www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,159459,00.html
LINKS For my entire political life -- which spans 26 years as a congressman and at least an additional 10 years before that as a campaign organizer -- I have always believed that my party, the Democratic Party, represented the middle class. A recent study prepared by a new Democratic think tank, Third Way, demons trated this reality in chilling fashion.
Unrequ ited Love: Middle Class Voters Reject Democrats at the Ballot Box, and is worthy of very serious review by everyone in the country who consider s himself or herself a Democrat. The study is an analysis of exit poll data from the Roper Center at the U niversity of Connecticut of 13,718 voters in the 2004 presidential and c ongressional elections. Middle class was defined as a family income betw een $30,000 and $75,000. Middle class voters, as defined in this study, accounted for 45 percent of total votes cast. President Bush and House Republicans both carried middle class voters (a composite of white, black and Hispanics). The truly remarkable aspect of this study is that while John Kerry and House Democrats carried both bl ack and Hispanic middle class voters, Democrats were absolutely swamped among the white middle class, thus tipping the aggregate middle class fi gures into the Republican column.
Bush defeated Kerry by 22 points among middle cla ss whites, and House Republicans running for Congress won middle class w hites by 19 points. Democrats have always assumed that white middle clas s voters (many, but not all of whom, are union members) were an importan t constituency for the party. To quote the study, While Democrats may consider themselves the party of middle class, working America middle class, working America thinks ot herwise. White middle class voters, in particular, vote in such low numb ers for national Democrats that it may be more accurate to believe that they feel that Democrats are hostile to, not champions of, their interes ts. This brings us to the obvious question: What must Democrats do to improve their standing among white middle class voters in order to start winnin g national elections again, both for the presidency and for Congress? Contrary to conventional wisdom, the answer does not start with economic issues. Many middle class voters suppo rted Republicans in 2004 because they were not convinced that Democrats would keep them safe -- either at home or abroad. There is great irony here because it was Democrats who first proposed a n ew Department of Homeland Security and it was Democrats who supported th e recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, while congressional Republican s tried to block their implementation. On this count, Democrats must do a better job of telling their story. Democrats should also continue to stand up for our veterans while Republi cans try to cut veterans' benefits. They should not be bashful about poi nting out how poor planning on the part of the Bush administration has l ed to a high level of casualties in Iraq, and how this is significantly harming the readiness of our Army by making it more difficult for the mi litary to recruit new soldiers and retain soldiers on active duty. On the domestic front, Democrats should aggressively devise a strategy to increase the number of Americans who have health insurance, even if it does costs some money. We should be willing to tell our friends in the a uto industry that they should make more fuel-efficient cars. More fuel-e fficient cars will help save energy (making us less dependent on foreign oil) and will force the American auto industry to modernize in a way th at it can better compete with foreign car makers and ultimately save Ame rican jobs. Democrats should remind the middle class that we are the party who create d Social Security and are the party who will make sure that it is availa ble when they retire. And finally, Democrats should be willing to suppor t middle class tax cuts that help people supplement their Social Securit y, not through private accounts that take funds away from the Social Sec urity system but with increased IRAs and 401 plans. The analysis done by Third Way should be a wake-up call for Democrats. If it isnt, Democrats may stay in the wilderness for some time. Martin Frost served in Congress from 1979 to 2005, representing a diverse district in the Dallas-Ft. He served two terms as Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, the third-ranking leadership position fo r House Democrats, and two terms as Chairman of the Democratic Congressi onal Campaign Committee. Frost serves as a regular contributor to FOX Ne ws Channel. He holds a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a law degree from the Georgetown Law Center.
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