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Opinion If Democrats are losing the working class, it’s not because of the left

cigaretteman

HR King
May 29, 2001
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By Katrina vanden Heuvel
Columnist
July 26, 2022 at 7:00 a.m. EDT

It’s no surprise that Democrats are up against it this fall. The president’s party generally does worse in midterm elections. Inflation is at a 40-year high. Crime is up. And the centerpiece of President Biden’s domestic agenda has been torpedoed by united Republican obstruction — and a West Virginia Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin III.
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But a critical factor was revealed in a recent New York Times-Siena College poll: Though they enjoy a huge 20-point advantage over Republicans among white college-educated voters, the Democrats have a working-class problem.
The Democratic Party is losing support not just among White, but all non-college educated voters, trailing the GOP by 12 points. It is becoming the party of upscale urban and suburban voters, while Republicans are beginning to consolidate a multiracial coalition of working-class voters.
Why is this happening? A chorus of armchair pundits and centrist think tanks believe they know who’s to blame. Not Biden, not Democratic centrists, not the gerontocracy that runs the party in the House and Senate, nor the party establishment.
No, it’s all the fault of the left. “Wokeness,” splutters James Carville, “is a problem and we all know it.” Ruy Teixeira argues that the left has poisoned the “party brand” and dismisses the idea that campaigning for more gun control and against the assault on abortion and Donald Trump’s “big lie” about a stolen election will save Democrats this fall.
It’s hard to make sense of this house of mirrors. After all, the president is Biden, not Bernie Sanders. Nancy Pelosi and Steny H. Hoyer lead the House, not “the squad” nor the Progressive Caucus. Centrists such as Manchin and Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema sabotaged Biden’s economic plan, not the left. Crime is up in red and blue states alike and Biden has called for funding the police more than reforming them. The economy is growing faster than ever, with job creation setting records. Abortion, gun control and defending democracy enjoy majority support and are central reasons Democrats have that lead among the college-educated.
And if the problem, as the pundits argue, is that working-class voters feel looked down upon, nothing Black Lives Matter or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have done has been as poisonous as Hillary Clinton’s calling Trump voters “deplorables,” or Barack Obama’s disdain for those who “cling to guns or religion.”
Headed into a low turnout midterm election, Democrats ought to be concerned that the activists of their base — the young, African Americans, climate activists, Hispanics — are demoralized, while those on the right are aroused and on the march.
Republicans deliver to their base, even when most Americans disagree. Trump’s administration was a hot mess, but the corporations got deregulation, the evangelicals got their zealous judges, the rich got tax cuts, Big Oil and King Coal got climate action blocked. And for those communities ravaged by plant closures and jobs getting shipped abroad, Trump called out the elites that had failed them and broke with the neoliberal “free trade” shibboleths — torpedoing Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership, renegotiating Clinton’s North American Free Trade Agreement, imposing tariffs on China. He didn’t have a coherent plan or policy, but he did something.
Democrats, by contrast, spurn their activists. Promises on student loan relief have been broken, action on climate and immigration stymied. Biden is more pro-labor than his Democratic predecessors, but the National Labor Relations Board hasn’t been rebuilt, labor law reform is going nowhere. The party is going all out on saving abortion, but it didn’t keep Pelosi and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee from putting real energy into fending off a pro-choice primary challenger to Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, who opposes choice and much of the rest of the Democratic agenda.
The Democrats’ problem among the working class isn’t Black Lives Matter or pro-choice activists. It’s that this economy doesn’t work for working people. The rich capture the rewards of growth, while working people’s conditions grow less secure. Working-class Americans may be able to buy more stuff at Walmart, but they struggle to afford the necessities — health care, housing, education, retirement security, and now food and gas.
Centrist Democrats from Bill Clinton to Obama championed the neoliberal policies — deregulation, free trade, privatization — that led to this result. What Democrats need isn’t a turn to the right on social issues but a populist agenda on economic issues. They have to be clear that they are willing to tax the rich and invest in rebuilding America, to take on the monopolies — from Big Pharma to Big Oil — that are driving inflation, and that they will empower workers and hold CEOs accountable. And they have to deliver. Biden offered the boldest agenda of any Democrat since Lyndon B. Johnson, but he couldn’t deliver.
In the end, if our corrupted politics mean that Democrats can’t produce for working people, while Republicans continue to serve the corporations and the rich, the anger and fissures in America will fester and deepen. And the attraction of a strongman who will shake things up will only grow.

 
I would go out on a limb and say what the uneducated middle class working people see on social media every day is probably why. I mean the past year or so has been certain pages and the like showing drag shows at elementary/middle schools lol. Then all the stories on CRT and other opinions of the loud “woke” left is what is pushing them right. For example I saw this scrolling through my feed retweeted by Ben Shapiro last night:

 
Who told you that? I'm seriously curious. Detail "all things" that have been "centered around LBGTQ". Or is this just something you heard created by people skilled at building boogeymen to frighten you?
First of all I am not told how or what to think by anyone. Second it's pretty obvious that LBGTQ has replaced blacks and Latinos in the Democrats victim usefulness hierarchy. Third is the Democrats have become anti religious anti family values and guess who is very pro religion and family values. Blacks and Latinos.
 
