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Economic Conditions Proved to be the Driving Force in the 2010 Elections

In evaluating the 2010 ABC News Exit Polls on the elections, the economy was certainly the prevailing factor behind the Republican mandate that occurred in the House of Representatives. The Democratic Party controlled both houses in Congress over the past two years, although now with the Republicans vigorously winning the house (239 seats in total) major agenda changes are likely to occur.  However with the Democrats maintaining their leadership in the Senate (51 Democrats/2 Independents), it will be interesting to see what type of compromise governing can actually occur within the two Houses.

The shift in power was clearly illustrated by the American public and how they chose to vote on Election Day, November 2, 2010. Many Americans, given the current economic status of the country today overwhelmingly voted Republicans into power. The average struggling American vote reflected how dissatisfied they are with current government policies.  The Republican Party’s campaign solution to the public’s concerns is to promote new options, such as restoring Americans values, smaller government and lower taxes.

The overall voter results based on these exit polls were broken into several categories: demographics, political concerns, economic issues, government satisfaction, healthcare, immigration and the America’s future. In analyzing the election results data, it became apparent that the core values of the individual voter were closely aligned with their perspective party’s candidate (Democrat or Republican).

Demographics
Gender
In regards to voter habits by gender, males tend to skew Republican (56%), while female voters remained flat between the two parties (Democrat 48%/Republican 49%) for the first time. Men with and without children tended to vote Republican (58%/53% respectively), while women with or without children (voted the opposite way), actually favored the Democratic candidate (52%/50% respectively).
Race
Although the voting patterns significantly differed by race, White respondents leaned Republican (60%), Black (90%), Hispanic (64%) and Asians (56%) voters clearly favored the Democratic candidate. This demographic profile has aligned itself as it has in past elections.
Age Demos
The younger demo 18-29 (57%) typically voted for a Democrat, someone who represents new and refreshing ideas, while the 30-44 (50%) and 45-64 (53%) target skewed slightly more Republican. The average older American 65+ (59%) who is seeking more traditional values clearly voted Republican.
Household Income
Lower income families ($50,000) skewed more Democratic (53%), perhaps seeking more government sponsored programs in contrast to higher family income households ($50,000) who favored the Republican candidate (55%), perhaps less government intervention.

Political Concerns/First Time Voters
Political Concerns
On issues concerning liberal political concerns the concentration of the vote was Democratic (90%), whereas the Republican candidate was supported for the most part by the Conservative voter (84%).
First Time Voters
First time voters tended to lean more towards the Democratic candidates (49%) with a marginally higher percentage of existing voters being Republicans (52%).Overall, Democratic voters tend to be younger than Republican voters.

Sexual Orientation
Democrats received 68% of the gay vote, whereas 53% non-gays voted in favor of the Republican candidate.  In regards to their core values Gays generally tend to be more liberal, more in sync with the Democratic platforms.

Economic Issues
Lost of Job in Past Two Years
If someone in your household was laid off in the last two years, they marginally favored the Democratic candidate (50%), whereas they tended to skew Republican (53%) if that individual held onto their job.
The Condition of the Nation’s Economy
The respondents who answered “good” or “not so good” to the condition of the nation’s economy tended to vote in favor of the Democratic candidate (79%/ 52% respectively), while the voter (71%) who believed the condition of the economy was poor favored the Republican candidate. This past election certainly reflected the choice of many voters who simply preferred the Republican candidates, based on the current economic status of the country today.
The Economy Stimulus Package
85% of voters who chose the Democratic candidate believed the stimulus package helped the economy, while 86% of the voters who selected a Republican candidate believed the stimulus package hurt the economy.
Who is Most to Blame for the Current Economic Problems?
Democratic voters (85%) tended to blame George Bush on the state of the economy, whereas the voters (91%) who leaned Republican generally blamed Barack Obama.  These powerful statistics strongly indicated party alliance among their voters. 

Government Satisfaction
•    Regarding President Barack Obama
85% of Democratic voters strongly approve of the way Barack Obama is handling his job as President, while 86% of Republican voters disapprove fervently.  Democratic voters (87%) think Barack’s Obama’s policies will help the country, in sharp contrast to Republican supporters (89%) who think his policies have hurt the country.

•    Your Feelings About the Way Government is Working
90% of Democratic voters are enthusiastic, 82% are satisfied, but not enthusiastic and 42% are dissatisfied, but not angry, whereas 84% of Republican voters are angry.  Majority of Democratic voters (78%) believe government should do more to solve problems, whereas a comparable percent of Republican voters (77%) view the government as doing too many things and the country would be better left to businesses and individuals. 83% of Democratic voters feel positively about the workings of the Federal Government, however the sentiment tends to run negatively among the Republican voters (65%).

Healthcare Law
84% of Democratic voters believe that Congress should expand the new health law, while the Republican supporters (87%) would like the law to be totally repealed. Again, this viewpoint among the American public resembled the Congressional vote on the health bill, where most of the support for it was received by the Democratic Party, whereas the majority of the opposition came from their Republican counterparts.

Illegal Immigration
Democratic voters (26%) weren’t nearly s concerned about illegal immigration as their Republican counterparts (69%).  Again the illegal immigration concern is of much more relevance to Republican voters who tend to be more conservative in their voting patterns.

Expectations for American’s Future
59% of Democratic voters expect life for the next generation of Americans to be better than life today with just 40% of Republican voters feeling that way. Democratic voters (32%) expect life to be worse in the future, whereas double the amount of Republican voters share that sentiment.

In Summary
As stated earlier, the voters came to the election polls on November 2, 2010 and voted their political convictions. In evaluating the various segments that comprised this year’s midterm elections, voters tended to remain loyal to their party candidates (whether they were Republican or Democrat). It was evident that the majority of voters remained comfortable with their own party’s core values, as illustrated through these various profile segments. 

Demographically, in terms of voting patterns, Whites leaned Republican (60%) and Black (90%), Hispanic (64%) and Asian (56%) favored the Democratic candidates. Voting for a Democrat candidate was stronger among the younger demos 18-29 (57%) and clearly the older American voter favored the Republican (59%) candidate. Less affluent households ($50,000) marginally favored the Democratic candidate (53%) with the more upscale households ($50,000+) leaning Republican (55%). Politically liberal voters (90%) aligned themselves with Democratic candidates and more Conservative voters (84%) supported the Republican candidates. 

On the economic front the Democratic voter (85%), believed the stimulus package benefited the economy, whereas the Republican voters’ (86%) sentiment was completely the opposite. In the case where a voter or someone in their household was laid off from their job in the past two years, they tended to favor the Republican candidate (53%).  Typically, the Democratic voter (85%) blamed George Bush and conversely the Republican voter blamed Barack Obama for the negative economy. Overall, in terms of government satisfaction, the typical Democratic voter (85%) has stood behind President Obama’s performance, while the Republican supporters (86%) completely disapprove. The same holds true for overall government satisfaction with 90% of the Democratic voters being enthusiastic, whereas 84% of the Republican voters are angry.

When it comes to healthcare reform, 84% of Democratic voters would like to expand the health care law and the Republican voters (87%) greatest victory would be to repeal the new law.  Republican voters (69%) are much more concerned about illegal immigration in contrast to 26% of Democratic voters.  The American dream still very much exists in the hearts of Democrats (59%), whereas 65% of Republicans are most concerned about the future of American. 

Clearly, the Democratic voter for the most part is happy with government intervention and the Republican voter would like to see this country return to the “old status quo”, what they perceive as a safer and more independent nation. These two ideologies are very different, hopefully a compromise can reached for the benefit of the American people.