Geographic Location

As Americans we would like to think that we are independent thinkers, free from the influences of society. However, this could not be further from the truth, as all of us are heavily shaped by social forces beyond our control. One of these forces, which I will focus on in particular, is geographic location. During the election coverage of Obama in 2008, a lot of emphasis was placed on the demographics of age, sex, and socioeconomic background of the voters; but little was said about how these trends fit into the overall geographical context of the nation. Although white voters voted more for McCain as a whole, this does not tell the whole story and can be explained using social trends found in different areas of the country.

When looking at each of the regions in the United States (Midwest, South, East, and West) the gap between Republicans and Democrats is within 5% points, with one exception: the South. 67% of white voters in the south voted for McCain whole only 31% voted for Obama – a difference of 36%. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1023/exit-poll-analysis-2008 How could such a substantial difference exist? Historically, the South has been a bastion of conservatism, and has resisted progressive change, sometimes violently (as seen in the civil rights movement). Although racism has been on the decline, no one would deny that it still exists is some form. For the most part, people are most comfortable around their own race and this could explain the differences observed in the South. As opposed to other areas of the nation, the South still suffers from scars of a racially charged past, which could explain the observed gap; not overt racism, but rather insensitivity.

Depending on if a person is from an urban, rural, or suburban area also influences how they will likely have voted in 2008. Urban white voters slightly favored Obama by 4%, while suburban voters favored McCain by 14% and rural voters favored McCain by 22% (pew research). The more urban the area, the higher the chance organized unions would take hold which would be more likely to go Democrat. The culture of cities also tends to be much more diverse, and interracial interactions are much more common as opposed to largely white, homogenous small rural towns. In the 1950s, many white people fled the urban centers to the suburbs known as the “white flight”.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvjMm5TPNEA This YouTube video of a vintage 1950s film about the suburbs illustrates the American dream that was sold as truth. As racial groups segregate themselves, they tend to think alike – and vote alike (which was observed in 2008). When people are not exposed to differing points of view, they are much less likely to question their own. This effect can be observed in small towns where it is dissent is discouraged due the homogenous culture.

Income and Education

Looking at 2008 elections results based on income for white people, it is pretty obvious to say that most white people voted for McCain. Looking at the Pewresearch chart for white people voting results, shows that most white people voted for McCain at all income levels. For the income range of less than $50,000, Obama had 47% of the votes and McCain got 51% of the votes. This is the closest that Obama got to having the majority of votes for any income level with white people. Probably the reason he got that many votes are these white people are poor and are most likely surrounded by other poor people of different races that could have influenced their opinion on the president election. When you look at the overall voter’s choice based on income, Obama had 60% of votes from people of an income of less than $50,000. When you get to the higher income, white people had a higher tendency to vote for McCain, in the range of $50,000- $100,000 McCain received 56% of the votes and Obama got 42% of the votes. Also looking at the CNN exit poll it says the same thing for whites with an income of over $50,000, 56% voted for McCain and 51% of white people with less than $50,000 voted for McCain also. I don’t know if McCain gave better incentives for higher income people than Obama but I would think most of these people are older and probably couldn’t see having a black president in their lifetime especially if they are from the time when segregation was happening. Also for some reason I just feel that white, religious people vote more republican than democratic but that could just be how it is in Texas.

Now to look at how education level affected the white voters choice. On the Pewresearch chart, only the whites with a post graduate degree voted mainly for Obama with 54% and McCain had 44% of those votes. One reason I can see white people voting for Obama from this education level is college is a liberal type of setting and has that influence on its students. We also are a generation that wants to see a change and be different from other generations, so voting for Obama was our way to be different. It’s also interesting to see on that chart that whites with some college (40% Obama, 58% McCain) or just a high school education (40% Obama, 58% McCain) mostly voted for McCain. I don’t want to seem like I’m stereotyping but these whites could be the racist types, maybe from the deep south,  that still are not educated enough to see around the color of someone’s skin, so they would only vote for someone with their same skin color. This is also the trend on the CNN’s exit poll with 51% of whites with a college education voting for McCain and 47% voting for Obama and 58% of no college for whites voting for McCain and Obama receiving 40% of those votes.

CNN poll

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#USP00p1

pewresearch chart

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1023/exit-poll-analysis-2008

Gender and Age

The first people eligible to vote in America were white males. This gave this section of the population power, and therefore their ideas dominated society. Many people vote the way they do because of the way they are raised and what they are taught.  During the American Revolution the term for this was Republican Motherhood.  This term was used to describe mothers raising their children on republican ideas.  As we have seen through history, white Americans and particularly white males vote republican, this is why the majority of white Americans did not vote for Obama in 2008. Typically families are made up of people with the same ideals, and these families tend to associate with others that have similar ideals. Such an environment creates small communities for their children to be raised in with the same ideas being reinforced into their children. These children are surrounded by these ideas and they come to believe them. This is a chain that has been happening since 1770’s or even longer. It is a very in depth topic to try and analyze; researchers have been studying this phenomena for years now.  From an almost naïve point of view here is what it comes down to. In 2008, 46% of white women voted for Obama while only 41% of white men did. In terms of gender, the majority of white males vote republican because of the ideas passed down from their ancestors. White women also tend to vote republican because they tend to be raised in the same environments as the males and are also taught the same ideas. However, they are more likely to switch to the Democratic Party than males. Minority groups tend to vote democratic and women historically have been defined as a minority. Also women could not even vote until 1920 which makes them more likely to vote democratic in order to revolutionize the general ideas of the Republican Party that held them back for so long.  54% of whites under the age of 30 voted for Obama; this was the only age category where the majority of whites voted for him. It is very typical for older white citizens to vote republican because they are very set in their ways. Even today you can still hear an elderly person use the “n” word when referring to an African American. These older people were raised on republican values, and have grown to view these ideas as right, so they vote that way trying to keep people with their ideas in charge.

As for young voters, they seem to want change. In 2004, P. Diddy started a campaign called Vote or Die in an attempt to get more young people to vote. He let the young voters know that they could swing an election if enough of them voted. 1.2 million young people used his campaign to register to vote. In the past few years the United States as a nation has seen great change and many people fighting for more change. With young voters today being able to learn the views of their parents, but the views of celebrities, and learn more about each political party online (resources that were not available to past generations), they are not just voting in the ways of their parents but in what they believe. Nevertheless, there will always be those young voters who vote democratic (or republican) to spite their parents. The ability to know who your favorite celebrity is voting for could create bias in many young people who don’t know much about the election. This means that some young people may vote based on who their favorite celebrity is voting for. For example, P. Diddy and many other celebrities backed Obama during the election.( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpdDdzH3VqU ) There are many different factors leading to why people vote the way they do so this is a generic overview of a few of these factors.