Funny thing that
Every one of them talked about a segment they called “affluent, educated Democrats” — which they defined as making more than 50K per year, and being college educated. They’re apparently Obama supporters.
The term kept popping up. “Affluent & Educated.” Never one without the other.
I thought about the Obama supporters I know — and those that were around me at the caucus. Not a lot of folks making over 50K. But yeah, all pretty well educated.
I guess the media sticks the “affluent” tag in front of “educated” because they don’t want to say, by implication, that the other side’s supporters are “uneducated.”
It would make for an amusing analysis though — “As we see here, dumbasses voted 65 to 35, whereas that number was reversed among people capable of critical thinking….”
Our local reports were specifically saying that Clinton was favored by “women, older voters, voters without higher education, the working poor, and Hispanics” and Obama was favored by “African Americans, the wealthy, college graduates, young voters and very liberal voters”
I found the divide to be interesting, but my catch line was “Obama. The smart vote.” :D
So, curious: how do you feel about the fact that the vote here in NY was about 65 to 35?
To be expected, given that she’s the Senator from NY. (And, I think, has done a good job for her constituents, all in all).
I voted for her as senator, and would be perfectly content for her to stay our senator. I think Obama is better for president. For many reasons.
Ah, the Democratic Divide rears its ugly head again.
Didn’t you know that the Democratic Party is divided into two groups, the privileged college kids rebelling against Daddy’s Old Money sensibilities until they can go to work for his firm, and the ‘real’ Dems living out their blue-collar lives on the edge of social welfare programs. The educated Dems were just a bunch of flash-in-the-pan rich kids who’d desert the party once they had gotten enough of rebellion.
By tying ‘affluent’ to ‘educated’, they can spin the educated Obama supporters as a bunch of Johnny-Come-Lately newbie Dems swayed more by idealism than substance, who will float back to their ivory towers and leave the real work (again) to the less educated, less affluent Working Joes.
Never mind that that stereotype is pre-Reagan. Never mind that the upward trend in college attendance and the downward trend in the level of employment you can attain without a college degree means that the kid who makes my latte has two Bachelor’s Degrees (Art History and French Lit, but degrees!) and that despite my degree in the sciences I’ll likely never make more than 100K in my chosen field. Never mind that the rise of the religious right has sent educated folks over 30 flocking to the left and people without college educations flocking to the right. If the candidate more popular with those blue-collar, less educated voters can raise up that old prejudice against the kids who came in, caused a bunch of trouble in the 60s and 70s, then became Wall Street Reaganites when the 80s rolled around, then it won’t matter what the actual demographics of the party are right now.
I’m hoping party leaders (like those folks with enough influence to be superdelegates…) can overlook the stereotype long enough to realize that a lot of longtime Dems (my first Democratic vote was for someone named Clinton, but my next one damn sure won’t be) are heading to Obama because we genuinely believe he’s the better candidate.
I think I’m going to get a t-shirt that says “Dumb Sluts for Obama.”
I find the association of “Educated” with “Affluent” kinda funny. Most of my friends fall into the “Educated” catagory but not the “Affluent” one (or just barely if you count the couple and put the cap of 50K applying to total Household Income.) And most of them are voting for Obama,or did so in the primary, including my cousin who runs (or used to) the state Republican website.
This is what happens when you have degrees and wind up mainly working for the goverment or non-profit institutions.
“Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives.” John Stuart Mill
For the Potomac area, $50k per year is not really “affluent.” According to the Post, the median income for the area is $78,978.
I’m damned sure not “affluent” but I am somewhat educated. I’d really like to know where they set the damned bar.