2 Nations

Sully: In Front Of Our Noses

A now familiar but still remarkable fact about 21st Century America:

Obama's favorability-unfavorability rating in the South is 28-67, while it is 68-23 in the rest of the country.

America is not just two countries right now; it sometimes feels like two universes.

 The poll at Daily Kos Weekly State of the Nation Poll  is simply fascinating.  Compare the South on every category.


Yglesias: Daily Kos Weekly State of the Nation Poll 

A nice map from dreaminonempty at Open Left illustrates the vote share won among white men in the 2008 presidential election:

The take home message: expanding voting rights – a progressive position – resulted in the ability to elect more liberal politicians.

I would say that another message is that progressive politics is badly disadvantaged by a situation in which the overwhelming majorities of political leaders and prominent media figures are white men. There are plenty of white men with progressive views, but in general the majority of white men are not progressive and the majority of progressives are not white men. Drawing from the relatively small pool of white male progressives means drawing from a shallow talent pool.