Challenge: describe a bellwether voter born 100 years ago

[Goldwater]

Similar to the other thread, but instead of describing a voter who has voted for the same party since 1936, I want to describe a voter who has voted for the winner of every Presidential election since 1936.

[H. Ross Peron]

A variant of a Reagan Democrat is most likely. Working-class "ethnic" white male born in Cleveland, Ohio who supported the party of the New Deal and FDR in his youth. Served in the military, which caused him to switch to Eisenhower in '52 and '56 and probably moved out to the suburbs. Still voted for Democratic candidates like JFK and LBJ. However switched to Nixon over "law and order" issues and appeals to the silent majority in 1968, reinforced in 1972 due to seeing McGovern as far too leftist. Returned to the Democrats in 1976 due to the disillusionment over Watergate and seeing Carter as a moderate. However the economic troubles and the Iran hostage crisis caused him to switch once again to Reagan whose jaunty optimism reminded him of FDR's as well as his perceived hawkishness. This was exacerbated by the voter's social conservatism which became more pronounced as the Culture Wars began to draw out. Still he voted for Clinton both times out of perceived competence and moderation although switched back to Bush in 2000 over social issues and in 2004 due to the War on Terror. However the latest economic crisis brought the voter back to the opinion that the Democratic Party was the one which had consistently stood for working-class and middle-class interests as seen by Republican Party focus on entitlement cuts and austerity policies.

[bobloblaw]

A Missourian born in 1915

[DS0816]

Re: Challenge: describe a bellwether voter born 100 years ago

It's a person who doesn't have a political ideology and likes to vote along whatever he figures to be the consensus. (And being an age doesn't matter when handling one's vote in that manner.)

[Indy Texas]

I'll say someone who lives in Louisville, Kentucky, is white, and comes from an ancestrally Unionist family that was either supportive or agnostic on civil rights.

1936, 1940, 1944 -- votes for FDR, having seen the economic devastation of the Depression in their community and the subsequent impact of the New Deal
1948 -- was undecided until late and ultimately picked Truman because Dewey seemed so inauthentic and lacking vision
1952, 1956 -- admired Eisenhower's war record; satisfied with his first term and saw no reason to vote against him
1960 -- saw Kennedy as more charismatic; knew enough Catholics not to be uneasy with his Catholic faith
1964 -- thought Goldwater was too conservative; also supported the various civil rights laws of the 1950s and 1960s, though was leery of more intervention in state and local matters
1968 -- saw Humphrey as a corrupt insider who was too liberal; offended by Wallace's race-baiting; Nixon seemed like the stable, sensible choice
1972 -- McGovern was too far out there; liked Nixon's aggressive foreign policy and the economic benefits of a loose monetary policy
1976 -- completely turned off to Republicans in the short-term; saw Carter as an honest, reform-minded outsider; thought Ford was wrong to pardon Nixon
1980 -- upset with inflation, Iran, oil prices and a perceived Soviet ascendancy; viewed Reagan as the best man to fix these things
1984 -- feels better off than four years ago; sees Mondale as too stuck in the past
1988 -- not particularly enamored with Bush, but sees Dukakis as ineffectual and was unsettled by his "soft on crime" stances; figures Bush will be the closest thing to a third term for Reagan
1992 -- upset with the recession and worries NAFTA will hurt American workers; liked some of Perot's platform but figured he had no real chance of winning; Clinton seemed to care more about ordinary people
1996 -- happy with the way things are going; votes for Clinton
2000 -- doesn't see much difference between the candidates but likes Bush's persona better
2004 -- doesn't want a new president in wartime; feels Kerry is too liberal
2008 -- fed up with the Republican Party; votes for Obama
2012 -- not particularly happy with the way things are going, but thinks Romney is completely out of touch and worries about the impact budget cutting could have on Kentucky; reluctantly votes for Obama