Why was Romney so hated in the Midwest

[OSR stands with Israel]

He lost :

Ohio by 2.98% , Pennsylvania by 5.39% , Iowa by 5.81%, Wisconsin by 6.94% , and Michigan by 9.5%.


For the entire campaign, the Midwest was considered Obama Firewall and Romney even when he was leading in national polls after the first debate was never able to get a lead in electorally due to the fact that Obama held consistent leads in all these Midwestern states which allowed Obama to continue to play offense in states like FL and VA while Romney really never was able to force Obama on the defensive in those Midwestern States even once

[darklordoftech]

The auto bailout.

[OSR stands with Israel]

The auto bailout.

It didnt help the Dems there in 2010

[Pericles]

Romney was a bad fit for the Midwest and his image as an out of touch plutocrat was especially effective there. The bailout did help Obama because there was the contrast with Romney and his "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt" stance(though the headline was a stereotype of his position). The attacks on his time at Bain were pretty effective, Romney was the symbol of the loss of manufacturing jobs and linking him to outsourcing jobs and corporate greed.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

"Mitt Romney looks like the guy who comes to lay you off" - Mike Huckabee.

A lot of his problems stemmed from that 2009 article about how to handle Detroit. What he described in the article was a structured bankruptcy backed with US gov't money to hold them over. However the headline conveyed the equivalent of DROP DEAD NEW YORK!!! from Gerald Ford's days.

I spent years splitting hairs on this point to defend Romney between 2009 and 2015, but at the end of the day it was a mess he could have easily avoided just by keeping his mouth shut.

Romney also stepped in it with his book, similar to Jeb Bush on immigration, but on health care. What this illustrates is the danger of political books, and the fact they take a few months to get out into circulation and politics moves much faster. Just as Jeb was embarrassed by his book claiming to support only a path to legal status after Rubio had been working the grounds on a 2013 compromise that included a path to citizenship.

Romney contrasted Obamacare from his MA healthcare plan on the basis that Obamacare had a public option, and Romneycare did not. This was the case when the book was composed, but not by the time it hit the shelves. The public option had been dropped making Obamacare hard to differentiate from Romneycare Oops, back to the drawing board. Romney then failed to come up with a consistent narrative after that point. His best bet was a Federalist approach of letting states design their own plans and giving them the money to help facilitate that.

But beyond all of that, it would have been rather difficult for Romney to overcome his Bain Capital days in any case. Too many displaced workers and too many video clips that wrote themselves.

Were it not for social issues, lingering Gay Marriage opposition and the War on Coal narrative, Romney would have done even worse in the Midwest.

[darklordoftech]

The auto bailout.

It didnt help the Dems there in 2010

The 2010 Republicans weren't around to have opposed the bailout.

[OSR stands with Israel]

"Mitt Romney looks like the guy who comes to lay you off" - Mike Huckabee.

A lot of his problems stemmed from that 2009 article about how to handle Detroit. What he described in the article was a structured bankruptcy backed with US gov't money to hold them over. However the headline conveyed the equivalent of DROP DEAD NEW YORK!!! from Gerald Ford's days.

I spent years splitting hairs on this point to defend Romney between 2009 and 2015, but at the end of the day it was a mess he could have easily avoided just by keeping his mouth shut.

Romney also stepped in it with his book, similar to Jeb Bush on immigration, but on health care. What this illustrates is the danger of political books, and the fact they take a few months to get out into circulation and politics moves much faster. Just as Jeb was embarrassed by his book claiming to support only a path to legal status after Rubio had been working the grounds on a 2013 compromise that included a path to citizenship.

Romney contrasted Obamacare from his MA healthcare plan on the basis that Obamacare had a public option, and Romneycare did not. This was the case when the book was composed, but not by the time it hit the shelves. The public option had been dropped making Obamacare hard to differentiate from Romneycare Oops, back to the drawing board. Romney then failed to come up with a consistent narrative after that point. His best bet was a Federalist approach of letting states design their own plans and giving them the money to help facilitate that.

But beyond all of that, it would have been rather difficult for Romney to overcome his Bain Capital days in any case. Too many displaced workers and too many video clips that wrote themselves.

Were it not for social issues, lingering Gay Marriage opposition and the War on Coal narrative, Romney would have done even worse in the Midwest.

