Obama won Iowa by ten points. A Reddit poster’s opinion on why the state has swung so far to the right. Thoughts?

[FlickShagwell]

I think this person nails it:

A multitude of factors has led to Iowa’s red-shift.

1. Tea Party Backlash — After 2008, the GOP regrouped and organized a massive backlash response to Obama and the Democrats, built on preying on fears and anxieties of older, WWC voters who make up most of states like Iowa. That’s what produced the Tea Party and the 2010 red-wave midterms. Part of this effort was also an escalation in disinformation, including the GOP slowly becoming more competent in using social media to spread its propaganda.
2. IDP Atrophy — the IDP also grew increasingly reliant on Obama’s campaign machine, which only was active in 2008 and 2012. For all his strengths as a campaign, Obama was not great at campaigning for other candidates in midterms/cycles he wasn’t running in. And without his resources, the IDP slowly decayed, which allowed the Iowa GOP to further regain and solidify power in Iowa.
3. Brain Drain — As Iowa has shifted more to the right, younger, more educate, more liberal Iowans have left the state. For years now, we’ve had a net negative rate of college graduates remaining in Iowa, as opposed to leaving for bluer states like MN, IL, and CO. That’s means the folks more likely to still be here are older, less educated, and more conservative on the whole. And this trend easily becomes self-perpetuating, because the GOP keeps enacting policies in Iowa that drive more and more younger liberals away.
4. Lack of Investment — Because of Iowa’s drift, the DNC has largely given up on the state. Outside of maybe IA-03, there’s not many major competitive seats here for now, so the DNC is more interested in focusing resources to holding the “blue wall” and gaining ground in new battleground states like AZ and GA. We’ve simply lost our swing state status and so aren’t worth to fight for now, at least in the eyes of the national party. That then doubles back to #2, which is why the way out of this mess is rebuilding the IDP from the ground up, with a long term strategy of making incremental wins and slowly building back up strength like we’ve seen the WI Dems do.

 

[Here_4_a_Day]

Because:

 

[JRHawk2003]

I think this person nails it:

A multitude of factors has led to Iowa’s red-shift.

1. Tea Party Backlash — After 2008, the GOP regrouped and organized a massive backlash response to Obama and the Democrats, built on preying on fears and anxieties of older, WWC voters who make up most of states like Iowa. That’s what produced the Tea Party and the 2010 red-wave midterms. Part of this effort was also an escalation in disinformation, including the GOP slowly becoming more competent in using social media to spread its propaganda.
2. IDP Atrophy — the IDP also grew increasingly reliant on Obama’s campaign machine, which only was active in 2008 and 2012. For all his strengths as a campaign, Obama was not great at campaigning for other candidates in midterms/cycles he wasn’t running in. And without his resources, the IDP slowly decayed, which allowed the Iowa GOP to further regain and solidify power in Iowa.
3. Brain Drain — As Iowa has shifted more to the right, younger, more educate, more liberal Iowans have left the state. For years now, we’ve had a net negative rate of college graduates remaining in Iowa, as opposed to leaving for bluer states like MN, IL, and CO. That’s means the folks more likely to still be here are older, less educated, and more conservative on the whole. And this trend easily becomes self-perpetuating, because the GOP keeps enacting policies in Iowa that drive more and more younger liberals away.
4. Lack of Investment — Because of Iowa’s drift, the DNC has largely given up on the state. Outside of maybe IA-03, there’s not many major competitive seats here for now, so the DNC is more interested in focusing resources to holding the “blue wall” and gaining ground in new battleground states like AZ and GA. We’ve simply lost our swing state status and so aren’t worth to fight for now, at least in the eyes of the national party. That then doubles back to #2, which is why the way out of this mess is rebuilding the IDP from the ground up, with a long term strategy of making incremental wins and slowly building back up strength like we’ve seen the WI Dems do.

Moving would be easier

 

[Aardvark86]

I think this person nails it:

A multitude of factors has led to Iowa’s red-shift.

