Republican Undercard Debate: Live Coverage

Micah, Off the top of my head, I can think of four plausible answers to that question, none of which are mutually exclusive:

1. Santorum and Huckabee’s policies wouldn’t necessarily benefit blue-collar voters, so there’s no natural allegiance there.
2. The GOP has become a highly ideological party; even blue-collar Republican voters principally put ideological and cultural concerns above economic concerns, and other candidates speak to those better than Santorum and Huckabee.
3. Blue-collar voters within the GOP feel disenfranchised by the Republican establishment, so candidates like Trump have more appeal to them.
4. Santorum and Huckabee are old news. Maybe they are overperforming among blue-collar voters — but that could mean getting 4 percent of the vote instead of 2 percent.

Both Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee emphasize blue-collar workers’ concerns, like manufacturing, more than the average Republican candidate. Whenever they do it, I think, “Yeah, that’s a message that should resonate with the GOP electorate.” But it doesn’t seem to? What’s the deal? Why isn’t there more of a blue-collar pitch to make in this primary?

On Monday, Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a bill offering more early and online voting options, which Democratic-leaning voters often take more advantage of when enacted. Yet the very next day, voter turnout in New Jersey hit a record low for a general election, with only 21 percent of voters showing up at the polls and the Democrats making gains in the state assembly. This earned him criticism from progressive groups and the The New York Times editorial board … not exactly strong factors for Republican constituencies. But at this point, he’s not doing so well on the homefront. According to a Quinnipiac poll, a majority of voters in New Jersey want Christie to drop out of the race, including 40 percent of Republicans in the state and 66 percent of independents.