Ironcially though in 2008 primaries pundits were calling Mitt the strongest  Republican candidate for states like Michigan and the Midwest in general. They believed he would be weaker in the south though(In 2012 it turned out to be the opposite)

[darklordoftech]

"Mitt Romney looks like the guy who comes to lay you off" - Mike Huckabee.

A lot of his problems stemmed from that 2009 article about how to handle Detroit. What he described in the article was a structured bankruptcy backed with US gov't money to hold them over. However the headline conveyed the equivalent of DROP DEAD NEW YORK!!! from Gerald Ford's days.

I spent years splitting hairs on this point to defend Romney between 2009 and 2015, but at the end of the day it was a mess he could have easily avoided just by keeping his mouth shut.

Romney also stepped in it with his book, similar to Jeb Bush on immigration, but on health care. What this illustrates is the danger of political books, and the fact they take a few months to get out into circulation and politics moves much faster. Just as Jeb was embarrassed by his book claiming to support only a path to legal status after Rubio had been working the grounds on a 2013 compromise that included a path to citizenship.

Romney contrasted Obamacare from his MA healthcare plan on the basis that Obamacare had a public option, and Romneycare did not. This was the case when the book was composed, but not by the time it hit the shelves. The public option had been dropped making Obamacare hard to differentiate from Romneycare Oops, back to the drawing board. Romney then failed to come up with a consistent narrative after that point. His best bet was a Federalist approach of letting states design their own plans and giving them the money to help facilitate that.

But beyond all of that, it would have been rather difficult for Romney to overcome his Bain Capital days in any case. Too many displaced workers and too many video clips that wrote themselves.

Were it not for social issues, lingering Gay Marriage opposition and the War on Coal narrative, Romney would have done even worse in the Midwest.

Ironcially though in 2008 primaries pundits were calling Mitt the strongest  Republican candidate for states like Michigan and the Midwest in general. They believed he would be weaker in the south though(In 2012 it turned out to be the opposite)

They probably thought that Romney being the son of a Michigan Governor would help him there while him being a Mormom would hurt him in the South. Also keep in mind that they might have known who the Democratic nominee would be.

[OSR stands with Israel]

"Mitt Romney looks like the guy who comes to lay you off" - Mike Huckabee.

A lot of his problems stemmed from that 2009 article about how to handle Detroit. What he described in the article was a structured bankruptcy backed with US gov't money to hold them over. However the headline conveyed the equivalent of DROP DEAD NEW YORK!!! from Gerald Ford's days.

I spent years splitting hairs on this point to defend Romney between 2009 and 2015, but at the end of the day it was a mess he could have easily avoided just by keeping his mouth shut.

Romney also stepped in it with his book, similar to Jeb Bush on immigration, but on health care. What this illustrates is the danger of political books, and the fact they take a few months to get out into circulation and politics moves much faster. Just as Jeb was embarrassed by his book claiming to support only a path to legal status after Rubio had been working the grounds on a 2013 compromise that included a path to citizenship.

Romney contrasted Obamacare from his MA healthcare plan on the basis that Obamacare had a public option, and Romneycare did not. This was the case when the book was composed, but not by the time it hit the shelves. The public option had been dropped making Obamacare hard to differentiate from Romneycare Oops, back to the drawing board. Romney then failed to come up with a consistent narrative after that point. His best bet was a Federalist approach of letting states design their own plans and giving them the money to help facilitate that.

But beyond all of that, it would have been rather difficult for Romney to overcome his Bain Capital days in any case. Too many displaced workers and too many video clips that wrote themselves.

Were it not for social issues, lingering Gay Marriage opposition and the War on Coal narrative, Romney would have done even worse in the Midwest.

Ironcially though in 2008 primaries pundits were calling Mitt the strongest  Republican candidate for states like Michigan and the Midwest in general. They believed he would be weaker in the south though(In 2012 it turned out to be the opposite)

They probably thought that Romney being the son of a Michigan Governor would help him there while him being a Mormom would hurt him in the South. Also keep in mind that they might have known who the Democratic nominee would be.

