[thechat] Why would a conservative vote for a Republican president?

[Erik Mattheis]

Conservatives would like to see the US experience economic growth while  
keeping inflation down. They would like to see smaller federal  
government and reign in federal spending. The economy should supply  
plenty of jobs. Mind you, we can't accomplish any of this by running up  
the federal deficit. George Bush's administration is not faring well by  
any of these measures. Conservatives tell us there are extenuating  
circumstances. However, looking at the track records of the seven  
presidential administrations that preceded the current one, it's  
puzzling why any conservative opted to vote for George Bush, a  
Republican, in the first place.

Figures are yearly averages for the duration of the administration:

GDP Growth

1. Kennedy (D)  5.6%
2. Johnson  (D) 4.2%
3 (tie). Clinton (D) 3.5%
3 (tie). Reagan (R) 3.5%

Inflation

1. Kennedy (D) 1.3%
2. Clinton  (D) 2.7%
3 (tie). GHW Bush (R) 3.9%
3 (tie). Johnson (D)  3.9%

Growth of Non-Defense Federal Government Employees

1. Clinton (D) -13,125
2. Carter (D) -3500
3. Reagan (R) 375

Federal Spending Growth

1. Clinton (D) 3.56%
2. Kennedy (D) 4.94%
3. GHW Bush (R) 5.40%

Unemployment

1. Johnson (D) 3.7%
2. Clinton (D) 4.9%
3. Kennedy (D) 5.2%

Growth in Federal Deficit (1996 dollars)

1. Clinton (D)  -$1.78 billion
2. Kennedy (D) $24.3 billion
3. Johnson (D)  $38.43 billion

RESULTS:

Democrats take the Gold and Silver medals in all six events, bring home  
two Bronze and tie for third twice. Republicans win two Bronze medals  
and tie for third twice.

Thanks to Rus Barnes ( http://www.apostropher.com/blog/ ) for pointing  
out the research compiled by Dwight Meredith (  
http://www.pla.blogspot.com/ ).

Supporting data can be found at:
ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/lf/aat1.txt
ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/cpi/cpiai.txt
http://www.bea.gov/bea/dn/nipaweb/ 
TableViewFixed.asp?SelectedTable=1&FirstYear=2001&LastYear=2002&Freq=Qtr
http://w3.access.gpo.gov/usbudget/fy2003/pdf/hist.pdf

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-/erik/

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