".

The work of Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg is a classic study of Reagan Democrats. Greenberg analyzed white ethnic voters (largely unionized auto workers) in Macomb County, Michigan, just north of Detroit. The county voted 63 percent for John F. Kennedy in 1960, but 66 percent for Reagan in 1980. He concluded that "Reagan Democrats" no longer saw Democrats as champions of their working class aspirations, but instead saw them as working primarily for the benefit of others: the very poor, feminists, the unemployed, African Americans, Latinos, and other groups.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_Democrat.

It's paradoxical that a liberal ended up giving cover to those defecting. But if you wanted to convince yourself that the Democrats in power were no longer the party of JFK, then who better to deliver the message, than

Ted Kennedy

Postscript. 60% of Macomb County supported Obama in 2008.

[libinnyandia]

1. The descendents of those Reagan Democrats will suffer greatly because of Reagan.

[Drunken Irishman]

2. Reagan Democrats is the biggest misnomer in political history.

[victoryparty]

3. Fascinating

Very interesting bit of research. Thank you.