The Whistle of a Distant Train

Since the Democratic primary season has drawn to a close, its interesting to note some of the demographics in the voting patterns that emerged for each candidate. Hillary Clinton found support among older voters and less educated whites while the Obama message resonated overwhelmingly with the young, those with higher degrees of formal education and voters with higher incomes. Perhaps nowhere was this divide as evident as it was in Kentucky, where Obama won just two counties, one which non-coincidentally contained the University of Kentucky and  the other Louisville, home of the University of Louisville and one of the only significant concentrations of minority voters in the entire state. 

The scene was replayed in Indiana later where Clinton eeked out narrow win (perhaps with the aid of Operation Chaos?) in mostly rural Indiana counties. Obama won the large population centers like Indianapolis, but also in areas that contained large universities such as Indiana University and Purdue University, that were islands of Obama support in a sea of Hillary voters. Not that this is surprising, universities have always been considered liberally minded. But then again it is very difficult to adequately fulfill the missions of learning and innovation in a prohibitively conservative vaccum.

As Dr. Steven Greene points out in a recent blog, Obama doesn't have a problem with white voters, just white Appalachian voters (whom incidentally hail from some areas with the lowest rates of formal education in the entire country). Obama easily won the almost exclusively white states of Oregon and Iowa, and almost all of the remaining Upper Midwest by large margins (for example he won Kansas with 74% percent of the vote). Indeed it is more an issue of culture than race. Perhaps we are moving into less racial era in American politics, but there's certainly more work that remains to be done.

I am happy to see that we have arrived in a day where it seems that Americans, particularly our young, are refusing to be afraid of the racial boogeyman that has been perpetuated by the older generations and our nation's collective historical baggage.Certainly our political cultures and socialization have a major effect on this phenomenon. It is certain that there will always be some degree of conflict between the new ideas of young and the old. But perhaps despite all their faults, it seems that the kids are alright.