Hallelujuh

by digby

Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, we’re free at last. Reagan Democrats in Macomb country voted for a black man(pdf) and Stan Greenberg can finally move on:

# On Election Day Obama carried Macomb by 8 points, 53 percent to 45 percent. This improvement was driven almost entirely by his consolidation of the Democratic base. Obama merely split independents in Macomb, but after earning just 71 percent of the Democratic vote in July, he won 95 percent on Election Day, the same percentage McCain won among his much smaller Republican base.

# Taking a deeper look at the data reveals that Obama’s large personal gains were largely made possible because he accomplished the three main tasks we identified in our July report: 1) reassuring that he would be a president for all Americans, 2) crossing a threshold on security and 3) connecting to voters’ economic anger.

# As in Macomb, Obama was successful in consolidating Democrats in Oakland (winning 93 percent), but he was able to improve on his margin in Macomb by besting McCain among the county’s independent voters by 12 points, 55 percent to 43 percent.

# Oakland voters rated Obama highly on almost every attribute we tested, giving the Democratic nominee very similar ratings to those received in Macomb on Election Day. On the most important attributes; including “shares your values,” “on your side,” “will keep America strong” and “has what it takes to be president;” Obama scored at or near the 60 percent level and he received even higher marks on being seen as patriotic and being able to unite the country

Ever since Greenberg isolated some racist “Reagan Democrats” in Macomb county he’s been obsessed with getting them back and in the process forcing the Democratic party to also obsess over this cohort. Now that they’ve “come home” — to a black president no less — maybe the party can finally let go of the Reagan defeat.

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