High-Income Voters broke for Democrats

[Coexist]

Wow. Knowing that their tax cut was going bye-bye - they broke for the Democrats. Maybe they feel the future of our economy is more important than their personal fortunes.

So all those slightly upper-middle class people who are bemoaning the repeal of a tax break that they one day aspire to qualify for, are the only ones crying. Interesting.

Here's the baseline: the overall Democratic share of the congressional vote was about 5 percentage points higher than in 2004. And what you find from the exit polls is that Dems gained 2-7 points in practically every demographic group surveyed. It was an across-the-board sweep, not a victory that depended on any single big electoral shift.

<snip>
In fact, I was only able to find a grand total of seven groups that broke for the Dems by substantially more than the overall gain of 5 points. Here they are:

No high school +15%
Those rating the economy "good" +15%
Latinos +14%
Jews +11%
No religion +9%
Income $200K+ +9%
Independents +8%

More interesting (though less important in raw numbers) is the fact that high-income voters broke for Democrats in large numbers. I'm scratching my chin over that one. And not only did the economy not help Bush, but apparently it actively hurt him. Those who rated the economy "good" voted much more strongly for Democrats than they did in 2004. (Those who rated it either excellent, not good, or poor voted about the same as last time.)

In the long run, I suppose the higher totals among Latinos and independents are the big news. Beyond that, there's not much. Keep this in mind when you start reading anecdotal analyses of "what happened." Most of it doesn't hold water. Based on the exit poll data, it was just a broad-based wave of disgust against Republican rule.

[gully]

1. Thinking of their children

perhaps?

Interesting info.

[Lucky Luciano]

2. Higher income people often have a decent education.

They are also more likely to be urban people....and urban people with a good education know a buffoon when they see one. Not surprising at all that the $200K+ people broke to the dems. The tax breaks aren't THAT big....they are only THAT big for the $50M+ types of people.

[CrispyQ]

3. I work for a very rich man who came from a poor background.

He gladly pays his taxes. One year after paying in all year he still owed 2.5 million from his stock earnings. I asked if it hurt to write a check for that much for taxes. He smiled & said, "Do you know how much I made to have to pay these kinds of taxes?" He told me he believes in the common good & that our taxes support that. If it hadn't been for public schools, college loans, & a host of other things, he would not be where he is today.

:thumbsup:

[Coexist]

6. that is a great anecdote

what a good person he is.

[AIJ Alom]

4. They need to break this down further. As I've see it they want

Democrats to level the playing field by making the ultra-rich more accountable. I mean the rich have their wealth, but the current level of wealth concentration has made the possibility of accumulating more wealth impossible as they are stuck at 400 k to 2 mil a year while CEO's and corporate executives continue to generate more and more wealth.

[Nite Owl]

5. Alot of them are living the'AmericanDream'

and they know the tax cuts for them are wrong for their children and wrong for the country. In the long run it won't work to bankrupt the country.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. Perhaps Because They Were Repelled By The GOPU Social Agenda.

Anti-choice

Anti- stem cell research

Anti-gay rights

I think it's naive to think most rich folks vote Democratic and most poor folks vote Democratic. It's a lot more complex...

[Coexist]

8. Did you read the last line?

"Based on the exit poll data, it was just a broad-based wave of disgust against Republican rule."

However, the above numbers are as opposed to the last election.

[populistdriven]

9. proof that some H.S. dropouts are smarter than your typical college graduate