1. Tea Party Backlash — After 2008, the GOP regrouped and organized a massive backlash response to Obama and the Democrats, built on preying on fears and anxieties of older, WWC voters who make up most of states like Iowa. That’s what produced the Tea Party and the 2010 red-wave midterms. Part of this effort was also an escalation in disinformation, including the GOP slowly becoming more competent in using social media to spread its propaganda.
2. IDP Atrophy — the IDP also grew increasingly reliant on Obama’s campaign machine, which only was active in 2008 and 2012. For all his strengths as a campaign, Obama was not great at campaigning for other candidates in midterms/cycles he wasn’t running in. And without his resources, the IDP slowly decayed, which allowed the Iowa GOP to further regain and solidify power in Iowa.
3. Brain Drain — As Iowa has shifted more to the right, younger, more educate, more liberal Iowans have left the state. For years now, we’ve had a net negative rate of college graduates remaining in Iowa, as opposed to leaving for bluer states like MN, IL, and CO. That’s means the folks more likely to still be here are older, less educated, and more conservative on the whole. And this trend easily becomes self-perpetuating, because the GOP keeps enacting policies in Iowa that drive more and more younger liberals away.
4. Lack of Investment — Because of Iowa’s drift, the DNC has largely given up on the state. Outside of maybe IA-03, there’s not many major competitive seats here for now, so the DNC is more interested in focusing resources to holding the “blue wall” and gaining ground in new battleground states like AZ and GA. We’ve simply lost our swing state status and so aren’t worth to fight for now, at least in the eyes of the national party. That then doubles back to #2, which is why the way out of this mess is rebuilding the IDP from the ground up, with a long term strategy of making incremental wins and slowly building back up strength like we’ve seen the WI Dems do.

Some of those things are likely relevant. In addition, Obama initial baseline was probably inflated as people were simply tired of r’s in 2008. I also wonder a bit whether Obama did a good job “handing off” his apparatus, as he was hamstrung by multiple admin candidates

 

[StormHawk42]

I would add that the loss of factories and the union jobs that went with them hurt rural Dem areas (Maytag Newton comes to mind) and the IDP hasn’t figured out how to get that voting bloc back.

Iowa wasn’t a swing state because of the cities. It was a swing state because Dems used to only lose rural medium sized counties by a couple points instead of 20+.

 

[Menace Sockeyes]

Because:

View embedded media

Brown people are here to stay and some will even hold office and power in America. Might as well accept it and kill yourself now, Here. Your life’s goal isn’t happening.

 

[joelbc1]

I would add that the loss of factories and the union jobs that went with them hurt rural Dem areas (Maytag Newton comes to mind) and the IDP hasn’t figured out how to get that voting bloc back.

Iowa wasn’t a swing state because of the cities. It was a swing state because Dems used to only lose rural medium sized counties by a couple points instead of 20+.

Maytag leaving Newton was a net positive for Terry B and Iowa Republicans...plus it allowed Iowa Repubbers to regain Cong#3 by getting rid of Neal Smith. Redistricting sealed the deal....and sadly, after Boswell, Dems floundered.
The lost of revenues for the state when Maytag left has been a major boom to central Iowa Republicans.

 

[DFSNOLE]

Obama was an outlier. He carried Florida twice while the last time a Democrat was elected governor was 1997.

 

[Here_4_a_Day]

Brown people are here to stay and some will even hold office and power in America. Might as well accept it and kill yourself now, Here. Your life’s goal isn’t happening.

We love LEGAL brown people who can follow the rule of law and simple procedures like applying to immigrate legally. Play your race card little marxist boy...it's really all you have! Curious....how many "brown" women have you slept with? Curious...how many "brown" men have you gone out and gotten commode hugging drunk with?

 

[torbee]

I think this person nails it:

A multitude of factors has led to Iowa’s red-shift.

