>Doug Henwood wrote:
>
>> Let me put in a special word for my interview with Larry Bartels
>> <http://www.princeton.edu/~bartels/kansas.pdf>. In that dry, academic
>> poli sci way, he argues convincingly that cultural issues are not
>> pushing the white working class to the right, and that people are
>> more likely to hold both liberal (or conservative) economic and
>> social points of view. Really worth a listen.
>
>But, as I understand it, the argument is not whether people can or
>cannot hold both "liberal economic" and "social conservative" views.
>I'm sure they can hold of sorts of combinations and permutations.
>Rather, the question is which of their views matter most to people at
>the voting booth. If white workers hold "liberal economic" views but
>end up voting for Bush, then their economic "liberalism" is of little
>or no consequence.
Well yeah, but Bartels addresses that issue: economic views have more influence than cultural views. And the issue matters less if most people hold compatible views on economic & cultural issues, which he also shows.
Doug