Sunday, October 16, 2011

The Unemployed Population: Unexpected Support for Obama



Despite staggeringly high unemployment rates throughout the nation, the Obama Campaign has reported a large number of healthy financial donations from areas strongly effected by the jobs issue. An Associated Press study exhibits the donations received from Obama supporters in regions with high unemployment rates from the second and third quarters of 2011. The reported funds received were larger than that of Obama’s 2007 campaign.

Regions of the United States with high unemployment rates are generally expected to support the Republican Party due to their focus on the unemployment rate as a central issue in the 2012 campaign. Obama’s campaign raised $70 million this quarter, however the Republican Party reported similar donation figures. Although the Democratic Party would prefer to have received larger donations than the Republican Party, these figures demonstrate the regions with high unemployment as supporting their candidate despite the nations current jobs issue.

Republican candidates campaigns have raised a total of $52 million this quarter. Among the leading Republican candidates, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney comments on Obama’s jobs record, "Right now, America's in crisis," said Romney at an Oct. 11 Republican debate devoted exclusively to the economy. "You want to have someone who's smart, who has experience, who knows how the financial services sector works, who knows how to protect American jobs -- and I do. I've done it" (Fox News). Despite Mitt Romeny’s claims and Obama’s bumpy track record with tackling the nations’ complex unemployment issue, there have been reports of an increasing number of donations received from both Democratic and Republican leaning counties. In the greater Detroit area, recognized for an extremely high unemployment rate of 14 percent, Democratic supports have made substantially larger number donations this year than in Obama’s 2007 campaign- “albeit in smaller amounts when adjusting for inflation” (Fox News).

Campaign finance records exhibit donor’s within the $200- $2,500 range, which encompasses 40 percent of Obama’s fundraising demographic. Fox news captured some of their personal motivations for lending monetary support to the Democratic Party’s campaign, “’I believe in the ideas that he has for the country,’ said donor Barbara Weeda, a 70-year-old retiree from Joshua Tree, Calif., home to San Bernardino county and its 13 percent jobless rate” (Fox News). Another supporter explains, “’How else is he going to get elected than to just dig in and help as much as you can?’ she said, saddened at what she sees as a lack of cooperation in Washington negotiating a jobs bill” (Fox News).

The Obama campaign released a video stating that the 2012 campaign has received donations from nearly 1 million supporters. Fox news displays his words, "’That's a million people taking ownership of this campaign $5 and $10 at a time. Each one of those people has a story about why they gave,’ he said, noting that he's making personal phone calls to random donors to thank them for their support” (Fox News).

Works Cited. Fox News. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/16/number-donations-to-obama-up-though-in-smaller-increments/?test=latestnews#ixzz1azHCqGUU

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