FACT: GOP voters are overwhelmingly older, whiter, and maler

[noiretextatique]

than the rest of american voters. it is a verifiable FACT, so can someone please explain to me why stating that fact is problematic...for democrats? thanks in advance.

[bravenak]

1. Please, please, please, please, i would like to know too.

Thanks.

[Vattel]

2. it's not

[randys1]

3. I dont understand why any older, white DU members would be bothered by that at all

I am an older, white, hetero male...and i am one post away from being banned for calling MOST white people in america on the right terrible names, names they deserve

[noiretextatique]

5. omg....i got so much shit for stating this fact in another thread

i really want to understand why it is a problem.

[randys1]

7. I want to know too, I had a post hidden because I called the Murrieta folks

a name, they were all white so i used that word in front of the other word

Surely the white folks on DU didnt think I was talking about them, but who knows

It is us older white males that should be the most upfront about the obvious statistics

and I am an older white male, and WE are part of the problem if we deny the obvious

[noiretextatique]

9. well...

check out the response below. the fact the GOP voters are older, white and male, overwhelmingly, elicits a response about white people who vote for democrats. i don't think it is an insult to white democrats to point out that most GOP voters are older, whiter, and maler than other voters.

[randys1]

17. Of course not, at the same time stating the obvious about who the rightwing is may not be

helping all that much, IDK

Here are some obvious stats that are self evident, to me at least


99% of the non minority members of the teaparty, are racist (minorities cant be racist)

75% or more of the Repub party is racist, probably more - and about 50% of the white Dem party are racist even if just a little bit, but some are more than a little bit

Most white people no matter how liberal they are, myself included, have some shit put in us from when we were little, based on society, that makes us racist to some degree.

Myself I had a mother who made sure I NEVER used the N word and knew about racism from early on, but I still am probably guilty of some subconscious shit, not sure - probably.

White Democrats are aware of their issues and work on them, white repubs are proud of their racism, this is the difference

JUST MY OPINION, PLEASE DONT ALERT ON ME

[yeoman6987]

45. lol. because you asked nicely......./sarc

I read your post and see some value, but this is the first time I noticed your post. You are pretty hard on the Caucasians as a whole IMHO.

[Half-Century Man]

39. It's like getting mad at someone for claiming

right handed people commit most of the crime in the world; they do.
Estimates put right handed persons at 70%-90% of the global population. Ergo, most of crime is committed by right handed persons.

The majority of republicans are, in fact, older white males. If that fact bothers you consider this; I'm a member of their peer group (over 50, caucasian male). As such, they assume I think like they do (deep left non-christian liberal socialist here). These buffoons insist on talking to me. A large portion of my life is spent in awkward pauses.

[enlightenment]

46. Problem is that when this started,

the comment that was made was constructed as an absolute. I believe the expression was "Older white people are the GOP demographic. Period"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025065109#post65

Words have meaning - and a failure to use words also conveys meaning. Your original statement was an absolute - no modifiers - followed by a doubling down absolute ("period&quot , followed by a reply of "bullshit, it's a fact".

Now you are annoyed because people are upset with you, but you keep layering it on without considering what you are actually saying. NOW you are modifying your statement to "older, white and male" but that isn't what you said before.

What you said yesterday - an absolute - is that ALL older white people vote GOP. That's a brush so broad it's a wonder you could hold it up to make that swipe.

Today it is slightly modified to MOST older white males (an overwhelming majority, presumably) vote GOP.

Slightly better, but still encompassing a pretty broad swathe in an indeterminate statement.

Now, I believe that isn't what you mean. You mean that SOME older white males fall into that demographic - or even MOST older white males - or perhaps A MAJORITY of older white males. Problem is that we, the readers, just don't know what you mean, because the addition of modifiers that would make your statement sound like you care enough to be accurate are missing.

