My Dad and Grandpas voted Democrat. They were basically voting for Kennedy's party, which was gone after Kennedy died and Johnson took over.
They were socially conservative blue dog types. Blue collar, hourly union workers. Neither of my Grandpas graduated HS. They were all hardworking and made a decent living.
I was more ambitious, and realized early on over a quarter century ago that it wasn't my Dad and Granddad's Democratic party. I was always far less socially conservative than they were, but I realized early on that they were economically ignorant and not big picture types like I am.
I have a feeling that those republicans in the south who are poor are not saying, "Boy, I am going to vote repblican because I want a job to get me out of the trailer."
From the republican POV, most of them should have been able to work there way out of the trailer park by now. Why wait for a republican president? Pick yourself up by those American bootstraps.
And the above poster is RIGHT!! Many republican candidates specifically push the religious agenda because it will get votes from the south. It does not mean that all poor people are religious, but Id suspect there are enough broke, southern, religious people who are voting for someone based on their religious beliefs. Good luck trying to get anyone from the South to vote for an outright Muslim or Atheist president.
On average, the south is much more religious than the rest of the country.
