Democrats' working-class exodus sets off reckoning within party

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   Readmikenowposted 4 weeks ago

   It seems as if the democrats are not seen as best representing the working class.
   
   "WASHINGTON — Demoralized Democrats are soul-searching and blaming each other after President-elect Donald Trump's resounding election victory exposed erosion among working-class support for Democrats that poses a potential long-term crisis for the party.
   
   Democrats − who have long prided themselves as the party for the little guy − instead strengthened their emerging base of financially secure college graduates this election while a growing number of blue-collar voters embraced Trump and Republicans.
   
   Especially alarming for Democrats this election: The exodus of working-class voters from the Democratic Party included not just white voters, but helped Trump make gains with Latino and Black men.
   
   Reflecting a widening educational divide, voters with college degrees backed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris 55%-42% in this week's election while Trump won non-college-educated voters − who made up more than half the electorate − 56-42%, according to exit polls. Four years ago, Trump won 50% of voters without college degrees to President Joe Biden's 48%.
   
   What's more, Trump won 50-46% among voters whose income is less than $100,000, a staggering turnaround from Biden's 56%-43% advantage with this group in 2020. Meanwhile, Harris won voters who earn $100,000 or more 51%-46% over Trump, who in 2020 topped this more affluent group of voters 54%-42% over Biden.
   
   The realignment crystalized a political reality that's tough for Democrats to swallow: With blue-collar voters flocking away from their party over multiple election cycles, Democrats' refashioned base is becoming more upper-class, urban/suburban and coastal. It's a narrowed coalition that does not bode well for future elections.
   
   "It should be the top and only concern of every Democrat in Congress and around the country for the next two years and beyond," U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., told USA TODAY. "(The election) showed that the campaign was a failure. We have to prioritize the economic needs and hardships of most working-class families. We failed to make them seem heard and seen in their frustrations with the economic and political system."
   
   The shift of many working-class voters away from Democrats helped produce Republicans' first popular vote victory in 20 years. Trump gained ground from his 2020 performance in 49 states, while a New York Times analysis found Trump improved on his 2020 margin in at least 2,367 counties and decreased in only 240 counties.
   
   "We should spend six months just listening to communities," said Khanna, who grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, which narrowly flipped to Trump in this week's election. "Just sit there and respect the voters. Listen and understand what they're saying."
   
   https://www.yahoo.com/news/democrats-wo … 02707.html

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      gmwilliamsposted 4 weeks agoin reply to this

      The working & lower middle class have been exiting the Democratic Party since the late 1970s & especially in the 1980s.   There were those from ethnic communities in Brooklyn & Staten Island especially who voted Republican during those times.   The working & lower middle class have been exiting the Democratic Party because the party has progressed leftward for them.  They were used to the centrist Democratic Party.
      
      In earlier decades, the Democratic Party wasn't as radicalized as it is presently.  Many Democrats were moderate, centrist, & even conservative. My parents were centrist Democrats while I was the liberal Democrat.   However, during the 1980s in response to Republican Party leaning more conservative, many moderate, centrist, & of course conservative Democrats began aligning themselves w/the Republican Party as the party's ideology resonated w/them.
      
      Since the 2000s, the Democratic Party has become the Leftist Party. That doesn't sit well with the more moderate faction of Democrats.  Many see the state that the Democratic Party is in & they no longer want anything to do w/the party, even the solidly middle class, highly educated Democrats.  The working & lower middle class has LONG ABANDONED the Democratic Party.

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         Readmikenowposted 4 weeks agoin reply to this

         This is a common story.  Years ago when I was deeply involved with the Republican party, we would go to polling places and hand out things alongside the democrats.  When it was all over, we'd all go to a local drinking establishment, have a few drinks and talk about things other than politics.  We wanted to win but members of both parties gracefully accepted our losses.
         
         NOW...at these very same polling places police have been called because of actual physical confrontations between Republicans and democrats.  There is a "war" mentality.  Emotions are so high.  It's unreal to me.
         
         I hope some day we can get back to supporting your candidate, enjoying a win, accepting a loss and going to have a few drinks and just talk about life.  As we used to say, "Politics are part of my life but not my whole life."
         
         I do have hope for the future.  I believe the moderates of the democrat party are going to once again take control. 
         
         It's their only hope.

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