In a poll that is sure to spin many heads in the punditsphere, white working class voters support Barack Obama over John McCain by 10 points, or 47-37.
These are not union voters. And they are not Democrats. They are all white working class voters.
The poll, conducted by the Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation, and Harvard University sampled the opinions of workers ages 18-64 who work at least 30 hours a week and make $27,000 a year or less. The poll sampled whites and non-whites in the working class - not surprisingly, Obama absolutely dominates among non-whites in that class - but the numbers among the white working class are noteworthy.
These white working class voters care more about economic issues than anybody else. They want politicians to pay attention to their concerns and offer specific solutions. That's why Hillary Clinton did so well among them. Obama has similar solutions and has talked about them with working class voters many times. But he needs to get out there more and do that.
This poll explains why WV and KY are closer than people expected, by the way. Obama lost by 40 points in the primary there. But he only trails by about 10 in KY (Kerry lost by 20), and by 7 in WV.
It also explains his appeal in the Mountain West, where racial tensions are lower. It isn't just well-to-do Independents driving up Obama's numbers in Montana; it's working class voters who have suffered under the Bush economy.
This election is perfectly set up for Obama. Drive home the economy day in and day out. Don't get distracted by the idiotic character attacks except to mock them. Let surrogates do the attacking back. Talk about health care. Talk about the new compromise energy plan that he supports now. Talk about jobs and the economy and trade.
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