Poll: Rural Vote No Longer a Lock for Republicans

[sabra]

Source: NPR

A new national poll indicates rural Americans are no longer reliably Republican, and the Bush administration's conduct of the war in Iraq seems mainly to blame.

People from the nation's smallest places had the biggest impact in the last two presidential elections. President Bush's dominance in rural counties is credited with giving him his winning margins in both 2000 and 2004.

But the new survey, of 804 likely voters living beyond cities and suburbs, indicates that the Republican formula for winning presidential elections is losing a key component.

"I think there are two big headlines out of this poll," says Anna Greenberg of the Democratic polling firm of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. "The first is 'Republican Collapse in Rural Areas.' And the second is 'Rural is the Battleground in 2008."

Read more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10922584

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. k&r....

I know the poll indicates that the Iraq "occupation" is mostly to blame, but do you think they're also realizing that they've been voting against their own interests all this time? :woohoo:

[sutz12]

2. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut or two eventually...

I recently read What's the matter with Kansas? It is startling how people will vote against their own interests. Religious people particularly seem to love being persecuted by people they elect. :shrug:

[ananda]

3. no winning margins

Bush did not win either election.

[pingzing58]

4. Thing is that city folk are moving to the country. Need them here! n/t

[w8liftinglady]

5. I wish a few more would move to Ellis County,Texas

Man-we have a HUGE population of Bush/Cheney vehicles...and 6 "Impeach" vehicles(my friends and I)

[cannabis_flower]

9. I don't think you have a problem withe the Bush/Cheney vehicles...

you have a problem with the people in them..

[Lone_Star_Dem]

10. That's the way it is in my area

The true locals haven't really changed, they're just being diluted by the new blood coming in from nearby cities and other states.

The real estate boom in other states has been good for the social restructuring of my area. Many people sold their over market value homes and moved to our under market value area. In the past 12 months we've been able to change things on a local level that had existed for over 40 years.

[rocktivity]

6. Candidate for this month's "You Call This NEWS?" Award

They didn't notice this last November?

Between the infiltration of Air America/Olbermann/The Daily Show and people beginning to use some plain old-fashioned horse sense, it is any wonder that they not acting like knee-jerks anymore?

:eyes:
rocknation

[KittyWampus]

7. "winning margins" only because it was easier to outright steal votes from those little counties

bigger cities you need caging strategies etc.

[DeSwiss]

8. On further in the article...

"Two young men from Greene County have died in the war in Iraq, and more are currently serving. "I'm frightened everyday," says Rita Highland, a retired homemaker in Churdan, Iowa. Her grandson is in the Army and serving in Iraq. "He's right in northern Iraq where it's bad … I get up in the morning and I think about it. I go to bed at night and I think about it."

That's one of the biggest impacts that will lose rural areas for the ReThugs. That's why they're turning tail on * now. But I think its already too late....

[Up2Late]

11. This is good, but just wait until they find out that most of the elections a rigged now...

...do to the Neet-o new paperless Computer voting machines, or to be more, the backroom vote tabulators, then they will be REALLY mad. :argh:

When they find out that, I hope they also find out the party affiliation of the machine makers.:smoke: