Even before Election Day, when it became clear that this was going to be a good year for Republicans, pundits & pols began debating what caused the turnaround from 2008.
Many reasons have been trotted out. Among them are Obama and/or the Democrats were too liberal or too conservative or too timid or too aggressive or it was Pelosi or Reid’s fault or the Obama political team (who were geniuses 2 years ago) are incompetent or the Republicans (who were idiots 2 years ago) are now tactical geniuses or it’s because of the Tea Parties or the power of Fox News (and it’s 5 million viewers) or because of Obama’s position on some issue or another (single payer health care, Gitmo, the mosque, Darfur) or it was health insurance or cap and trade.
And then there are a few who say that what James Carville said in 1992 is still true – “it’s the economy, stupid”
Count me among those who agree that nothing comes close to being as important to a Democratic comeback in two years than a significant drop in the unemployment rate.
I have been reading the exit polls from this year’s elections and there is one question that, I think, is evidence that we economic determinists are closer to the truth than those who think firing or hiring somebody is crucial.
Here is the question and the results from the national exit poll of 17,504 –
Is your family financial situation better, worse or the same?
14% said better & 58% of them voted for Democrats
43% said the same & 51% of them voted Democratic
41% said worse and they voted 64% to 34% for the Republicans
Enough said!