Working class voters: why America's poor are willing to vote Republican -- Gary Younge, Guardian UK

[Brigid]

6. It still makes no sense to me.

The story is told of a young man from a small, impoverished Irish village who emigrated to the US. He got a job, made new friends, etc. He was always bragging to his new friends about how beautiful and magical the Old Country was, as Irish expats often do. That caused one of his friends to decide to visit Ireland to see for himself. When he returned from his trip, he said to the Irishman, "Oh, yes, Ireland was beautiful--just wonderful. How could you bear to leave? I could hardly do it myself.". To which the Irishman replied, "You can't eat the scenery."

No, you can't eat the scenery. And you can't feed the kids voting against abortion or gay marriage, even if you don't like them. Economic concerns really do trump everything else when you're voting, like it or not.