A right-wing republic?

From Counterpunch:
George Bush barely defeated John Kerry in the Electoral College, but he won the popular vote by a sizeable margin of 4 million across the country. Republicans increased their majority in Congress, while voters in 11 states voted to ban gay marriage. And California's referendum against "three strikes" sentencing laws also went down to defeat. Republicans - and social conservatives - swept the 2004 election, despite the extreme polarization of the nation's population.(...)
The conservative and Republican vote was higher than in 2000. The 55 percent voter turnout (higher than the 51 percent turnout in 2000, but not nearly as high as the 60 percent predicted) had been widely predicted to help push Kerry to victory. Instead, many new voters, mobilized by Republicans, went for Bush. Florida, Georgia, Virginia and Kentucky--which went Republican--did set record turnouts. Meanwhile, the student-aged population signed up by Democrats stayed home in roughly the same large proportions as in 2000. So much for benefits of Michael Moore and Bruce Springsteen stumping for Kerry.
Bush also won substantial votes from the rapidly withering traditional base of the Democratic Party. Here are some initial statistics (based on CNN exit polls, and therefore subject to change) that give some idea of the breakdown of the Democrats' traditional base:
- 23 percent of gays voted for Bush.
- 36 percent of union members voted for Bush (as did 40 percent of those with union members in their households).
- Of those earning $15,000-$30,000, 42 percent voted for Bush.
- 11 percent of Blacks voted for Bush.
- 44 percent of Latinos voted for Bush.