People who don’t name a political party in their voter registration are predominantly people who usually vote for Republicans and are mostly unconvertible. Our most effective opportunities are in making sure Americans with non-European ancestors get registered to vote, get to the polls, and cast votes. Depending on the demographic, 70% t…
People who don’t name a political party in their voter registration are predominantly people who usually vote for Republicans and are mostly unconvertible. Our most effective opportunities are in making sure Americans with non-European ancestors get registered to vote, get to the polls, and cast votes. Depending on the demographic, 70% to 90% of Americans with non-European ancestors vote for Democrats.
Party stats are about 30% Republicans + 40% Independents + 30% Democrats. Stacey Abrams’ secret to success was going after traditionally perceived unreachable or unlikely voters.
Stacy Abrams accomplished the miracle in Georgia by getting an unprecedented voter turnout among the 44% of the Georgia electorate who have non-European ancestors. She did not waste her time trying to convince white voters, Independent or not, to vote for Democrats. White voters in Georgia with even a remote inclination to vote Democratic did so with no encouragement from Stacy Abrams. Many of those voters helped her with her project. The same miracle can be accomplished through energetic, well financed, Abrams-style efforts in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina. It cannot be accomplished in Kentucky, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Idaho, or Wyoming.
If you look back at our recent history from the New Deal to the 1980 presidential election, and the beginning of the Reagan Revolution, most working-class whites voted Democratic.
I think the tipping point was a bit earlier (1968), but that's just a quibble. Your observation is correct. The difference is that after 1954 (Brown v Board) and especially after 1964 (Civil Rights Act) and 1965 (Voting Rights Act), working-class white voters realized that Democrats were trying to do their best for the entire population, not just the white population. The New Deal passed because of concessions to Dixiecrats that limited benefits for black citizens. Same goes for the GI Bill, which had no racial disparity in its language (unlike Social Security, which limited benefits for black people by excluding occupations they were likely to be employed in), but the Dixiecrats demanded that people from their ranks be allowed to administer GI Bill benefits, and they administered the project in a way that severely limited the dispersal of GI benefits to black GIs. American politics is mostly about race. Has been since 1789. Still is.
Rex, voters in states with open primaries, like Georgia, are limited in the primaries to those candidates who have also not declared a party affiliation. That results in precious few choices. My firstborn learned that the hard way. Had he only asked his mother …. I also learned it the hard way. When I registered to vote in NYS, many moons ago, I registered Independent. Same result. Now, in GA, we are asked which ballot we want when we vote. That’s our declaration.
People who don’t name a political party in their voter registration are predominantly people who usually vote for Republicans and are mostly unconvertible. Our most effective opportunities are in making sure Americans with non-European ancestors get registered to vote, get to the polls, and cast votes. Depending on the demographic, 70% to 90% of Americans with non-European ancestors vote for Democrats.
Party stats are about 30% Republicans + 40% Independents + 30% Democrats. Stacey Abrams’ secret to success was going after traditionally perceived unreachable or unlikely voters.
Stacy Abrams accomplished the miracle in Georgia by getting an unprecedented voter turnout among the 44% of the Georgia electorate who have non-European ancestors. She did not waste her time trying to convince white voters, Independent or not, to vote for Democrats. White voters in Georgia with even a remote inclination to vote Democratic did so with no encouragement from Stacy Abrams. Many of those voters helped her with her project. The same miracle can be accomplished through energetic, well financed, Abrams-style efforts in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina. It cannot be accomplished in Kentucky, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Idaho, or Wyoming.
If you look back at our recent history from the New Deal to the 1980 presidential election, and the beginning of the Reagan Revolution, most working-class whites voted Democratic.
I think the tipping point was a bit earlier (1968), but that's just a quibble. Your observation is correct. The difference is that after 1954 (Brown v Board) and especially after 1964 (Civil Rights Act) and 1965 (Voting Rights Act), working-class white voters realized that Democrats were trying to do their best for the entire population, not just the white population. The New Deal passed because of concessions to Dixiecrats that limited benefits for black citizens. Same goes for the GI Bill, which had no racial disparity in its language (unlike Social Security, which limited benefits for black people by excluding occupations they were likely to be employed in), but the Dixiecrats demanded that people from their ranks be allowed to administer GI Bill benefits, and they administered the project in a way that severely limited the dispersal of GI benefits to black GIs. American politics is mostly about race. Has been since 1789. Still is.
Rex, voters in states with open primaries, like Georgia, are limited in the primaries to those candidates who have also not declared a party affiliation. That results in precious few choices. My firstborn learned that the hard way. Had he only asked his mother …. I also learned it the hard way. When I registered to vote in NYS, many moons ago, I registered Independent. Same result. Now, in GA, we are asked which ballot we want when we vote. That’s our declaration.