1. Tea Party Backlash — After 2008, the GOP regrouped and organized a massive backlash response to Obama and the Democrats, built on preying on fears and anxieties of older, WWC voters who make up most of states like Iowa. That’s what produced the Tea Party and the 2010 red-wave midterms. Part of this effort was also an escalation in disinformation, including the GOP slowly becoming more competent in using social media to spread its propaganda.
2. IDP Atrophy — the IDP also grew increasingly reliant on Obama’s campaign machine, which only was active in 2008 and 2012. For all his strengths as a campaign, Obama was not great at campaigning for other candidates in midterms/cycles he wasn’t running in. And without his resources, the IDP slowly decayed, which allowed the Iowa GOP to further regain and solidify power in Iowa.
3. Brain Drain — As Iowa has shifted more to the right, younger, more educate, more liberal Iowans have left the state. For years now, we’ve had a net negative rate of college graduates remaining in Iowa, as opposed to leaving for bluer states like MN, IL, and CO. That’s means the folks more likely to still be here are older, less educated, and more conservative on the whole. And this trend easily becomes self-perpetuating, because the GOP keeps enacting policies in Iowa that drive more and more younger liberals away.
4. Lack of Investment — Because of Iowa’s drift, the DNC has largely given up on the state. Outside of maybe IA-03, there’s not many major competitive seats here for now, so the DNC is more interested in focusing resources to holding the “blue wall” and gaining ground in new battleground states like AZ and GA. We’ve simply lost our swing state status and so aren’t worth to fight for now, at least in the eyes of the national party. That then doubles back to #2, which is why the way out of this mess is rebuilding the IDP from the ground up, with a long term strategy of making incremental wins and slowly building back up strength like we’ve seen the WI Dems do.

3 and 4 are the biggest. 2 is also a major problem - most Democrat candidates that end up on ballots in Iowa are exceedingly weak.

 

[JRHawk2003]

We love LEGAL brown people who can follow the rule of law and simple procedures like applying to immigrate legally. Play your race card little marxist boy...it's really all you have! Curious....how many "brown" women have you slept with? Curious...how many "brown" men have you gone out and gotten commode hugging drunk with?

Why should I pay higher insurance so people like you can be a fat piece of shit?

Fat boy

 

[Here_4_a_Day]

I would add that the loss of factories and the union jobs that went with them hurt rural Dem areas (Maytag Newton comes to mind) and the IDP hasn’t figured out how to get that voting bloc back.

Iowa wasn’t a swing state because of the cities. It was a swing state because Dems used to only lose rural medium sized counties by a couple points instead of 20+.

Possibly because it's the Dims that lost those jobs for those areas?

 

[Here_4_a_Day]

3 and 4 are the biggest. 2 is also a major problem - most Democrat candidates that end up on ballots in Iowa are exceedingly weak.

All dimocrats everywhere are exceedingly weak.....

 

[Hawki97]

I think this person nails it:

A multitude of factors has led to Iowa’s red-shift.

1. Tea Party Backlash — After 2008, the GOP regrouped and organized a massive backlash response to Obama and the Democrats, built on preying on fears and anxieties of older, WWC voters who make up most of states like Iowa. That’s what produced the Tea Party and the 2010 red-wave midterms. Part of this effort was also an escalation in disinformation, including the GOP slowly becoming more competent in using social media to spread its propaganda.
2. IDP Atrophy — the IDP also grew increasingly reliant on Obama’s campaign machine, which only was active in 2008 and 2012. For all his strengths as a campaign, Obama was not great at campaigning for other candidates in midterms/cycles he wasn’t running in. And without his resources, the IDP slowly decayed, which allowed the Iowa GOP to further regain and solidify power in Iowa.
3. Brain Drain — As Iowa has shifted more to the right, younger, more educate, more liberal Iowans have left the state. For years now, we’ve had a net negative rate of college graduates remaining in Iowa, as opposed to leaving for bluer states like MN, IL, and CO. That’s means the folks more likely to still be here are older, less educated, and more conservative on the whole. And this trend easily becomes self-perpetuating, because the GOP keeps enacting policies in Iowa that drive more and more younger liberals away.
4. Lack of Investment — Because of Iowa’s drift, the DNC has largely given up on the state. Outside of maybe IA-03, there’s not many major competitive seats here for now, so the DNC is more interested in focusing resources to holding the “blue wall” and gaining ground in new battleground states like AZ and GA. We’ve simply lost our swing state status and so aren’t worth to fight for now, at least in the eyes of the national party. That then doubles back to #2, which is why the way out of this mess is rebuilding the IDP from the ground up, with a long term strategy of making incremental wins and slowly building back up strength like we’ve seen the WI Dems do.

