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(s)Elections See other (s)Elections Articles Title: Why the Wealthy Voted for Obama ( middle class voted for McCain) Among the demographic groups that helped Sen. Barack Obama cross the finish line last night were the affluent and wealthythe very voters who could become the target of tax increases promised during Sen. Obamas campaign. Exit polls show Sen. Obama did best among two main wealth bracketsthe bottom and the top. (The middle was split about evenly). According to the polls, Sen. Obama won 60% of the votes of those with family income of less than $50,000. He also won 52% of the votes of those earning $200,000 or more. That compares with Sen. John McCains 46% showing for the same group. Sen. Obamas showing among the affluent is about 15% better than Sen. Kerrys did with wealthy voters four years ago. (Sen. McCain won among voters in 3 of the 4 middle categories of incomeor those earning $50,000 to $200,000). That Sen. Obama did well among the well-heeled and well-educated is no surprise. Claims that Sen. Obama is an elitist popular with the elite have long been part of the GOP playbook. But given Sen. Obamas proposalswhich are still just proposalsto raise tax rates on those earning $250,000 or more, it is striking that the affluent came out so strongly in Sen. Obamas favor. An earlier wealth survey by the Harrison Group showed that voters with incomes of $250,000 or more were leaning strongly toward Sen. McCain, 48% to Sen. Obamas 29%. So what gives? There are several explanations. First, the wealthy, like many voters, may have placed a higher emphasis on the state of the nation than the state of their wallets. Even though their taxes may be going up, their greater priority may be Sen. Obamas promises to fix the economy, education, health care, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and overseas relations. Another possibility is that the wealthy dont believe Sen. Obama will go through with his tax increaseat least not right away. With the economy sliding fast into recession, some affluent voters may be betting that any tax increases will be delayed or watered downand Sen. Obama did signal this possibility on the campaign trail. It is harder to vote against an increase in the capital-gains tax if you dont expect any capital gains for the next year. Finally (and perhaps least likely), the wealthy may be responding to Sen. Joe Bidens argument that paying higher taxes is patriotic. Like Warren Buffett, some of the wealthy may feel it is time to raise their own taxes for the betterment of the country. There may be some votersmore likely those in Upper Richistan rather than those in the $200,000-plus groupwho think a shared sacrifice among the rich is necessary to get the American wealth-creation machine moving again. (Among the Upper Richistanis supporting Sen. Obama, tax policies ranked last in one earlier survey, with only 16% citing them as important. Social issues ranked first, with policies dealing with wars ranking second, at 67%, and Supreme Court nominations and health-care issues ranking next.) Until the exit polls from Upper Richistan come in, however, we wont know for sure.
Poster Comment: Exit polls matched votes. It's interesting that Obama's supporters represented 2 extremes in social economic classes. The limousine liberals used the more populous lower class to be their foot soldiers in "change." As I predicted before the middle class will get screwed under the Dems' reign of taxation terror. And what about the word "sacrifice" being used again in Obama's acceptance speech? Me thinks it was more than a reference to taxes.
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