Updated: 12 November 2012 | 6:25 am in conversations
Are your presidential preferences shifting?
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After more than a century of being reliably Republican red, Iowa is emerging as a true blue Democratic state in presidential elections.
Between the Civil War and the late 1980s, Iowans supported Republican presidential candidate in all but five elections. However, in six of the last seven races, Iowans voted for the Democratic presidential nominee.
This year, Iowa voters favored Democratic President Barack Obama over his GOP challenger Mitt Romney by a 52 to 46 percent split. Since Ronald Reagan carried Iowa in 1984, only George W. Bush in 2004 broke the Democratic lock on Iowa presidential politics.
What about your preferences? Have they shifted over time? Do you tend to vote Democrat or Republican in presidential elections?
Rules of Engagement
Are your presidential preferences shifting?
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It’s not that my preferences (my politics) have shifted significantly but rather that the Republican party, and the candidates they have to offer, have shifted such that I (or anyone in my family) can no longer give them consideration in the poll booth. I suspect that’s true of a number of Iowans.
I have been a registered Democrat my entire life but I voted for Reagan twice. I did so because I truly try to vote for the man – not the party. However, since Reagon, the Republicans have consistently put up sub-par candidates. Romney was the worst.
In my home state of Illinois, Senator Everette Dirkson was instrumental in getting Civil Rights legislation passed. He not only helped pass the Civil Rights Voting Act of 1964 and the Open Housing Act of 1968, he helped write them.
Who in the Republican Party today would do that? The answer? Nobody.
No decent Republican of fifty years ago would ever identify with the Republican Party of today.
Which is to say that Iowans haven’t changed in their basic values and outlook. The Republican Party has.
I grew up in Michigan during the time that George Romney (Mitt’s father) served as governor. He was a strong supporter of the civil rights movement and had a true compassion for the disadvantaged. He also introduced Michigan’s first income tax. He was a man of integrity that I would gladly vote for. It’s sad that his son did not inherent these traits.
A person should be voting for the policies and not for a party or a candidate. we can see how voting for a candidate works as we watched Mr. Shay voted against his own constituency and for a corporation. Hopefully in this electronic age the people can get to vote directly on issues.
I voted Republican all my life until this last election. The Republican party has gone so far to the right I left them behind. Unless things change dramatically I will vote democrat.