Ioway’s a lost cause for the Dems. Bunch of old farts need to die off and even then it will be tough with the new breed of hicks coming up being the primary ones that want to stay.

 

[joelbc1]

Possibly because it's the Dims that lost those jobs for those areas?

How so? By advocating higher wagers for workers? Or not endorsing the company's “$5/day Mexican wage” schedule?
Iowa lost tons of manufacturing jobs to Mexico and Asia in the 1970’s and ‘80’s....jobs that ironically are starting to come back home now. With these jobs, Iowans lost wages, revenues and rural and small town poverty gained a foothold and spread throughout Iowa.

 

[Here_4_a_Day]

Why should I pay higher insurance so people like you can be a fat piece of shit?

Fat boy

Weren't you just bitching the other day about what a sickly little **** you are? 🤡 I'll put my health and fitness up against 90% of the population and 100% within my age group....but there's no point in commenting further on the subject as it will only incite the pea-brained beta gallery here. lol Now, go back to trying to figure out why you can't get laid!

 

[JRHawk2003]

All dimocrats everywhere are exceedingly weak.....

I bet you cant do one form push up

 

[Here_4_a_Day]

How so? By advocating higher wagers for workers? Or not endorsing the company's “$5/day Mexican wage” schedule?
Iowa lost tons of manufacturing jobs to Mexico and Asia in the 1970’s and ‘80’s....jobs that ironically are starting to come back home now. With these jobs, Iowans lost wages, revenues and rural and small town poverty gained a foothold and spread throughout Iowa.

You're not even worth the effort.......

 

[Here_4_a_Day]

I bet you cant do one form push up

You're certainly on a stupidity roll this morning! I liked you better when you claimed to have me on ignore! 🤣

 

[fivecardstud14]

How so? By advocating higher wagers for workers? Or not endorsing the company's “$5/day Mexican wage” schedule?
Iowa lost tons of manufacturing jobs to Mexico and Asia in the 1970’s and ‘80’s....jobs that ironically are starting to come back home now. With these jobs, Iowans lost wages, revenues and rural and small town poverty gained a foothold and spread throughout Iowa.

Lol at you trying to have a rational conversation with him.

 

[Thunderlips71]

A lot of dopes listening to too much AM radio and right wing media

 

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

Brown people are here to stay and some will even hold office and power in America. Might as well accept it and kill yourself now, Here. Your life’s goal isn’t happening.

Rough morning bud. 830am and your talking about people killing themselves, me thinks you have some personal issues you are fighting.

 

[Here_4_a_Day]

Rough morning bud. 830am and your talking about people killing themselves, me thinks you have some personal issues you are fighting.

You think? lol Remember, this guy is a trans influencer involved in convincing children to **** themselves up for life!

 

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

You think? lol Remember, this guy is a trans influencer involved in convincing children to **** themselves up for life!

Don't care. I'm just interested to see the first board dem who is going to grow the balls and tell him to stfu.

 

[Here_4_a_Day]

Don't care. I'm just interested to see the first board dem who is going to grow the balls and tell him to stfu.

Just showing you his patten of "stability." You will have a long wait, so I suggest a warm pair of socks.........

 

[srams21]

Iowa wasn’t a swing state because of the cities. It was a swing state because Dems used to only lose rural medium sized counties by a couple points instead of 20+.

3 and 4 are the biggest. 2 is also a major problem - most Democrat candidates that end up on ballots in Iowa are exceedingly weak.

