Everybody knows that the Republican Party is the party of white, religious, married people. And the Democratic Party is the party of non-white, secular, single people. For instance, Bush won in 2004 by 57-42 percent among married people. He lost among single people by 58-40. That’s a pretty big “marriage” gap. But married people represented 63 percent of the voters and single people 37 percent. Which group would you go after?
The Democrats have decided to win in 2006 by focusing on single people, according to Peter A. Brown of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute in RealClearPolitics.com.
The Democrat’s group Women’s Voices analyzes the single vote in an 80 page report.
It goes into great detail about how unmarried people are likely to be poorer and more alienated than their married counterparts - with the obvious implication that these are prime Democratic targets.
And, no doubt they are, except for a big chunk of the group, single white men, who are probably the most Republican of all demographic groups.
But the vast, vast majority of the rest fit the profile of Democratic voters. They are either female or racial minorities or low income, or all three.
It is striking that Democrats don’t really even attempt to think about how they could appeal more to white, married people. Instead they see their future in ginning up higher turnout among single women.
Can that really be the path back to power?
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