Folks, please allow me to share the burden of my thoughts on the topic. I spent the last 2 days thinking, analyzing, contemplating and just can't stand my solitude anymore. I jumped into this thread with hope to make sense of the moment we live in and I need to hear your opinions.
I've been sad for the last 2 days. I was not surprised by Obama's win, but certainly disappointed. Now that everybody including mass media, bloggers, politicians etc. is sharing all kinds of analyses of the election outcome and its short- and long-term effects it's probably a good time to pause and think.
Here's a detailed chart of how various groups voted:
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... itics.html
There are multiple factors that played together in favor of Obama's victory. Some of these factors are obvious, others are more subtle. I understand that changing demographics is one of the major factors that GOP underestimated. Obama got 71% of Hispanic vote, 90% of African-American vote, 2/3 of women and lots of youth vote. Romney got a majority of white, military, seniors, religious vote. But what really makes me sad is the fact that if we really look under the hood at the main reason each group voted for Obama we will see that sometimes these reasons are really subjective and can't be explained by a belief that the candidate they vote for will implement the policies that economically or socially benefit them.
Below are just my raw thoughts about some of the social groups along with my (mostly) rhetorical questions:
Hispanics: most of them are Catholics or have Catholic background and hence social issues are important for them, but the prevailing issue for them appears to be the immigration reform. Certainly Obama's decision to grant legal status to children of illegal immigrants played in his favor. The immigration reform is not an easy task: if it were easy, it would be done. But what kind of immigration reform would satisfy them? I don't understand why some people consider deportation of illegal immigrants wrong. Obviously we can't open the borders and accept everyone who wants to live here. Honestly, I don't have an answer to this question, I hope someone will find an answer, sooner or later.
74% of African-Americans consider themselves Christians (59% mainline Protestant, 15% Evangelical). If 97% of black Protestants voted for Obama does that mean that for one day only they put their pro-life, pro-family values on the back-burner and voted, paraphrasing Martin Luther King Jr., "because of the color of his skin rather than the content of his character".?
Youth: Obama got less votes compared to 2008, but still majority of young people voted for him. Obama is a young charismatic speaker, he looks cool, he acts cool - and this certainly appeals to the youth. His image is certainly different from the "rich white guy" stereotype, which is so disliked by the "Occupy something" generation. So could it be that our youth dismisses the high unemployment, the growing debt that THEY will have to deal with one day, the student debt bubble, the coming Social Security crisis and other issues and vote "by heart" for a cool guy?
To summarize in one sentence how I feel about the election outcome and the state of the country: we are divided. And that makes me sad.
But I still believe there is hope. Because I have something bigger than the whole world to believe in.
