NYT: In Ohio, Hurdles for Both Candidates (both candidates struggling w/white working class?)

[alp227]

Sabrina Tavernese and Jeff Zeleny, NY Times, 4/19/12

The battle for Ohio is on, but for many voters here choosing between President Obama and Mitt Romney is like trying to decide between liver and brussels sprouts — a selection they would rather not have to make.

As it does every four years, Ohio is again unfolding as a crucial battleground in the presidential election, its 18 electoral votes critical to the equations of both candidates. On Wednesday, Mr. Obama made his fourth trip to the state since January; Mr. Romney is expected to arrive on Thursday, his first trip here since becoming the presumptive Republican nominee.

But putting together a winning strategy in Ohio will be a mighty challenge for both men, given that more than half of the state’s electorate — about 54 percent, according to the Brookings Institution — is white and working class, a group that both Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney have had a particularly hard time connecting with.

“Ohio is really ground zero for the white working-class voting bloc,” said William H. Frey, the senior demographer at Brookings. “That’s the key in Ohio.”

full: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/19/us/politics/obama-and-romney-face-hurdles-in-ohio-among-white-working-class-voters.html?pagewanted=all

[bluestateguy]

1. Elite media drivel

droning on and on about "working class whites" from their cocktail parties in Georgetown and Manhattan penthouses.

[freshwest]

2. +1

[alp227]

3. -1...did you even READ the article???

Which reported statements do you dispute?

[Drunken Irishman]

4. I did and the whole article is BS...

Obama's support among working class whites is no worse than the last three Democrats to run for president before him (and on about par with Clinton in the 90s). It's a baseless claim that has been dogging Obama ever since he ran and even when he disproved the claim four years ago, it's something the media still throws at him even though there is no evidence to suggest his support among these groups isn't there.

For starters, Obama outperformed Gore & Kerry in every state we typically associate with blue collar, white working class voters (Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa). He performed better than Clinton in '92 in many of these states and about the level of Clinton in '96. Did Clinton have a problem with working class whites? No - the media never made mention of it, but dammit, it's something they'll continually throw in Obama's face.

Okay, so what about '12?

Well, Obama's average lead in Ohio right now over Romney is 8.6 points. 8.6! That's almost five points more than he won the state four years ago, and three points more than Clinton's margin in '96 (he won the state by about five points). If that holds, and I'm not saying it will, Obama's margin of victory in Ohio, 8.6, would be greater than any Democratic candidate's since Lyndon Johnson won the state 63-37. So, knowing the polls TODAY, when this article was published, we can already see that Obama is outperforming every modern day Democrat, including Bill Clinton, in a state that has routinely been associated with the white, working class voters.

That's why this article is bunk. Obama is doing better in Ohio than any Democrat in the last 50 years. It might not hold, and he very well could lose the state still, but as of today, at the time this article was published, his lead is sizable there, his support apparently strong and there is no evidence, outside a narrative the media is once again trying to set, that Obama is hurting among those voters. Yeah, they can find one or two or three people who won't vote for him for their article, but that proves nothing.

In the end, he's succeeding and will win Ohio.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

5. All past Democratic Party candidates have had some problems in OH. Thanks for this post!

You are spot on!!!

[jus-theFACTS]

6. the problem is...

we all have trouble believing the populist drivel from the administration...

I will wager every coin in my pocket that in 5 years Obama owns a house with a car elevator.

The system is screwed. What flavor of corporate puppet do YOU prefer? Dem or Pug?