shag carpet bomb wrote:
>
>
> I'd say he meant something like, "barometer for anything radical." Or,
> "barometer for anyting of significance to a left politics in the u.s."
>
> But, since you say it must mean something, and I don't necessarily
> disagree, what does voting for Dems mean? What is it a barometer of?
>
Lacking any actual research on why people vote for a Party, I would say that the CORE of a Party's vote is a reflection of how the parents or grandparents voted. Another substantial body of voters are simply voting against the last bad thing that happened to them (regardless of whether it was connected to the party in pwer or evn to human action. Six moths of bad weather and quite afew people will vote against the party in power.
In Daley Town one votes DP by reflex. Machine politics rule. Hardly a sign of cosmopolitanism
So I'm serious, pending any detailed research covering a goodly period of time, voting is a good predictor of voting, and nothing else.
Carrol