President Obama heads into his State of the Union address tonight enjoying reviving approval ratings from key groups in his coalition but still facing entrenched skepticism from the older and blue-collar whites who were crucial to GOP victories last fall. …
Whatever the economy’s condition, African-Americans, Hispanics, and college-educated white women–and, to a lesser extent, younger whites–are all drawn to Obama and Democrats on other areas, particularly social issues such as gay marriage and immigration. But improving assessments of the economy, and Obama’s impact on it, may help Democrats solidify that drift for the presidential race in 2016 among those four elements of their national coalition.
By contrast, so long as blue-collar and older whites remain generally downbeat about their personal finances, that pessimism seems guaranteed to reinforce the ideological drift that has carried them securely into the GOP camp. CONT.
Ronald Brownstein, National Journal