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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Robert B. Reich
Unemployment is still above 8 percent, job gains aren't even keeping up with population growth, the economy is barely moving forward. And yet, according to most polls, the Romney-Ryan ticket is falling further and further behind. How can this be?
Because Republicans are failing the central test of electability. Instead of putting together the largest possible coalition of voters, they're relying largely on one slice of America -- middle-aged white men -- and alienating just about everyone else.
Start with Hispanics, whose electoral heft keeps growing as they become an ever-larger portion of the electorate. Hispanics now favor President Obama over Romney by a larger margin than they did six months ago.
Why? In February's Republican primary debate, Romney dubbed Arizona's controversial immigration policy, which authorized police to demand proof of citizenship from anyone who looks Hispanic, a "model law" for the rest of the nation.
Romney then attacked
As if all this weren't enough, the
Or consider women, whose political and economic impact in America continues to grow. (Women are fast becoming better educated than men and the major breadwinners in American homes.) According to polls, the political gender gap is widening.
Why? It's not just
Meanwhile, Republican legislators in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Idaho and Alabama have pushed bills requiring women seeking abortions to undergo invasive vaginal ultrasound tests. All told, more than 400 Republican bills that attack women's reproductive rights are pending in state legislatures.
Republicans have repeatedly voted against legislation giving women equal pay for the same work as men. Republicans in Wisconsin have even repealed a law designed to prevent employers from discriminating against women.
Or consider students, a significant and growing electoral force, who voted overwhelmingly for Obama in 2008. What are Republicans doing to woo them back?
Paul Ryan's budget plan -- approved by almost every House Republican and enthusiastically endorsed by Mitt Romney -- would have allowed rates on student loans to double, adding an average of
Now Romney wants to hand the federal student loan program over to the banks, which will charge even more. Earlier this year he argued that subsidized student loans were bad because they encouraged colleges to raise tuition, and suggested students ask their family for money.
Republicans have even managed to antagonize seniors by seeking to turn
And, of course, they've come out against equal marriage rights for gay couples.
Romney, Ryan and the
(Robert B. Reich, Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the
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Why Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are Going Down | Politics
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