Jonathan Weisman of New York Times analyzes how economic recovery yields few benefits for the voters Democrats rely on. Moreover how there is little difference between the perception of Democrats and Republicans when it comes to class issues in the United States today. He writes: “Consider women, whose unemployment rate stood at 8.1 percent, up almost two percentage points from when Mr. Obama took office, as they weighed whether to vote in the midterms of 2010. Today, it is 5.7 percent, a seemingly shining number for Democrats desperate to widen the gender gap.
But while the number of women out of work appears to be much improved, the number of women employed compared with the total female population is 55.2 percent, actually worse than it was in October 2010. Progress, in fact, is a mirage, the product of what economists call the disappearing work force: people giving up and dropping out. …. Voters with family incomes below $30,000 backed Mr. Obama against Mitt Romney 63 percent to 35 percent in 2012, according to exit polls conducted by Edison Research. According to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in late April, 46 percent of such voters said they would vote for a Democrat running for Congress, versus 43 percent who would vote Republican. Women between the ages of 18 and 49 would back a Democrat over a Republican for Congress 48 percent to 42 percent, much narrower than the gap of 59 percent to 39 percent that Mr. Obama enjoyed.
In contrast, Democratic prospects have improved among those who are better off. Voters with incomes over $100,000 backed Mr. Romney 54 percent to Mr. Obama’s 44 percent in 2012. In an ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted in April, voters with incomes over $100,000 would back a Republican over a Democrat for Congress 46 percent to 44 percent.”