You are offering no evidence for your assertion - the most reliable sources I have found suggest that yes - white voters tend to lean GOP. They do not suggest that "older white people" or "older white males" overwhelmingly lean GOP.

Gallup (2013) agrees that most GOP voters are non-Hispanic white (89%), but offers no evidence of age groupings or even gender.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/160373/democrats-racially-diverse-republicans-mostly-white.aspx

The 2012 Pew Poll, which is much more detailed, reveals a similar percentage (87%) but the breakdown into gender and age shows no "overwhelming" percentage - unless, of course, you are classifying "older" as anyone over 30.


It is your lack of precision that creates the problem. People are going to read what you write; on a message board that's all they have to go on.

[noiretextatique]

56. none of this parsing changes the facts

does it?

[enlightenment]

58. Actually, the facts "parsed"

prove your statement to be a gross generalization, which you would see if you bothered reading them. But keep up the good work with that broad brush.

[Art_from_Ark]

38. It is a problem because that dead horse is constantly being beaten around here

The implication is, older white men = creepy Republicans.

Enough already.

[Number23]

35. I think these folks are absolutely paranoid about broad brushing. Probably because it's something

that they've done themselves to everybody else for as long as they can remember.

The fact that some older white people -- who beat everybody over the head day in and day out about how "liberal" they are -- become apoplectic whenever someone CORRECTLY states that the vast majority of right wing behavior, thought and opinion has primarily been the province of white people for as long as this country has been in existence would be kind of funny if it wasn't illustrative of some sort of cognitive dissonance.

And even though it should be self explanatory that no one is talking about ALL white people and that everyone knows that countless numbers of whites have fought the good fight and even died for the rights of others, the idea that we need to deny history in order to placate their feelings is something I will never understand.

[randys1]

42. Never understand or DO...me either! I have a good friend on a different forum

AA Woman who gave me shit when one day I said I was so sick of white people and so embarrassed that I wished I wasnt one of them

She immediately informed me that I did NOT want to be non white in this country, that I was NOT prepared for that, and she was right.

She loves me in that way that she wanted me to understand, with love, how full of shit i was

[Gormy Cuss]

4. Because there are a lot of older, white, male Democrats?

Because the Democratic party is a party of inclusion, unlike the GOPers?

[noiretextatique]

6. and...what does that have to do with the FACT

about GOP voters? really...i don't understand it.

[Gormy Cuss]

11. IMHO the Democratic party uses more honey than vinegar.

Pointing out that GOPs are more white, older, and male does nothing to persuade voters that the Democratic party is any better than the GOPers, who point out the fact that most POCs belong to the Democratic party at every opportunity, as if that's a bad thing.

[noiretextatique]

13. i am just stating the FACTS

i am not trying to recruit anyone or change anyone's mind. why is that a problem...for you? and others?

[Gormy Cuss]

21. It's not a problem for me. I was trying to answer your OP question,

which is why that is a problem for the party. There are a lot of facts that politicians don't acknowledge for political reasons.

Me, I'm the first to rant that the GOP voters are more likely to be white, male, and older but I'm not running for office.

[noiretextatique]

23. i am posting on DU, not running for office

i got a lot of shit for pointing out that fact here.

[Gormy Cuss]

36. No one here should get shit for posting that as fact here

because it's fact. Nine out of ten Romney voters were white. The GOP's demographics spell doom in the not-so-long run.

[randys1]

8. And apple pie is better with ice cream, but it has nothing to do with what the OP said

[Gormy Cuss]

14. You don't think being the party of inclusion matters at all?

When it comes right down to it, that's the BEST attribute of the Democratic Party and the WORST attribute of the GOP. The latter is the "got mine, screw you" party on so many levels.

[noiretextatique]

19. wtf does that have to do with the FACT

that GOP voters are overwhelming older, white males?

[Gormy Cuss]

27. It has to do with the fact of politics.

Who do you want to state that fact, the president? Your MOC?