These are the two best responses so far. Dems used to be competitive, but lose, many rural counties. Now, they are getting blown out. And that is largely because Rs have done a good job convincing small town and rural Iowans that Ds are responsible for their economic woes. The cultural battle has also been a big part of that too. The truth is much of rural Iowa is economically terrible. That causes people to have a victim mentality and Trump does a good job of convincing those folks they have been wronged and he is their savior.

 

[Menace Sockeyes]

We love LEGAL brown people who can follow the rule of law and simple procedures like applying to immigrate legally. Play your race card little marxist boy...it's really all you have! Curious....how many "brown" women have you slept with? Curious...how many "brown" men have you gone out and gotten commode hugging drunk with?

Every Black or Hispanic American presumed guilty, or whose death Conservatives mock, says hi 👋.

 

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

Every Black or Hispanic American presumed guilty, or whose death Conservatives mock, says hi 👋.

If you don't have rational thoughts to be pissed about, just make one up.



You are a piece of shit dude, and it's embarrassing that I have to be the one that consistently calls people out.

 

[Here_4_a_Day]

Every Black or Hispanic American presumed guilty, or whose death Conservatives mock, says hi 👋.

So delusional, your scrubbed, marxist brain can't even stay in the same area code as this topic.

 

[Menace Sockeyes]

If you don't have rational thoughts to be pissed about, just make one up.



You are a piece of shit dude, and it's embarrassing that I have to be the one that consistently calls people out.

Prominent Conservatives didn’t mock George Floyd? Brianna Taylor? Laquon McDonald? Philando Castile? Migrant families dying at the border? I have the Twitter receipts, if you’d like. Sounds like you’ve got some personal problems to deal with this morning.

 

[KFsdisciple]

I think this person nails it:

A multitude of factors has led to Iowa’s red-shift.

1. Tea Party Backlash — After 2008, the GOP regrouped and organized a massive backlash response to Obama and the Democrats, built on preying on fears and anxieties of older, WWC voters who make up most of states like Iowa. That’s what produced the Tea Party and the 2010 red-wave midterms. Part of this effort was also an escalation in disinformation, including the GOP slowly becoming more competent in using social media to spread its propaganda.
2. IDP Atrophy — the IDP also grew increasingly reliant on Obama’s campaign machine, which only was active in 2008 and 2012. For all his strengths as a campaign, Obama was not great at campaigning for other candidates in midterms/cycles he wasn’t running in. And without his resources, the IDP slowly decayed, which allowed the Iowa GOP to further regain and solidify power in Iowa.
3. Brain Drain — As Iowa has shifted more to the right, younger, more educate, more liberal Iowans have left the state. For years now, we’ve had a net negative rate of college graduates remaining in Iowa, as opposed to leaving for bluer states like MN, IL, and CO. That’s means the folks more likely to still be here are older, less educated, and more conservative on the whole. And this trend easily becomes self-perpetuating, because the GOP keeps enacting policies in Iowa that drive more and more younger liberals away.
4. Lack of Investment — Because of Iowa’s drift, the DNC has largely given up on the state. Outside of maybe IA-03, there’s not many major competitive seats here for now, so the DNC is more interested in focusing resources to holding the “blue wall” and gaining ground in new battleground states like AZ and GA. We’ve simply lost our swing state status and so aren’t worth to fight for now, at least in the eyes of the national party. That then doubles back to #2, which is why the way out of this mess is rebuilding the IDP from the ground up, with a long term strategy of making incremental wins and slowly building back up strength like we’ve seen the WI Dems do.

Or it's just terrible policy on the left and you can't convince small town iowa guy that men have babies. They don't lack education, they lack indoctrination.

 

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

Prominent Conservatives didn’t mock George Floyd? Brianna Taylor? Laquon McDonald? Philando Castile? Migrant families dying at the border? I have the Twitter receipts, if you’d like. Sounds like you’ve got some personal problems to deal with this morning.

If you finding a talking head saying something dumb is enough to get butthurt you are an absolute bitch of a man. We can't go a week without someone saying something repulsive in the media these days.