It was right after the Michigan Primary when Romney easily won and Chris Matthews was talking about how Romney might be there best candidate for that region

[morgieb]

"Mitt Romney looks like the guy who comes to lay you off" - Mike Huckabee.

A lot of his problems stemmed from that 2009 article about how to handle Detroit. What he described in the article was a structured bankruptcy backed with US gov't money to hold them over. However the headline conveyed the equivalent of DROP DEAD NEW YORK!!! from Gerald Ford's days.

I spent years splitting hairs on this point to defend Romney between 2009 and 2015, but at the end of the day it was a mess he could have easily avoided just by keeping his mouth shut.

Romney also stepped in it with his book, similar to Jeb Bush on immigration, but on health care. What this illustrates is the danger of political books, and the fact they take a few months to get out into circulation and politics moves much faster. Just as Jeb was embarrassed by his book claiming to support only a path to legal status after Rubio had been working the grounds on a 2013 compromise that included a path to citizenship.

Romney contrasted Obamacare from his MA healthcare plan on the basis that Obamacare had a public option, and Romneycare did not. This was the case when the book was composed, but not by the time it hit the shelves. The public option had been dropped making Obamacare hard to differentiate from Romneycare Oops, back to the drawing board. Romney then failed to come up with a consistent narrative after that point. His best bet was a Federalist approach of letting states design their own plans and giving them the money to help facilitate that.

But beyond all of that, it would have been rather difficult for Romney to overcome his Bain Capital days in any case. Too many displaced workers and too many video clips that wrote themselves.

Were it not for social issues, lingering Gay Marriage opposition and the War on Coal narrative, Romney would have done even worse in the Midwest.

Ironcially though in 2008 primaries pundits were calling Mitt the strongest  Republican candidate for states like Michigan and the Midwest in general. They believed he would be weaker in the south though(In 2012 it turned out to be the opposite)

That just shows that pundits are often total morons though.

Had Romney been the 08 candidate Obama probably wins by a bigger PV margin than Reagan 80.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

"Mitt Romney looks like the guy who comes to lay you off" - Mike Huckabee.

A lot of his problems stemmed from that 2009 article about how to handle Detroit. What he described in the article was a structured bankruptcy backed with US gov't money to hold them over. However the headline conveyed the equivalent of DROP DEAD NEW YORK!!! from Gerald Ford's days.

I spent years splitting hairs on this point to defend Romney between 2009 and 2015, but at the end of the day it was a mess he could have easily avoided just by keeping his mouth shut.

Romney also stepped in it with his book, similar to Jeb Bush on immigration, but on health care. What this illustrates is the danger of political books, and the fact they take a few months to get out into circulation and politics moves much faster. Just as Jeb was embarrassed by his book claiming to support only a path to legal status after Rubio had been working the grounds on a 2013 compromise that included a path to citizenship.

Romney contrasted Obamacare from his MA healthcare plan on the basis that Obamacare had a public option, and Romneycare did not. This was the case when the book was composed, but not by the time it hit the shelves. The public option had been dropped making Obamacare hard to differentiate from Romneycare Oops, back to the drawing board. Romney then failed to come up with a consistent narrative after that point. His best bet was a Federalist approach of letting states design their own plans and giving them the money to help facilitate that.

But beyond all of that, it would have been rather difficult for Romney to overcome his Bain Capital days in any case. Too many displaced workers and too many video clips that wrote themselves.

Were it not for social issues, lingering Gay Marriage opposition and the War on Coal narrative, Romney would have done even worse in the Midwest.

Ironcially though in 2008 primaries pundits were calling Mitt the strongest  Republican candidate for states like Michigan and the Midwest in general. They believed he would be weaker in the south though(In 2012 it turned out to be the opposite)

They probably thought that Romney being the son of a Michigan Governor would help him there while him being a Mormom would hurt him in the South. Also keep in mind that they might have known who the Democratic nominee would be.

It was right after the Michigan Primary when Romney easily won and Chris Matthews was talking about how Romney might be there best candidate for that region

That was almost a year before the article "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt" was published.

Romney ran on a proposal to boost investment in energy and transportation Technology, which McCain ever the ardent fiscal conservative when it comes to subsidies, lambasted as a bailout. Romney defeated McCain in Michigan and it revived his sputtering campaign. Romney had also made big issues about currency manipulation (which he would bring up again in 2012 but failed to make it stick), bad trade deals in some of the later debates and of course immigration.

