Jeb Bush's "free stuff" remark in South Carolina is a racist dog whistle [View all]

[YoungDemCA]

Some data-driven analysis from the Washington Post:

In South Carolina, where Bush was speaking, five of the seven congressional districts have a greater percentage of white households than black on food stamps, as of March of this year. All of them are represented by Republicans. Of the two where black households are a plurality, only one has a Democratic representative.

The mentions of "free stuff" by Bush and Romney seem to be focused on the current political situation -- one in which Barack Obama has twice been elected president. It doesn't take a whole lot of analysis to figure out a reason that black voters might have turned out more heavily for Obama in 2008 and 2012 that doesn't involve government programs.

snip:

But, besides, if the argument is that black voters oppose Republicans because Democrats give them benefits, it neglects a whole lot of elections in which Republicans have won since those programs came into place.

Yes, the Affordable Care Act is new, but much of the new coverage under Obamacare is an expansion of Medicaid, which is 50 years old. There's the (rather grotesque) meme of the "Obamaphones" -- basically reduced-cost or free cell phones for poor Americans. But "Obamaphones" are really "Reaganphones," having been introduced in 1985. And food stamps themselves date back to the '60s.

Aha!, you might think. The '60s are when African Americans started voting Democratic! Well, about that.

Black support for Democrats coincided with civil rights actions:

It's worth noting, too, that lots of people get "free stuff" from the government. Seniors get a lot of government-program support, but they vote more heavily Republican. (Even older non-white voters tend to vote less Democratic -- though not much less.)

Not to mention corporate tax breaks and so on. Corporations do spend money to ensure tax breaks, but it's safe to assume that in many cases the savings from tax breaks are far larger than the money spent lobbying Congress or contributing to campaigns. Call it "low-cost stuff."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/09/25/why-jeb-bushs-free-stuff-argument-about-black-voters-is-so-off-the-mark/