Hey, Check This Out: The Democrats

We have all heard it a million times: Trump won in 2016 by making unique and unprecedented appeals to the racist and xenophobic tendencies of White voters, and was removed in 2020 by a coalition of women and minorities who stood up against racism and fascism. But what if that story was wrong? While there is indeed no doubt that Trump took a bigoted stance in the 2016 and 2020 elections, the idea that this was his defining electoral strength turns out to be flatly wrong. From 2016 to 2020, demographics that Trump supposedly alienates, groups that are considered core parts of the Democratic voter base, moved considerably in his favor. Black voters? Four points toward Trump. Hispanics, three. Black women moved nine points, and Central Americans swung by thirty seven. Contrary to popular belief, Biden’s victory was not the result of a rebuttal of Trumpism by minorities. In fact, the only major voting group who preferred Biden to Clinton was White men!

    Statistics tell us that the slow but sure defection of women and minorities from the Democratic voting bloc dates back to long before the tenures of Trump and Obama. But how on earth can this be? The simple answer is that the Democrats have failed to make and maintain a convincing offer to their constituent demographics. After decades have passed with little to no positive change for the people they ostensibly represent, their credibility is withering away. As it should! The Democrats have long acted as if they are entitled to the votes of women and minorities, while simultaneously collaborating with the Republicans in providing them absolutely nothing. The implicit idea that this would go without consequence is, and always has been, completely ludicrous. Are Republicans better for oppressed groups than Democrats? Of course not. But in order to maintain their overwhelming advantage among non-White and female voters (which is the very advantage that allows for their continued existence), the Democrats must come to stand for something greater than nostalgic platitudes and empty virtue-signaling. Rather than sidelining advocates of progress and promising a "return to normal," they must make legitimate and noticeable change, not just by being more civil and telegenic, but by improving people's day-to-day lives. To stop the hemorrhage, Democrats must adopt a message in direct opposition to the status quo that is responsible for the oppression and disenfranchisement of their base. In a country with a foundation of rot and dysfunction, being the party of normalcy is a sure recipe for long-term failure.

al-Gharbi, Musa. “White Men Swung to Biden. Trump Made Gains with Black and Latino Voters. Why? | Musa Al-Gharbi.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 14 Nov. 2020, www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/14/joe-biden-trump-black-latino-republicans?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1. 




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