[lbo-talk] Caucus Class Demographics

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Fri Jan 23 06:33:08 PST 2004


Iowa Democratic caucus-goers are probably richer and have decidedly more formal schooling than the population of Iowa in general: "Forty-five percent had no college degree, while 55 percent had graduated from college. Fifty-three percent said their family income was under $50,000, and 47 percent earned more than that" ("Caucus-goers Say Kerry's Experience Adds Up," <http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/19/elec04.prez.iowa.polls/>).

In contrast, the proportion of those who have an associate degree is 7.4%; a bachelor's degree, 14.7%; a graduate or professional degree, 6.5% ("Educational Attainment for Iowa's Metropolitan Areas: 2000," <http://www.silo.lib.ia.us/specialized-services/datacenter/data-tables/MetroArea/maeducation2000.pdf>) in the census of the Iowa population (25 years or older). Even counting those who have an associate degree as having "graduated from college," only 28.6% have graduated from college (merely 21.2% have a "bachelor's degree or higher").

Moreover, "Almost two-thirds of those at the caucuses said they were strong Democrats,15 percent were not-so-strong Democrats and 19 percent were independents. And 1 percent of those attending the Democratic caucuses described themselves as Republicans. That is possible because anyone is allowed to vote at the caucuses so long as they register as a Democrat" ("Caucus-goers Say Kerry's Experience Adds Up," <http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/19/elec04.prez.iowa.polls/>).

Anyway you look at it, it doesn't make sense to support a political party that allows non-party-members -- even Republicans! -- to choose its presidential candidate.

American workers -- especially those who are poorer and have less formal schooling than Iowa Democratic caucus-goers -- need a political party that represents their interest first and foremost, a party that really functions in a true partisan fashion, excluding non-party members from decision-making and constantly involving all party members in decision-making between elections. -- Yoshie

* Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>



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