Also no one had gone after Romney on Bain Capital yet and the theory was since he had been able to win MA GOV in 2002 in spite of it being hammered on in 1994 by Ted Kennedy, he would be fine. Especially if his opponent was Hillary Clinton and thus all Romney would have to do is mention NAFTA.

Also Romney didn't have to run away from health care in 2008, but could embrace it and use it against Clinton who had failed to deliver once before, saying he could "get it done". Healthcare was often listed as one of the top 3 or 4 issues and has a salient appeal in the Midwest that people have long underestimated and is a part of the reason why Obama defeated Romney so badly in the Midwest in 2012.

In the 2012 primaries, Rick Santorum was backed into a corner at one point after attacking Romney on health care because he had endorsed Romney in 2008 just two years after signing the bill. His response was, "well that was against John McCain".

Of course, Hillary Clinton was not the Democrat nominee in 2008. Obama had a lot of things going for him, not just because he was from the Midwest, but also higher minority enthusiasm and turnout (made Indiana possible), not being party to the votes and proposals in the 1990's, his support for a public option, more consistent anti-war stance and pledge to crackdown on employers of illegal aliens.

Add to this anger at the Bush administration over the economy and the war. I can see a path for Romney in 2008 against Clinton, but it is hard to see that against Obama.

[Sestak]

"Mitt Romney looks like the guy who comes to lay you off" - Mike Huckabee.

You really don't need to go further than this.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

"Mitt Romney looks like the guy who comes to lay you off" - Mike Huckabee.

You really don't need to go further than this.

"Vulture capitalist" - Rick Perry

[OSR stands with Israel]

"Mitt Romney looks like the guy who comes to lay you off" - Mike Huckabee.

You really don't need to go further than this.

And the guy who literally was famous for the phrase "you're fired" did not look like the guy who lay you off lol

[YE]

"Mitt Romney looks like the guy who comes to lay you off" - Mike Huckabee.

You really don't need to go further than this.

And the guy who literally was famous for the phrase "you're fired" did not look like the guy who lay you off lol

That’s because Trump is unpolished and speaks like a 7th grader.

[Joe McCarthy Was Right]

Hate is a strong word. Bush in 1992, Dole in 1996, and McCain in 2008 all did worse than Romney in the midwest. So the posters in here saying it was because of his plutocrat image are overthinking it.

tl;dr his performance there wasn't bad but average, and average doesn't cut it for Republicans.

[Sestak]

"Mitt Romney looks like the guy who comes to lay you off" - Mike Huckabee.

You really don't need to go further than this.

And the guy who literally was famous for the phrase "you're fired" did not look like the guy who lay you off lol

No, he doesn't, actually. Trump does it in an over the top, comedic way, on a TV show. Mitt Romney looks like he would sit you down and pretend to sympathize with you while not actually caring or being able to understand your situation at all.

[darklordoftech]

Hate is a strong word. Bush in 1992, Dole in 1996, and McCain in 2008 all did worse than Romney in the midwest. So the posters in here saying it was because of his plutocrat image are overthinking it.

HW Bush was also seen as a plutocrat and was NAFTA's primary negotiator and proponent, Dole was seen as a Goldwaterite, and McCain was so unpopular that he lost Indiana.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Hate is a strong word. Bush in 1992, Dole in 1996, and McCain in 2008 all did worse than Romney in the midwest. So the posters in here saying it was because of his plutocrat image are overthinking it.

tl;dr his performance there wasn't bad but average, and average doesn't cut it for Republicans.

92 Bush did better in the swing/swingy of the Midwestern states : OH, MI, WI and barely did worse in IA

[Statilius the Epicurean]

"Mitt Romney looks like the guy who comes to lay you off" - Mike Huckabee.

You really don't need to go further than this.

And the guy who literally was famous for the phrase "you're fired" did not look like the guy who lay you off lol

Except that watching The Apprentice, as viewers we don't identify with the people fired: we identify with Trump (Alan Sugar in the UK) humiliating the dumb celebrities/sleazy marketing phonies and telling them how much they suck. It's reality TV allowing us to share in the jouissance of the ritual debasement of arrogant, dumb big city big shots.

