Polls make it clear that President Barack Obama is having a very tough time connecting with struggling working class whites, as he also experienced in 2008 against Senator John McCain.
With the economy still in trouble, although the situation is far better than when Obama became President, the question that arises is why this classification of voters is so anti Obama.
How can these people, who were victimized by the economic policies of the George W. Bush administration, and now see that Mitt Romney wants to go back to the policy of no regulation at all, plus more tax cuts for the wealthy, and who himself is from the “one percent”, wish to vote Republican?
How can they ignore that Barack Obama, while certainly not solving the economic problems in four years since the inception of the Great Recession, has made a lot of progress, and has presided over 4.2 million jobs created over the past 26 months?
Sadly, two factors play a major role:
Pure ignorance, lack of knowledge of what has been happening, and lack of understanding that Mitt Romney, no more than John McCain, or ANYONE, is going to have magical powers to create a quick revival of the economy. It is highly doubtful that the economy would have improved more now if John McCain had been President.
The element of racism, which rears its ugly head too often on conservative talk radio, Fox News Channel, and numerous blogs, including the idea that Obama was born in Kenya, is anti white in his policies, is a Marxist, or a Socialist, or a Communist, or a Nazi or whatever new appellation they can come up with. Demagoguery and the promotion of hate has a great role in promoting this mythology about Barack Obama, and it is very hard to overcome. If a white had been President, this element would not exist, without any doubt, no matter how much conservatives and Republicans will deny it!
It would be extremely ironic if Mitt Romney won, the economy assuredly would NOT get better quickly, and we would go into a new era of right wing conservatism, nastier and more mean spirited than under Bush, and prefaced by the “Bully Governors” in the states who are making life miserable for millions of Americans, while corporations continue their destructive policies, and the top one percent get richer at the expense of these very people, struggling working class whites, as well as people of minority status, who are even worse off!
And what would the GOP say in 2016, after four years of worsening conditions, than they are in 2012? Blame African Americans and Hispanics and Latinos for the plight of the struggling working class whites, continuing the mythology that keeps their support from this group which is being exploited, and does not realize it!
The true champion of the struggling working class whites is Barack Obama, but they do not realize it, tragic as that is!