The blue-collar voters who supported Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential run deserted her party in droves on Tuesday, according to a new poll. Democrats' support from white, non-college-educated male voters dropped 12 percent from 2008, according to a survey Greenberg Quinlan Rosner conducted Nov. 2-3 for Democracy Corps and Campaign for America's Future.
Only 29 percent of blue-collar men support Democrats in 2010, down from 41 percent last cycle, according to the survey of 1,000 2008 voters, of which 897 voted on Tuesday.
"These are gigantic losses," Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg, whose firm conducted the survey, said on a conference call with reporters Friday.
Greenberg said President Obama and the Democratic leadership failed to articulate a clear economic message.
The process surrounding the healthcare bill, which passed in March, reinforced the perception voters' had that the Democrats were spending too much time bickering with the GOP, increasing federal spending and listening to lobbyists instead of average people on major legislation.
According to the survey, Republicans took the lead in May and Democrats weren't able to close the gap before Election Day.
Obama took responsibility for his party’s drubbing during a press conference Wednesday. "It underscores for me that I've got to do a better job," he told reporters.
But Greenberg warned it will take a sustained effort to recapture the blue-collar voters that backed the Republicans' takeover of the House.
Meanwhile, during an interview with a New Zealand TV station, Clinton was asked if the United States was ready for a female president.
"I hope so," she said, according to Fox News. But she was quick to add: "Well, not me. But it will be someone and it is nice coming to countries that have already proven that they can elect women to the highest governing positions that they have in their systems."