Now, go say we should kill people based off politics and try to justify why you are better than those you hate. I'll keep laughing at you and pointing out the libs on here that don't have the balls to tell.you to stfu themselves.

 

[ottumwan in tx]

no, did not come close to nailing it.

 

[Dr. Spaceman]

Or it's just terrible policy on the left and you can't convince small town iowa guy that men have babies. They don't lack education, they lack indoctrination.

Small town Iowa guys most certainly lack education. Look no further than @NorthernHawkeye and @Whiskeydeltadeltatango

 

[Here_4_a_Day]

Prominent Conservatives didn’t mock George Floyd? Brianna Taylor? Laquon McDonald? Philando Castile? Migrant families dying at the border? I have the Twitter receipts, if you’d like. Sounds like you’ve got some personal problems to deal with this morning.

Life's a shit sandwich, yo....take a bite and go **** with the cops.........

 

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

Small town Iowa guys most certainly lack education. Look no further than @NorthernHawkeye and @Whiskeydeltadeltatango

I double majored and have a masters degree along with multiple license and certificates.


You are an idiot.

 

[srams21]

Or it's just terrible policy on the left and you can't convince small town iowa guy that men have babies. They don't lack education, they lack indoctrination.

Men having babies (whatever that means) has nothing to do with rural Iowa's economic woes. Those woes are mostly self-induced btw.

 

[Sharky1203]

I think this person nails it:

A multitude of factors has led to Iowa’s red-shift.

1. Tea Party Backlash — After 2008, the GOP regrouped and organized a massive backlash response to Obama and the Democrats, built on preying on fears and anxieties of older, WWC voters who make up most of states like Iowa. That’s what produced the Tea Party and the 2010 red-wave midterms. Part of this effort was also an escalation in disinformation, including the GOP slowly becoming more competent in using social media to spread its propaganda.
2. IDP Atrophy — the IDP also grew increasingly reliant on Obama’s campaign machine, which only was active in 2008 and 2012. For all his strengths as a campaign, Obama was not great at campaigning for other candidates in midterms/cycles he wasn’t running in. And without his resources, the IDP slowly decayed, which allowed the Iowa GOP to further regain and solidify power in Iowa.
3. Brain Drain — As Iowa has shifted more to the right, younger, more educate, more liberal Iowans have left the state. For years now, we’ve had a net negative rate of college graduates remaining in Iowa, as opposed to leaving for bluer states like MN, IL, and CO. That’s means the folks more likely to still be here are older, less educated, and more conservative on the whole. And this trend easily becomes self-perpetuating, because the GOP keeps enacting policies in Iowa that drive more and more younger liberals away.
4. Lack of Investment — Because of Iowa’s drift, the DNC has largely given up on the state. Outside of maybe IA-03, there’s not many major competitive seats here for now, so the DNC is more interested in focusing resources to holding the “blue wall” and gaining ground in new battleground states like AZ and GA. We’ve simply lost our swing state status and so aren’t worth to fight for now, at least in the eyes of the national party. That then doubles back to #2, which is why the way out of this mess is rebuilding the IDP from the ground up, with a long term strategy of making incremental wins and slowly building back up strength like we’ve seen the WI Dems do.

Shitty Democrat candidate???

 

[SocraticIshmael]

If you finding a talking head saying something dumb is enough to get butthurt you are an absolute bitch of a man. We can't go a week without someone saying something repulsive in the media these days.


Now, go say we should kill people based off politics and try to justify why you are better than those you hate. I'll keep laughing at you and pointing out the libs on here that don't have the balls to tell.you to stfu themselves.

🙄

"[A]n absolute bitch of a man..."

It's interesting how insecure men use derogatory language, especially language that was meant to dehumanize women, in an attempt to create a vulgar way of saying that a man is inferior...because he is like a woman.

I believe you've stated you have a daughter.

I feel bad for her, but I suppose you can't help your feelings of inadequacy and impotence.

Oh, and I'm sure all of your issues are because you are white.

🙄😘

 

[Next_In_Line]

Red is the color signifying embarrassment. Thanks for sharing this.