The "TV-Demographic" Likes McCain

According to this:

McCain leads Obama by 55 percent to 37 percent among whites. That includes comfortable leads of 24 points with suburban whites and 26 points with whites who haven't finished college, and has similar advantages with white men and whites who are married.

He also leads by 23 points among rural voters and by 13 points with voters age 65 and over.

Obama leads 61 percent to 35 percent among voters under age 30. He has about a 5-to-1 edge with minorities and a narrow 5-point lead with women, though he trails among white women 53 percent to 40 percent.

26 points with whites who haven't finished college and 13 points with old people. I wish I had all the statistical breakdowns, because I'm willing to bet this is the exact same demographic that takes the US news media seriously. Old people probably take the US media seriously out of habit. They haven't had much choice in news sources over the past 40 years. I don't think the baby-boomers often consume news that isn't from the big three networks, and I certainly don't think they organize their social lives on the internet.

So, what about the young, uneducated and white group? My theory is that they're just angry and stupid. I don't blame them for being angry at the likes of policies like affirmative action or social welfare programs. However, I do fault them for not putting Republican corporate welfare in check. In my eyes, throwing 40% of my income on the homeless, minority-member crack-head down the street is far more noble than throwing 40% of my income on corporate interests that result in the misery and suffering of millions of more people. (Note, though, that as a Libertarian I'd rather keep the 40%. I believe I can invest in business, create jobs, and revitalize communities with my own intelligent and directed spending.)

If the uneducated-white-young demanded some sort of accountability from their politicians, the world would be a different place. The lack of a college education is probably correlated with an inability to detect insincerity with regards to right-wing rhetoric. Personally, I don't think I'll ever see the people in the uneducated-white-young demographic asking for accountability until disaster hits -- and not a politically convenient disaster like 9/11.

I've heard all the arguments about how people who didn't do well in college can still be smart. Mathematically, I just don't buy the argument. As a statistician, I know better than to bet on the tails when the pot-odds are abysmal -- particularly when I'm conditioning my probability on the uneducated. I actually think America would benefit if more shame and disgrace were directed to the uneducated demographic. In the US, the stupid are coddled and are used as excuses to clamor for more government spending. It would be nice if the vicious cycle of spend-on-stupid -> need more money- > tax more -> see-the-stupid-fall-farther -> spend-on- the-stupid would just end.

The lunacy of the uneducated has gone past affecting their own lives and has given the worst brand of politicians power they were never meant to have -- even the powers forbidden to them by the social contract of the land.

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