The Neglected Voter: White Men and the Democratic Dilemma [Hardcover]

David Paul Kuhn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2007 | ISBN-10: 1403982740 | ISBN-13: 978-1403982742 | Edition: 1st

In the 1960s, the Republican Party began to win over a crucial demographic: white male voters.  Presidential politics was transformed for a generation.
David Paul Kuhn explains this fundamental fact behind the rise of the Republicans and the decline of the Democrats, and reminds the political left that midterm victories (1986, 2006) do not always equal sustainable success. In revealing, lucid prose, Kuhn explains how America's conservative party came to win a majority of workingmen and the White House.  Grounded in practical politics, The Neglected Voter presciently reconfigures the American political landscape. Equipped with unprecedented research data, reporting, and exclusive interviews with such figures as Jimmy Carter, Norman Mailer, Mark Warner, and Pat Robertson, Kuhn examines the role of gender and racial identity in presidential politics through the social changes that have defined the last half century.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Archilochus once said, 'The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.' David Paul Kuhn, a seasoned and compelling political writer, obviously knows many things...The Neglected Voter is a smooth, fast-moving tour through presidential election history since 1960, sprinkled with interesting voter statistics. It's entertaining, full of pithy quotes from winners and losers, hard to put down. I enjoyed it, and so would anyone interested in presidential politics."--David C. Acheson, The Washington Times, November 11, 2007

"Democrats will not get very far by blaming the voter. David Paul Kuhn, author of “The Neglected Voter: White Men and the Democratic Dilemma” points out that moral issues cannot easily be separated from economic ones. Poor people fret more about family breakdown because they see more of it than rich people do and its consequences, for them, are worse."--Economist

 

"A must-read for Democrats that want to win."--James Carville

If you follow politics, you already think you understand the “gender gap”— but you’re wrong. You won’t really comprehend its massive implications until you read this book. We know a lot about why women vote disproportionately Democratic, but until David Paul Kuhn undertook this sophisticated, absorbing study, no one had adequately explained why men vote disproportionately Republican. Using a masterful combination of first-person interviews, polling data, and personal insight, Kuhn shows why millions of white men in America broke their ties to the Democratic Party and made Republicans the majority party for two generations. But Democrats needn’t despair, because Kuhn also shows them how they can win white men back.”--Larry Sabato, founder and director of the University of Virginia 's Center for Politics and author of A More Perfect Constitution

 

"A brilliantly insightful analysis of American politics at the national level. Every Democrat should read this book." --General Wesley K. Clark, author of A Time To Lead

 

"Kuhn accurately links the Republican dominance of the past 40 years to the loss of the Haggard vote…[and] wisely suggests a ploy similar to John Kennedy's in 1960: Make the argument that we're weaker because of the Republicans."--Joe Klein, Time Magazine:

 

 

About the Author

David Paul Kuhn covered the 2004 presidential campaign as Chief Political Writer for CBS.com, and is currently a Senior Political Writer and news analyst for The Politico.  He has also written for The Washington Post Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Salon.com, and the Tokyo-based Yomiuri Shimbun. He lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1st edition (October 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1403982740
• ISBN-13: 978-1403982742
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #540,082 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A refreshing look at the gender gap, October 3, 2007

By 

sara mancini "sara" (sara) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Neglected Voter: White Men and the Democratic Dilemma (Hardcover)

I read this book in two days. It's intense, a really good read, and the best writing is, as others have said, when the author brings you inside the presidential races, most potently the ones that I never lived through but shaped so much of the politics I now do indeed live through, the late 1960s. Perhaps it was the polling data, which he does do a strikingly well job weaving with the narrative, but I had never looked at the gender gap this way. It's crazy but I cannot recall ever reading about the MALE side of the gender gap (and I read much of everything on politics): what Kuhn calls the White Male Gap. This is, straight away, a book about white guys, more than a third of our voters (which surprised me). At times I felt like I was reading about my father, who left Democrats with Reagan and as upset as he is at Bush, still can't get his heart around voting for a liberal. After reading this book, I finally understand why, why it all went down, why it is all around me when i'm talking politics, and why when these men in some sense abandoned the Democratic Party they took its ability to win a majority of Americans with them. This is the metaphor Kuhn uses, one of a divorce between Democrats and white men. It is indeed worth pondering... I recommend this book very much.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Should Be Read, September 5, 2008

By 

Tyro (Brooklyn, New York USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Neglected Voter: White Men and the Democratic Dilemma (Hardcover)

David Paul Kuhn, a journalist for outlets that cross party lines, handles a touchy subject with exceptional sobriety. His masterstroke is to neither criticize nor aggrandize the left, but to simply analyze how, practically, Democrats can win elections. This engagingly-written book left me feeling that I understood a great deal more about the electoral politics of my lifetime. Kuhn regards "masculine values" of honor and grit to be at the heart of the optimistic American point of view. By mocking or failing to represent these values, the Democrats lost their majority and their connection with the white (especially male) working class. It is notable that he quotes from right as well as left-wing figures, and that he quotes so often from Norman Mailer. It is as if Kuhn had to resort to the recently-deceased Mailer to find someone who stood classic notions of masculinity. A book whose title calls white men "neglected" will never sell as well as one like "who needs men?" or "stupid white men," but Kuhn's objectivity may actually change a few minds. There is a danger, however, that it will be overlooked because it doesn't fit neatly onto either side of the culture wars. That would be a shame. The book illuminates far more than its central topic.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating reading, December 18, 2007

By 

CE - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Neglected Voter: White Men and the Democratic Dilemma (Hardcover)

As a Republican, I found this book very interesting and must say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading page after page about how the Democratic Party has failed at the polls because it has repeatedly attacked white men and failed to appeal to them. I greatly enjoyed every word of every sentence! Although the book's author is a Democrat, he very accurately describes the reasons why I and other white men I know vote Republican. In addition, the book's recommendations for getting the Democratic Party to attract white men are good ones. (Let's keep them a secret!)

Regardless of the political views of the reader, this book is extremely well written and researched and is very compelling. I would highly recommend it. Anyone who is interested in politics or current events should buy it.

(PS: Seth Kramer's review on this page is not based on a careful reading of the book, which does not blame the Democrats for Southern racists fleeting the party; rather, the book states that white men both in the South and elsewhere have shifted away from the Democrats and exhibit similar voting behavior.)