[noiretextatique]

29. and last time i checked, i am not the president

why is stating that fact a problem here? sorry if my OP was not clear.

[Gormy Cuss]

30. Oh, you mean here? Well that's different.

Sorry, I read it as a bigger question.

[randys1]

25. Who said anything about that? One has nothing to do with the other

Pointing out the white and aged status of most rightys, and maleness, has nothing to do with the dem party

[Gormy Cuss]

28. Depends who's pointing it out.

People here on DU? You're right, doesn't matter to the party. The OP doesn't say it's about DU though.

[randys1]

31. OP says GOP voters are etc

It is not about DU, I dont know what the confusion is here.

[Gormy Cuss]

37. see post 23 n/t

[Aristus]

10. I'm 45 years old, white, straight, and male.

I don't have a problem with anybody pointing out how old, straight, white and male the GOP is.

The truth is the truth.

[elfin]

12. And more stupid --

a very important descriptor mysteriously left out of the categories.

[noiretextatique]

15. LOL

i'd get even more if i added that.

[JustAnotherGen]

16. I saw the bump up

Albeit an accident by merrily today of that thread. Glad you came back to the topic.

There's nothing wrong with pointing out the facts about the Republican Party. That has nothing to do with older, white Democratic men who probably laugh at John McCain or flip him the bird every time he runs his mouth on tv.

[noiretextatique]

18. no...it does not

which is why i am having a difficult time understanding the defensiveness. it truly perplexes me.

[Tom Ripley]

20. Peckerwoods hoping for wood?

[RobertEarl]

22. Yep, they are O, W, M

We, as Liberals, must somehow tolerate them, for they know not what they do. And some live next door, or around the block. They're everywhere!

The problem is they vote. And they do so in the highest percentage of any other group. Therefore they elect OWM and those OWM make the laws.

Being as we are a nation of laws, blah, blah, blah, we must vote for the YWF's so that we have more YWF laws. I always do vote for YWF. But there are too few to vote for, eh?

[randys1]

32. Which idiot righty said he was afraid that people vote who dont know how serious

Benghazi is.

The rightwinger is broken, their brains dont function properly or something.

There is not a single issue where left and right disagree, and right is right.

[redqueen]

24. It's a puzzler. nt

[steve2470]

26. Obvious fact, not a problem for this middle aged white male Democrat nt

[Jenoch]

33. "whiter" ... "maler"?

[muriel_volestrangler]

34. Perhaps the way you brought it up and stated it was a bit abrupt

The thread was about how some DU threads had been seeming to say that older people, or older white men, were stopping DU from being more progressive. When you answer that with "older white people are the GOP demographic...period", it could sound like you're saying older white people ought to be looking to the GOP to represent them.

[Hekate]

44. I contributed to that thread. As a human being, as a woman, as a liberal, I have tried...

... throughout my 66 years to keep from saying that all people of any particular category are the same.

People do outrageous things and I have been outraged. I'm sure that on occasion I have failed to moderate my language when I write, but it has been as sincere as religion that I do not to say that "all Southerners are racist," or "all Evangelicals are Dominionists," or "all Catholics are altar-boy diddlers," "all Republicans are *holes," or even "all men are potential rapists." It just ain't so. It's one reason I keep my human touchstones in my heart and mention them here when discussions get too hot: Jimmy Carter of Georgia, my next-door neighbor, the Berrigan Brothers, and on and on.

Therefore -- it does feel a bit strange to find myself an unwitting subject of the "all people" slur, and to see that some of my friends here are participating in it. Are they trying to make the point: "See that's how it feels when white people do it to us?" It doesn't feel like it somehow. Because what started out as something about the GOP kind of drifted.

There are a lot of rifts at DU these days. There are some here who want a really ideologically pure party -- but the definitions of purity vary from faction to faction. Now it feels as though there are some who also want to divide us along racial lines, and I just don't get that -- I feel like I missed something really vital here, or profoundly misunderstood it.

