The battle of the suburbs

[All Along The Watchtower]

As has been often noted, white-collar suburbia, once perhaps the epicenter of Republican Party dominance in the United States, has moved away from the Republicans as the Democrats have become more right-wing, the Republicans have become more rigidly ideological and, frankly, extremist,, and the maturing suburbs, once bastions of white flight for anxious middle-class families and individuals who valued privacy above all else, have in many cases, become more urbanized and diverse in demographic makeup.

However, Mitt Romney is (in theory, at least) the kind of Republican who could make serious inroads in Obama's suburban electoral support.

So, what does it look like? Is the Republican Party too toxic and extreme nowadays for suburbia? Or will Obama's purported weakness on the economy be the opening that Romney needs?

[sg0508]

The GOP lost the burbs starting in the early 90s.  The last time the burbs went seriously for the GOP was in '88 and that was why the GOP used to do well in states like: NJ, CT, DE, IL, PA, NH, MI, WA, OR and even CA. 

You see why the party can't compete in any of these any longer? There's why.  White, suburban voters care about:

1) Taxes
2) The budget
3) Crime
4) Jobs
5) Education

When the GOP started making fringe/social issues the cornerstone of the party platform, it was over.  This year, in Long Island for example (that used to be solidly republican), Mitt Romney doesn't appear to be impressing anyone and while NY of course will go blue, McCain will have outperformed Romney in Nov.

Elsewhere, I don't get the sense that the suburbanites are that impressed by Mitt and that he reflects the middle class vote.