@lucillelucillelucille My original answer to your question still stands Yes. When people talk about being disgusted that Americans don’t exercise their right to vote, I always respond that some of the reason is because most Americans are comfortable; no shows to the voting booth are a sign to me that overall our country is doing things right.
I think the history does not matter much for the upcoming election, what matters is what are politicans promising today, where do they stand today. And, yes, I think generalizing is what people do a lot of the time. But, I have specific examples, like Mitt Romney who was pro-choice in Mass, and could win in a generally blue state, and then he gets on teh national scene and becomes pro-life. He basically provided for universal health care in teh state of Mass, but then tried to play into the right wing even on that issue. I am sure we could name Democrats who have dome similar thinks to play to some group, nothing comes to my mind, but I don’t doubt it.
President Clinton is a Democrat who I very much agree with on many and most issues, he is a southerner, so he would be outside of my generalization. I am willing to not make an assumption about a politician, but to listen to him and see where he comes from, but as a voting block generalizations make sense. That is what marketers and sociologists do, evaluate groups and make statistical generalizations. People in the business of politics evaluate what the Hispanics, Blacks, Catholics, Jews, etc, will do in a election. I guess some people get offended when they are part of a group and do not fit a generalization, they don’t want to be lumped, in, I am NOT doing that. I am not saying all people within a group behave the same.
I think economic issues are big factor this time. Politicans around me seem to talk a lot about reducing spending, but not giving many details on how they are going to do it. Also, creating jobs, and that they will not vote for increasing taxes. I think those are the big issues. Around me they also talk about how they are family men and men of faith. All of those things seem to be what is important to people in my neck of the woods. I think this election is about local issues, so each state is a little different. Some states are going to really push the illegal alien card, my state is doing a little of that. I had someone call me to vote for a particular candidate running for county mayor, and when I asked what are his goals once in office, she said spend our tax money better. When I asked her on what, she didn’t know. My point with that story is many people vote for the person who has the right buzz words, and the voter may know nothing about the real content of any promise or issue.