Kerry v. Bush: Why do things look different here?
Chuck Sheketoff
According to exit poll information, nationally, Bush won 58 percent of the vote among those with a household income of at least $100,000, while Kerry got 41 percent of that vote. In Oregon, Kerry received 58 percent of those votes, while Bush got 46 percent. Nationally, college graduates broke evenly between Bush and Kerry, with 49 percent apiece. In Oregon, college graduates went for Kerry, 60-40.
Why did the wealthy and college graduates in Oregon vote differently than the wealthy and college graduates across the country?
Discuss.
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connect with blueoregon
Nov 9, '04
Tim Hibbitts answered this question. The folks you refer to are sometimes called "latte leftists," a cute variation on "limosine liberals" from the 1970s.
http://www.brainstormnw.com/archive/jun04_feature.html
12:47 p.m.
Nov 9, '04
Prof, that's just a label not an answer.
Nov 9, '04
Because culture and religion trump income and education.
3:46 p.m.
Nov 9, '04
And brainstormnw is a right-wing rag akin to the Arkansas Project. Readership abounds in the hundreds...
Nov 9, '04
Thanks for raising this issue. I'm wondering if the Justice Deptartment didn't remind us of the answer today, in challenging "Death with Dignity" to the Supremes.
Conservatism gets its energy from the religious right, and the GOP can win many states without much more than that. But Oregon's GOP voters are mostly secular-libertarian, no? You wouldn't know it from some of the strident state GOP leaders, but you win elections in Oregon by defending people's rights (to guns, use of property, assisted suicide, etc.).
I expect Oregon's secular-libertarian element was turned off by Bush's explicit religiosity, and therefore more open to the other critques of him.
And regardless of the gay-marriage issue, I think we can also thank Oregon's secular libertarians for turning back the more viscious anti-gay measures of past years. The deep belief in other people's privacy runs deep here.
What do you think? Just an idea.
Peace, Jarrett