The Demise Of The White Democratic Voter

72% of white voters without a college degree voted for the Republican Party in the mid-term elections.  Those voters used to vote for democrats.  This article describes the GOP plan to increase its share of votes from this group.  The Republican senate candidate won that election by winning more than 80% of the votes from white evangelicals.  That was enough to overcome the wide margin that the democratic incumbent had among the rest of the electorate.  In Maryland it was a different story.  This time it was tax policy.  Maryland, which is traditionally a blue state, elected a Republican Governor.  He told voters that he would not raise their taxes in order to increase spending on social programs. 

Voter turnout for the mid-term elections was at its lowest level since 1942.  Typically low turnouts provide an advantage to the political party that has the most motivated voters.  The most highly motivated voters in mid-term elections have been voting Republican in the most recent mid-term elections.