Axelrod on Working Class Whites
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Here's the post-Kentucky take from Barack Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, on the notion that his candidate has trouble attracting support from white working class voters.
Speaking on NPR WNYC’s "The Take Away" this morning, Axelrod said, “Those numbers vary, of course, from state to state.”
He went on, “The larger point is when you look at general election polling, there isn’t a great deal of difference between how Senator Clinton and Senator Obama are polling among that particular group of voters.”
Marc Ambinder takes a different angle on the idea that there's a trend, saying, basically, Obama might not need them anyway, while David Kurtz thinks it might be an "Appalachia problem."
Obama Vs. McCain Polling Data
- Poll
- Obama (D)
- McCain(R)
- Spread
- RCP Average
- 46.4
- 41.6
- Obama +4.8
Favorable Ratings
- Candidate
- Favorable
- Unfavorable
- Spread
- Obama
- 55.7
- 32.7
- +23.0
- McCain
- 52.4
- 34.7
- +17.7
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Obama doesn't have a problem with white working class voters; he has a problem with voters in states where he hasn't campaigned. He didn't show up in Kentucky or West Virginia, and voters don't especially like it when a candidate can't be bothered to ask for their votes -- in person. And unless you've been actively watching the primaries, which most voters have not, he's an unknown quantity. And we always prefer the devil we know over the one we don't.
What's surprising is that a liberal candidate got 30% of the vote in very conservative Kentucky.
I think his smart, savvy campaign made a mistake in not going after voters in West Virginia and Kentucky. Because when Obama shows up, people respond. I bet he doesn't make that mistake again.
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Obama had a choice.
Campaign in a state, Oregon, where he could have a civil political debate - or- campaign in states like WV & Kentucky which are southern, former slave states, and get sucked into Hillary's campaign of 'Race Politics.'
I think, he wisely chose Oregon.
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Here's what Obama should do:
Roll up his sleeves and go on an Appalachia listening tour. Meet with people living in shacks and trailers and remind Americans of the extent of white poverty (most of the poor in this country are white), as Bobby Kennedy did decades ago -- but with a difference by promising the following:
Once elected, bring rotating groups of such people (together with their black, brown, and yellow urban counterparts) to the White House as advisors -- not window dressing, but real advisors, as part of his planned C-Span public meetings initiative.
Will it win Appalachia? Maybe not, but it may very well help assure a second term, while bringing new peoples' voices to bear on policy.