Conservative icon John O'Sullivan (former editor of the National Review), is warning that the investor class may turn away from GOP. An October 2000 Zogby poll had the "investor class" choosing Bush over Gore by a 10-point margin, offsetting a clear 18-point advantage for Gore amongst non-investors. The recent economic troubles and corporate scandals now threatens GOP dominance over investors.

O'Sullivan ressurects a prediction he made back in October 2000, and argues it is now coming true:

At the time I suggested two possible consequences in the magazine National Review. First, if stocks fell, there would be a general drift in the investor class away from risk and toward security--a drift likely to take them in a Democratic direction and away from such political projects as the partial privatization of Social Security. Second, the investors themselves might well become hostile to the party most associated with persuading them to put their money into falling stocks. That is why Lady Thatcher fell from power in Britain in 1990. Homeowners blamed her for the sharp deflationary fall in the value of their principal investment, which her government had successfully urged them to purchase.