How Trump Flipped Michigan

2020 ◽  
pp. 101-126
Author(s):  
Sally Marsh
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Barack Obama ◽  
Organizational Capabilities ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Identity Based

Twelve Michigan counties that voted for Barack Obama in both 2008 and 2012 flipped to assure Donald Trump’s surprising 2016 victory in this supposed “blue wall” state. To understand how this happened, this chapter tracks the tactics and organizational capabilities of the statewide Trump and Clinton campaigns and looks closely at rural Manistee County, where a pronounced swing from Obama to Trump coincided with increased voter turnout. As the research reveals, the Trump campaign inspired new grassroots enthusiasm and tapped into preexisting conservative networks, including those built by Americans for Prosperity-Michigan and the Tea Party. While local Democrats exhibited tepid support for Clinton, strong anti-establishment and identity-based sentiments fueled support for Trump.

scholarly journals Young Voters after the 2008 Election: A Disappearing Act?

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priscilla Southwell
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Barack Obama ◽  
National Election ◽  
Young Voters ◽  
2016 Election ◽  
2008 Election ◽  
Election Studies

<p>This study examines the decline in voter turnout among young voters between the 2008 and 2012 elections. Our findings suggest that those young voters who dropped out of the electorate in 2012 were more likely to express feelings of alienation, as measured by the American National Election Studies indices of trust and efficacy. Such “dropout” voters were also more likely to have voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 election. These findings are crucial, as the level of alienation in the 2016 election appears to be even higher, and may influence the outcome of the election.</p>

Change They Can't Believe In

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher S. Parker ◽  
Matt A. Barreto
Keyword(s):  
Government Spending ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Barack Obama ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
2016 Election ◽  
Government Shutdown

Are Tea Party supporters merely a group of conservative citizens concerned about government spending? Or are they racists who refuse to accept Barack Obama as their president because he's not white? This book offers an alternative argument—that the Tea Party is driven by the reemergence of a reactionary movement in American politics that is fueled by a fear that America has changed for the worse. Providing a range of original evidence and rich portraits of party sympathizers as well as activists, the book shows that the perception that America is in danger directly informs how Tea Party supporters think and act. The afterword reflects on the Tea Party's recent initiatives, including the 2013 government shutdown, and evaluates their prospects for the 2016 election.

The Tea Party and Obamaphobia: Is the Hostility Real or Imagined?

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher S. Parker ◽  
Matt A. Barreto
Keyword(s):  
Government Spending ◽  
Barack Obama ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Positive Orientation ◽  
White House ◽  
American Citizenship ◽  
Tangible Evidence

This chapter considers the extent to which a positive orientation toward the Tea Party influences attitudes and opinions about the president beyond ideology, partisanship, general out-group hostility, and racism. It argues that Barack Obama's ascendance to the White House, and his subsequent presidency, triggered anxiety, fear, and anger among those who support the Tea Party because of what he represented: tangible evidence that “their” America is rapidly becoming unrecognizable. Even as Tea Party supporters railed against government spending, it seemed that their underlying frustration was with Barack Obama himself. This so called Obamaphobia appears to transcend simple policy disagreement, with many Tea Party supporters openly questioning the president's patriotism and his American citizenship on several occasions.

Who Likes Tea? Sources of Support for the Tea Party

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher S. Parker ◽  
Matt A. Barreto
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Barack Obama ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Middle Aged ◽  
Sources Of Support

This chapter tests the claim that Barack Obama, and what he is perceived to represent, plays a key role in why people support the Tea Party. The change represented by the election of Barack Obama increases the attractiveness of the Tea Party to the mainly white, middle-aged, middle-class, relatively well-educated, largely male slice of America who believe he is committed to the destruction of “their” country. Tea Party supporters tend to be relatively financially secure, white, mostly male, and Protestant—many of whom are evangelicals. In the end, sympathy for the Tea Party is generally motivated by conservative principles as well as out-group hostility. Critics, however, claim that the Tea Party is driven by intolerance.

The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Williamson ◽  
Theda Skocpol ◽  
John Coggin
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Business Elites ◽  
White Middle Class ◽  
Electoral Defeat ◽  
Conservative Media

In the aftermath of a potentially demoralizing 2008 electoral defeat, when the Republican Party seemed widely discredited, the emergence of the Tea Party provided conservative activists with a new identity funded by Republican business elites and reinforced by a network of conservative media sources. Untethered from recent GOP baggage and policy specifics, the Tea Party energized disgruntled white middle-class conservatives and garnered widespread attention, despite stagnant or declining favorability ratings among the general public. As participant observation and interviews with Massachusetts activists reveal, Tea Partiers are not monolithically hostile toward government; they distinguish between programs perceived as going to hard-working contributors to US society like themselves and “handouts” perceived as going to unworthy or freeloading people. During 2010, Tea Party activism reshaped many GOP primaries and enhanced voter turnout, but achieved a mixed record in the November general election. Activism may well continue to influence dynamics in Congress and GOP presidential primaries. Even if the Tea Party eventually subsides, it has undercut Obama's presidency, revitalized conservatism, and pulled the national Republican Party toward the far right.

“We're losing our country”: Barack Obama, Race & the Tea Party

Daedalus ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 140 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clarence E. Walker
Keyword(s):  
Barack Obama ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Conservatism

This essay's approach to race and the Tea Party is twofold: to consider the role race plays in Tea Partiers' claim that they have “lost their country” and to question why blacks would be members of the Tea Party given its radically conservative views. To explore the latter, Walker looks to black and other minority conservatives from the past who embraced political conservatism as a means to escape stigmatization. Walker's essay argues that America has become less racist than it used to be, but he resists characterizing the nation as “post-racial.” He uses examples of conflicts between Asians, blacks, and Mexicans to further his point.

Parliamentary Election in Jordan, 2016

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-318
Author(s):  
Manjari Singh
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Parliamentary Election ◽  
Electoral Process ◽  
Political Reforms ◽  
Participation Of Women ◽  
Identity Based

The 18th Jordanian parliamentary election held on 20 September 2016 was unique in two respects: one, the Islamic Action Front (IAF) participated in it after boycotting two previous elections (2010 and 2013); and two, demand for economic and political reforms emerged as the most important issue cutting across ideological and political divides. The election was also a reflection of Jordan’s social and political complexities and its extraordinary demography and identity-based politics. The electoral process was largely recognized as free and fair, a significant accomplishment in a region where elections are nothing more than a legitimizing exercise for the regimes. Intense pre-election debates, enthusiastic participation of women and minorities, and transparency came against the backdrop of low voter turnout of 36 percent thereby underlining the challenges facing democratization in Jordan.

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