Interesting data on the economic differences between Democrats and Republicans

[disneysteve]

I'll start with a reminder that it is fine to discuss government policy but not individual politicians. No promoting or bashing of one party or the other. We can discuss big picture topics that involve politics, as so many things do. So please keep it respectful or your post will be deleted.

https://www.wsj.com/graphics/red-economy-blue-economy/?mod=e2fb&fbclid=IwAR01Bu6pIRg05p1flAc-utGH3AABwPJurYhr-U9bTTIzDZgaFU8nKfhUxkE

I saw this article/study today and found it fascinating. A lot of this was exactly the opposite of what I thought was true. I've always thought of the Republicans as being the more privileged class, old money, Ivy League grads, business tycoons, etc. And I saw the Democrats as being more working class folks, lower income on average. According to this data, just the opposite is true.

Over the last 10 years, the gap between the parties has widened significantly. Today, the Democrats are better educated, employed in more professional and skilled and higher paying jobs. Household income has climbed quite a bit in Democratic districts and actually fallen in Republican districts.

“When folks have less in common with one another, it’s hard to expect that they’re going to see the problem the same way,” said Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union, “let alone recognize that a problem exists.” This explains so much about where things stand politically in this country today. Many of us have observed that politicians on each side of the aisle seem farther apart than they used to be, but now I realize that that's because their parties and constituents are actually farther apart. The Republicans have been steadily losing ground economically speaking while the Democrats have been doing rather well. Clearly, when your world views are radically different, it's hard to sit down at the table and have a productive conversation because you're approaching things from such opposite positions. As that quote says, one side may not even see that a problem exists because it simply doesn't in their world.

I certainly have no solutions in mind but found this data really eye-opening.

[Fishindude77]

Looks like a good basis for a political argument to me.
Particularly when you pull this gem out of the article ...... Over the last 10 years, the gap between the parties has widened significantly. Today, the Democrats are better educated, employed in more professional and skilled and higher paying jobs. Household income has climbed quite a bit in Democratic districts and actually fallen in Republican districts.

[disneysteve]

Looks like a good basis for a political argument to me.
Particularly when you pull this gem out of the article ...... Over the last 10 years, the gap between the parties has widened significantly. Today, the Democrats are better educated, employed in more professional and skilled and higher paying jobs. Household income has climbed quite a bit in Democratic districts and actually fallen in Republican districts.

I was really surprised by that info. I honestly thought the opposite was true.

[Petunia 100]

I was really surprised by that info. I honestly thought the opposite was true.

Well, when you take a look at which states are predominately blue and red, this becomes less surprising. The deep south is where we have the lowest per capita income; it's red. California and New York are very economically prosperous; they are blue.

[Singuy]

So you have both rich and poor Republicans/Democrats and their stance is as such.

Rich Democrats are social justice warriors who want to be taxed to help a middle out economy. They believe the poor are mostly minorities who need the most help because their cards were poorly dealt to begin with.

The poor Democrats are usually minorities looking for strong assistant and more protection when it comes to race and gender.

The rich Republicans believe they are the job creators and people should work hard to get where they are. Want lower taxes and less hand outs.

The poor Republicans usually think immigrants are to blame for their lack of opportunities so they want less protection for minorities and stronger border.

Of course age splits the two widely. Republicans are much older and whiter than Democrats. Old white Americans lack the opportunity for high education because back in the days a college degree was not needed for a middle class life.

[disneysteve]

So you have both rich and poor Republicans/Democrats

Definitely. What stood out to me with this data was how the balance has shifted over the past decade with the Democratic districts gaining ground and the Republican districts losing ground. Maybe that's partly due to your point about the Republicans tending to be older. As a group, they may be dying out.

Younger people today are much more likely to have post-high school education. As you said, older Americans had less opportunity for college education and it was less needed to find good work. Younger and more educated people tend to be more liberal, so more aligned with Democratic issues. And having more education also tends to translate to better personal economic conditions and higher incomes.

This also impacts the geographic issues because as the young people grow up and go off to college, they tend to leave the rural areas because that isn't where the good jobs are.

I find the whole evolution really interesting and it's easy to see how the gap widens between the better off urban areas and the increasingly struggling rural areas.

[rob62521]

Interesting discussion. I am going to pull out a statement you made, DisneySteve..."younger people are much more likely to have a post-high school education." How very true, because even if they do not get a four year degree, many have attended a community college or school online. Also true is many older folks found good paying jobs without a college education. Sort of reminds of the old car commercials where Buick is trying to appeal to younger folks saying it's not your grandfather's Buick. I think most young people think the Republican party stodgy and old fashioned. Not saying it is right or wrong, just my take on things.

[disneysteve]

Interesting discussion. I am going to pull out a statement you made, DisneySteve..."younger people are much more likely to have a post-high school education." How very true, because even if they do not get a four year degree, many have attended a community college or school online. Also true is many older folks found good paying jobs without a college education. Sort of reminds of the old car commercials where Buick is trying to appeal to younger folks saying it's not your grandfather's Buick. I think most young people think the Republican party stodgy and old fashioned. Not saying it is right or wrong, just my take on things.

Agreed. Years ago, when farming and manufacturing were the big industries, college educations weren't that important. You could finish high school, get a job in the local factory, the same one where your father and grandfather worked, put in your 25 years, and retire with a nice pension. That's not what the world looks like anymore. Most of those factories are long gone as are most pension plans. The factories that still exist are highly automated and filled with technology. The folks running the show now are engineers, programmers, and other skilled workers. Those low end laborer jobs don't exist anymore, or at least there are far fewer of them. Farming is also not nearly what it once was and has seen a lot of automation and new technology.

And the current trade war is further hurting US manufacturing and farming as tariffs make it much more expensive to get raw materials and make it much harder to sell their output to other countries, especially China, often their biggest customer.

[bjl584]

It would appear that income and wealth isn't a very good indicator of one's political beliefs.

[disneysteve]

It would appear that income and wealth isn't a very good indicator of one's political beliefs.

That's certainly true. Always has been probably.