This November will people

[Riftaxe]

be more concerned about purity tests, and how "left" or "liberal" a candidate is or about jobs and personal economic situation?

Not to diminish the aforementioned concerns at all, but am i alone in suspecting our party voters will tend to be concerned with the latter?

I have seen claims on this board that registered democrats alone are enough to ensure smooth majorities, however as i understand the fact's neither party can claim to win on solely their base. Is it not time to skip philosophical discussions, and treating our party the way soccer hooligans treat a sports team, and focus on things that will help Democratic candidates in the real world get elected?

or i could be all wet, if i could poll, this would be one :P

[aquafina]

1. In 2008

Many repukes were reportedly not voting because of their dissappointments...we can't afford that.

(I may have misspelled dissappointments)

[Riftaxe]

3. If they choose not to particpate

i hardly see that as a downside :)

[Honeycombe8]

2. Survival is the #1 priority, and that means a job. Everything else is second.

But the real problem is that it's mainly older people who vote in off years, and it's mainly older, regular voters. Those types of people are usually more conservative than the rest of the crowd.

So no matter what the Dems do, they have an uphill battle. Add to that, the bad economy; the party in power always takes the hit for that. Add to that the fact that the Dems have both houses and the W.H.; the voters usually take that sort of all-powerful presence away in the off years, since they like both parties to have more involvement.

You see the problem. Add to that the corruption problems the Dems are having (Rengel and Waters). Corruption really riles up the public; it played a part in the 2008 election...the Repubs had had a string of corruption problems.

It's looking bleak. But if the Dems hold on to one of the houses, I think that'd be pretty good. And I think Obama would win in 2012, when the economy is sure to be better. That's so far away, though.

[Riftaxe]

4. As one of those older people, i object!

well not to much, in my experience you do have a point on that.

What i think we could change is come up with a plan, then the message. with something of substance backing up our politician's 5 second attention span, i think we could escape the dismal predictions of the pundits.

[tularetom]

5. I believe personal financial situation trumps ideology

The repubs were fired in 2008 because a lot of people were in trouble financially. Losing their jobs their homes and their retirement savings. Those who hadn't experienced it yet were afraid they soon would. It's now 2 years later and the situation is basically no better. For a lot of reasons the Democrats have not yet cleaned up the mess. And many non-ideological voters are disinclined to give them another chance.

Abortion, gay marriage, gun control, other social issues all lose their importance when you don't have a job. Even idiotic foreign wars don't matter so much when you are getting foreclosed on.

[1badjedi]

6. I'll be voting for those I agree with

That is if I can find any. Too many pols seem to want to shit on my head these days. :(

[Kringle]

7. after 4 years, some will want a change .nt

[SwampG8r]

8. hang on i can put this in a poll

lemmee check the question.....ok got it

[SwampG8r]

9. i asked the question

here is the poll http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8890163