Final word: Either the Democratic Party is a big tent, or it isn't.

[GusBob]

40. what do reckon the demographics of non voters to be?

And what do the terms whiter and maler mean to you?

[Bluenorthwest]

41. What I notice, both in the GOP and in it's omission here, is how Heterosexual the Republican voters

are. If straight people voted like LGBT people, there wouldn't be a single Republican holding office anywhere.

[Sancho]

43. I'm older, white, and male..I was the liberal from the 60s who would put you to shame..

Today's "liberals" sit on their butts, don't vote, and complain more than getting out and doing something. That's the answer to marginalizing me...

[Jamaal510]

47. It's one of DU's greatest unsolved mysteries. nt

[JustAnotherGen]

48. Noiretextique - I had a thought

Why are so many affluent minorities Democrats? Not all - not all. But the majority . . .

Maybe that will bring clarity on this? It's pretty simple - sure they have Herman Caine and the religious Doctor - Ben Johnson(?) - but their conventions, CPAC, Faith Forums are all overwhelmingly well - white.

They just had an epic fail at one of their abusement park meetings with an empty auditorium during their minority outreach session.

Perhaps we can get folks to engage on that. By showing them who is NOT there?

[Historic NY]

49. The good news is they are dying off every day too...

so they aren't being replaced.

[Comrade Grumpy]

50. Okay. Here's another FACT: White people make up a majority of the Democratic base.

61%. From that Gallup poll cited upthread:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/160373/democrats-racially-diverse-republicans-mostly-white.aspx

Now, the question is what to do about these facts?

[bravenak]

51. Right here.

Democrats remain a majority white party, but four in 10 Democrats are something other than non-Hispanic white. More than one in five Democrats are black, roughly twice the black representation in the adult population.
Racial and Ethnic Groups Gravitate Toward Different Parties

Looked at differently, these party composition patterns reflect major differences in the way Americans in various racial and ethnic groups identify their political affiliation.

Almost two-thirds of blacks identify as Democrats, with most of the rest identifying as independents. Only 5% of blacks nationwide identify as Republicans.
Half of Hispanics identify as independents, although the majority of the rest identify as Democrats. This is despite their high level of approval and strong majority voting support for Democratic President Barack Obama. Relatively few Hispanics (13%) identify as Republicans.
Whites are the most politically diverse of the three major racial and ethnic segments, with between 26% and 38% identifying with one of the three partisan groups. Whites tilt slightly toward being independents or Republicans rather than Democrats. The large white concentration of Republican identifiers, in short, is caused by a dearth of nonwhites self-identifying with the GOP, rather than a monolithic Republican orientation among whites.

[Hekate]

52. Ans.: Recognize that "white people" are not the enemy; nor are "older people." But somehow...

...I'm not exactly feeling the love in this thread.

[noiretextatique]

57. do you feel love towards people who vote for the GOP?

i don't, so if you aren't one of them...cool.

[JustAnotherGen]

54. Take it one more step

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html

For example - black Americans came in around 13% of the total population - yet per your link - Only 5% identify as Republican. What do we do with that?

Next - what about the non white Hispanics in your link?

Fact - Democratic Party has a big tent - Republicans don't.

Quite simply they attract selfish, angry, old white men. Angry because they never got a pony that they were told was theirs for the taking. All the cards were supposed to be stacked in their favor and the "others" took it from them. They believe they are just like the Koch brothers. They are peope of the lie.

Time is on our side as are the coming demographic shifts - the only thing the Republican Party has to offer today is Religion, Guns, and "safe harbor" for the affluent.


How can I make sure other affluent minorities don't get sucked into their abusement park?


Eta - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/13/changing-racial-makeup-_n_5142462.html
2042 is coming. I will be 69 then. The America I was born to will no longer exist.

[JI7]

55. there are more white people in this country

[southerncrone]

53. Not "maler", but definitely female-phobic.