Well that's one opinion... a shitty one... but one opinion..


You want to piss off the working class super hard core? Write off all the loans for privileged kids that went and got a social studies BA.
 
First of all I am not told how or what to think by anyone. Second it's pretty obvious that LBGTQ has replaced blacks and Latinos in the Democrats victim usefulness hierarchy. Third is the Democrats have become anti religious anti family values and guess who is very pro religion and family values. Blacks and Latinos.
So...more of "this is what I've been told" and totally unresponsive to the request for info. Thanks.

BTW, a party that knowingly elects a thrice-divorced, cheated-on-every-single one, paid hush money to his stripper hooker, bragged about watching teen girls change clothes, con man who would and has tossed his own children under the proverbial bus and a party that has knowingly tried to throw millions off their health insurance - millions of them people of color - with not one thing to replace it has ZERO f'n business talking about "family values". So do the Republicans now. Not what you've "heard" but what they've actually done. TIA
 
"Democrats, by contrast, spurn their activists. Promises on student loan relief have been broken, action on climate and immigration stymied. Biden is more pro-labor than his Democratic predecessors, but the National Labor Relations Board hasn’t been rebuilt, labor law reform is going nowhere. The party is going all out on saving abortion, but it didn’t keep Pelosi and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee from putting real energy into fending off a pro-choice primary challenger to Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, who opposes choice and much of the rest of the Democratic agenda.

"The Democrats’ problem among the working class isn’t Black Lives Matter or pro-choice activists. It’s that this economy doesn’t work for working people."
 
I would go out on a limb and say what the uneducated middle class working people see on social media every day is probably why. I mean the past year or so has been certain pages and the like showing drag shows at elementary/middle schools lol. Then all the stories on CRT and other opinions of the loud “woke” left is what is pushing them right. For example I saw this scrolling through my feed retweeted by Ben Shapiro last night:


It's almost like the Right Wing Media Machine intentionally spreads isolated incidents and uses them to paint a false narrative designed to scare and rile up the uneducated so that they will vote against their interests.

Also following Ben Shapiro on Twitter is a nice self own. He's a manlet Rush Limbaugh that likes to spread hate.
 
It's almost like the Right Wing Media Machine intentionally spreads isolated incidents and uses them to paint a false narrative designed to scare and rile up the uneducated so that they will vote against their interests.

Also following Ben Shapiro on Twitter is a nice self own. He's a manlet Rush Limbaugh that likes to spread hate.
Which was the point of my post.

I follow all kinds of lefties and righties on Twitter for political commentary. I also follow beat writers of teams I hate to keep up with the news. But Way to self own yourself on your lack of diverse opinions tho. I bet you love when you see a post that confirms all the biases you have.
 
Who told you that? I'm seriously curious. Detail "all things" that have been "centered around LBGTQ". Or is this just something you heard created by people skilled at building boogeymen to frighten you?
You're joking right? The left doesn't make a move without worrying about how the LBGQTRUV÷/>@# will react to it.
 
First of all I am not told how or what to think by anyone. Second it's pretty obvious that LBGTQ has replaced blacks and Latinos in the Democrats victim usefulness hierarchy. Third is the Democrats have become anti religious anti family values and guess who is very pro religion and family values. Blacks and Latinos.

Pretty light on facts and evidence. Of course that makes it easier to feel whatever is comfortable.
 
Third is the Democrats have become anti religious anti family values

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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What policies favoring LGBT have Democrats passed into our laws?
What percentage of Democratic passed laws in the last two years have been centered around LBGT issues?
This is another right-wing created talking point that is complete BS.

Katrina is a fierce defender of the left wing of the party and very opinionated...but not infallible.
 
What policies favoring LGBT have Democrats passed into our laws?
What percentage of Democratic passed laws in the last two years have been centered around LBGT issues?
This is another right-wing created talking point that is complete BS.

Katrina is a fierce defender of the left wing of the party and very opinionated...but not infallible.
Lol
 
Which was the point of my post.

I follow all kinds of lefties and righties on Twitter for political commentary. I also follow beat writers of teams I hate to keep up with the news. But Way to self own yourself on your lack of diverse opinions tho. I bet you love when you see a post that confirms all the biases you have.

Twitter? Your source! The Way to keep up with the news is listen to the news. If one can't sort out fact from fiction, it's beyond reason to think objective analyzes can be reached.

Media has both inherent and formal codes of ethics, policed by competition. Tell or report an untruth and a competitor will call you out. Reputation and reliability are the fulcrums of trust. At least it has been until the sensationalism press industry became important with National Enquirer, Fox News and Rush Limbaugh.

That all went out the window with no fact checking, and choreographed misinformation and baseless nonsense written, broadcast and aired by conservative media.

Truth is a matter recognized by common sense and logic.

Bias is an afterthought to be sorted out by those that can't see it.
 
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