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By: inoljt, http://mypolitikal.com/
It?s pretty clear that Mitt Romney has a Southern problem. The Republican candidate has consistently lost southern states. Indeed, it?s probable that if the South didn?t exist, then Mitt Romney would already have the nomination sown up today.
It?s also pretty probable that Romney will be the Republican nominee for the 2012 presidential election. At this point, it would take an extraordinary event to deny him the nomination. It would need to be something on the lines of Romney saying that he doesn?t care about poor people.
It?s a very interesting exercise to think about how Romney?s weakness amongst southerners in the primary will affect his general election performance in the South.
The Republican Party in the South is composed of two constituencies: business Republicans and evangelical Republicans. Back when the South was solidly Democratic, wealthy white suburbanites (the business Republicans) were the first to start voting Republican. The white evangelicals came late to the party; indeed a dwindling number of them still vote Democratic. Romney is weak amongst the evangelical wing of the Republican Party in the South.
A good way to think about what this weakness means for the general election is to take a look at the 2008 Democratic primary, where Barack Obama was weak amongst several groups as well. Most famously, the president did poorly amongst white working-class voters in the Appalachians. This is a bad example to use, however, because Appalachian working-class whites have been moving against the president?s party for a while now. Southern white evangelicals, if anything, are becoming more loyal to Romney?s party.
There?s another group which Obama did very poorly with in the 2008 primary, and which is better suited to this analysis (see if you can guess what I?m talking about before finishing the next paragraph).
This group opposed Obama from the beginning to the end of the Democratic primary, despite his best efforts. People today forget this fact because group (unlike working-class Appalachians) is a strong Democratic constituency. Nevertheless, Obama?s weakness amongst this group made him lose states ranging California to Texas.
Indeed, if you look at Obama?s performance in the counties bordering Mexico in Texas, you?ll find him doing just as badly amongst Hispanics in Texas as he did amongst working-class whites in West Virginia and Kentucky.
The Hispanic vote in the 2008 Democratic Primary and the southern white evangelical vote in the 2012 Republican Primary have a lot in common. Both constituencies voted strongly against the party?s nominee during the primary, but both constituencies are still very loyal to the party during the general election.
So how did Obama?s poor performance amongst Hispanics in the 2008 primary end up affecting the general election? Well, there wasn?t much effect. Obama didn?t do great amongst Hispanics, but he didn?t do poorly. He did about average. Obama won the same percentage of the Hispanic vote that a generic Democrat winning a comfortable victory would win. He did underperform somewhat in several rural Hispanic areas.
By the same logic, Romney?s poor performance amongst southern white evangelicals in the 2012 primary won?t have much effect. Romney won?t do great amongst southern white evangelicals, but he won?t do poorly. He?ll do about average. Romney will win the same percentage of the southern white evangelical vote that a generic Republican will win. He will underperform somewhat in several rural southern areas.
There is one caveat to this analysis. Hispanic opposition to Obama was generally based on Hillary Clinton?s popularity and economic reasons. On the other hand, southern white evangelical opposition to Romney is based on personal dislike for Romney and religion. One could make a pretty strong argument that the latter two are more powerful forces than the former two.
But, all in all, Democrats shouldn?t get too excited about Romney?s Southern problem.
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