Republicans and the White Working Class

This is somewhat interesting least of all for the fact that a publication of the British capitalist class is quite free with the term "working class" and so is the author of the piece the economist is referring to, an American at the Enterprise Institute.(See the link to the whole piece in the Weekly Standard below.)
Only the US trade Union leaders refuse to use the term "working class" preferring "middle class" instead. Politicians in the two parties of the 1%, the Democrats and Republicans, also use "middle class" when speaking of us in public but between themselves they speak quite freely and with less caution.The quote below is very revealing.

The Economist: American politics

Lexington's notebook

The white working class

The lesson from Ohio
Nov 16th 2011, 18:05 by Lexington
HENRY OLSEN, a shrewd analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, has been arguing for a while that the Republicans are taking the votes of the white working class for granted as 2012 approaches. Now the Ohio recall referendum has given him some fresh ammunition. His key points (the whole piece is here):

The GOP base voter believes the deficit is as large a problem as the economy; the white working-class independent does not. The GOP base voter believes cutting entitlements is necessary to cut the deficit and that taxes on the rich should not be raised; the white working-class independent disagrees. The GOP base voter wants to stay in Iraq and Afghanistan; the white working-class independent wants to come home. The GOP base voter scorns Occupy Wall Street; the white working-class independent thinks the Occupiers have something of a point ...
... Despite all their advantages, Republicans won only 52 percent of the popular vote in the House last year. They achieved this total because of their record-high 63 percent to 33 percent margin of victory among the white working class. In other words, if the Republican nominee’s share of the white working-class vote slips below 60 percent, there is virtually no chance he will get a majority of the national popular vote in 2012. If the share slips closer to McCain’s 58 percent in 2008, Obama’s reelection is assured.

Mr Olsen also argues that Mitt Romney might be the candidate least able to fix the problem, and, in a separate piece, that Newt Gingrich has hit an enduring "sweet spot" among Republican voters. On that, I disagree, as this week's print column will argue.