Re: Nick Cohen on Thomas Frank

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

At 5:07 PM -0400 9/14/04, Doug Henwood wrote:
> Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
> > > Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
> > >
> > > > EXIT POLLS FOR KANSAS |  RESULTS how to read exit polls
> > > > NATIONAL > Results as of 8:15 p.m. EST |
> > > >
> > > > Income            All   Gore   Bush
> > > > Under $15,000     6 %   77 %   23 %
> > > > $15-30,000        20 %  40 %   60 %
> > > > $30-50,000        33 %  31 %   69 %
> > > > $50-75,000        24 %  34 %   66 %
> > > > $75-100,000       8 %   19 %   81 %
> > > > Over $100,000     9 %   17 %   83 %
> > >
> > > Compare the national results:
> > >
> > >                  Gore    Bush
> > > <15,000           57%    37%
> > > 15,000-30,000     54%    41%
> > > 30,000-50,000     49%    48%
> > > 50,000-75,000     46%    51%
> > > 75,000-100,000    45%    52%
> > > 100,000+          43%    54%
> > >
> > > Kansas is way more Rep in every category but the bottom.
> > >
> > > Doug
> >
> > The point of an income-divided analysis for left-wing organizers,
> > though, is not to see if a given state is more to the left or right
> > of the national average but to identify the main targets for
> > organizing in the state and work the hardest to enlist their active
> > participation in political projects for which they are organizing.
> > In the case of leftists working in Kansas, the target should be
> > unquestionably the poorest.
>
> Which is 6% of the population in Kansas - not very promising for a
> mass movement. If you don't get the 15-75k demo, forget about it.

Remember, the above polls are exit polls -- so 6% means 6% of those
who actually voted.  In 1999, households making less than $15,000
were 15% of the population in Kansas ("Kansas Demographic Profile,"
<http://webs.wichita.edu/depttools/depttoolsmemberfiles/cedbr/Trends.pdf>).
The bottom 15% makes a damn good primary target for any left-wing
organizing project.

At 5:07 PM -0400 9/14/04, Doug Henwood wrote:
> And the point isn't necessarily which group to target - the initial
> point was to test Tom Frank's hypothesis about whether Kansas was
> "too" right wing for its economic status. And it sure looks that way
> from the comparison to the national numbers.

There's no question that Kansas is too right-wing for its economic
status.  Left-wing organizers in Kansas have their work cut out for
them.
--
Yoshie

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