Romney was like the rich guy who owned your workplace. Trump was a rich guy on TV who only fired incompetent people who think they're better than you.

[Joe McCarthy Was Right]

Hate is a strong word. Bush in 1992, Dole in 1996, and McCain in 2008 all did worse than Romney in the midwest. So the posters in here saying it was because of his plutocrat image are overthinking it.

tl;dr his performance there wasn't bad but average, and average doesn't cut it for Republicans.

92 Bush did better in the swing/swingy of the Midwestern states : OH, MI, WI and barely did worse in IA

Only marginally in the two party vote. Romney probably did a little bit better than George HW Bush with the white vote in the midwest even if you subtract Illinois.

Also Missouri is a semi-midwestern state, and Romney did well there.

[sg0508]

The top 1%, out of touch smirk wasn't going to connect with blue collar, working class voters, but that was also a problem nationwide for him.

[Arbitrage1980]

"Mitt Romney looks like the guy who comes to lay you off" - Mike Huckabee.

A lot of his problems stemmed from that 2009 article about how to handle Detroit. What he described in the article was a structured bankruptcy backed with US gov't money to hold them over. However the headline conveyed the equivalent of DROP DEAD NEW YORK!!! from Gerald Ford's days.

I spent years splitting hairs on this point to defend Romney between 2009 and 2015, but at the end of the day it was a mess he could have easily avoided just by keeping his mouth shut.

Romney also stepped in it with his book, similar to Jeb Bush on immigration, but on health care. What this illustrates is the danger of political books, and the fact they take a few months to get out into circulation and politics moves much faster. Just as Jeb was embarrassed by his book claiming to support only a path to legal status after Rubio had been working the grounds on a 2013 compromise that included a path to citizenship.

Romney contrasted Obamacare from his MA healthcare plan on the basis that Obamacare had a public option, and Romneycare did not. This was the case when the book was composed, but not by the time it hit the shelves. The public option had been dropped making Obamacare hard to differentiate from Romneycare Oops, back to the drawing board. Romney then failed to come up with a consistent narrative after that point. His best bet was a Federalist approach of letting states design their own plans and giving them the money to help facilitate that.

But beyond all of that, it would have been rather difficult for Romney to overcome his Bain Capital days in any case. Too many displaced workers and too many video clips that wrote themselves.

Were it not for social issues, lingering Gay Marriage opposition and the War on Coal narrative, Romney would have done even worse in the Midwest.

Ironcially though in 2008 primaries pundits were calling Mitt the strongest  Republican candidate for states like Michigan and the Midwest in general. They believed he would be weaker in the south though(In 2012 it turned out to be the opposite)

That just shows that pundits are often total morons though.

Had Romney been the 08 candidate Obama probably wins by a bigger PV margin than Reagan 80.

Doubt it. Romney is a stronger candidate than McCain, he would not have picked Palin as his running mate, and due to his business background, he would have dealt with the aftermath of the financial crisis in a more responsible manner. McCain was totally out of his depth after the Lehman collapse, and it was embarrassing to watch. Even then, Obama won the national PV by 7.2% and 365 electoral votes, which is surprising since given the fundamentals, one would think it should have been a 1980 level landslide.

[Arbitrage1980]

Hate is a strong word. Bush in 1992, Dole in 1996, and McCain in 2008 all did worse than Romney in the midwest. So the posters in here saying it was because of his plutocrat image are overthinking it.

tl;dr his performance there wasn't bad but average, and average doesn't cut it for Republicans.

92 Bush did better in the swing/swingy of the Midwestern states : OH, MI, WI and barely did worse in IA

Only marginally in the two party vote. Romney probably did a little bit better than George HW Bush with the white vote in the midwest even if you subtract Illinois.

Also Missouri is a semi-midwestern state, and Romney did well there.

Romney made huge gains in IN and MO compared to McCain, who lost IN by 1% and barely won MO by 0.1%. Romney did fine with socially conservative GOP suburbanites and the wealthy white suburbanites in blue states but was weak with blacks, Latinos, and working class whites. Basically a weaker version of Bush 04.

[Grassroots]

Rich businessman stereotype. What’s really surprising is that this didn’t apply to Trump as well.