HOUSTON, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- "I used to be a Republican, but I voted for Obama in the last (2008) election because I like Obama's approach," said Karen Dunne, a retired U.S. school teacher, "I think Republicans should take the blame for a lot of what's wrong now, because they don't like banking regulations.
"They (the Republicans) are obstinate and they don't even try to come to the table," Karen, and her husband Jimmy Dunne, told Xinhua in a recent exclusive interview.
Karen and Jimmy, 78, said that they will vote for President Barack Obama in the coming general elections in November this year as they believed that the U.S economy will continue to improve under Obama.
Both Jimmy and Karen, who taught in a Methodist pre-school before retiring four years ago, discussed how Obama's years in office, together with a slow economic recovery from recession, have been felt in their lives.
"The last four years have impacted me and my family. I see the value of my (investment stock) assets went down from the period of 2008 to 2011, but they've been coming back up since then," said Jimmy. "We've noticed the price of gas went up since Obama took office, but that's coming down now."
Like many Democrats, Karen and her husband see Republicans -- and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's race partner Paul Ryan's plan to end Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and reduce Medicare benefits -- as a threat to the government-sponsored health care on which they rely.
Despite the fact that their own Medicare coverage would be exempt from Republican-proposed cuts affecting people age 55 and below, they see a pattern of what they say are that party's political injustices to seniors.
"Republicans will take away your health care," said Jimmy. " Under a Romney administration, both healthcare and Social Security programs would be cut back."
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