Slicing and Dicing the Numbers

Michael Barone analyzes Tuesday’s election returns, concluding that Obama’s victory was “decisive but not overwhelming.” There are many observations to be made about the data, but I’ll offer just one: Obama and the Democrats have assembled a “top and bottom coalition.” They carried voters with incomes above $200,000, narrowly, and won decisively among those with incomes under $50,000. Middle-income voters split evenly. I find this interesting in the context of Obama’s and Biden’s constant invocation of the “middle class” in their campaign speeches. Maybe they knew this was the one group they were in danger of not carrying, or maybe they think it helps to talk about the “middle class” even if you’re really appealing to upper or lower income voters.

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