It doesn't matter why they voted for Trump, most still won't vote Democratic.

[wcast]

I have a very good friend who asked me yesterday how Trump got elected. I said you should know you voted for him. He said he did that because he didn't think Trump would win.

My friend voted for Trump because he hated Hillary. And he hated her for a dumb reason that doesn't matter. He votes republican even though after years of being my friend he hates fox news and the Koch brothers.

These people in rural America lie to themselves to justify their votes. Emails from Democrats really do matter, Benghazi is just as important as Russia interfering in our elections, etc. They will never see the truth because they don't want to. Most of it is fear of others not like them. That is how Trump could be overtly racist and win.

We Democrats need to focus on our supporters while enacting policies and laws that help everyone. We need to focus on electing and nominating candidates other than white males. True diversity in our party will fire up our base and win us elections.

[KittyWampus]

1. Your post is an absurdly broad statement built on an anecdote. Some of them will vote Democratic

if they are targeted properly using data mining/social media. Or at the least, we can prevent some from voting Republican.

It's not a binary decision. We can stay true to our message and bring in more new voters AND target a small group who are currently in the mushy middle but lean to the right.

[SharonAnn]

9. The ones I know here in East TN will vote for any Republican, no matter what.

[KittyWampus]

10. Aren't specks of TN turning blue?

[Bengus81]

11. Try living in Kansas. Many western counties are dirt poor and yet they will vote..

for Republicans every time no matter HOW BAD they get hurt by them. Poor but they vote to lose health care coverage and never see a min wage increase until at least 2021 and maybe later. Kansas was devastated like most others by the Great Depression and the added effect of the dust bowl but only went for FDR in 32 and 36. Proof again of letting a Dem clean up the MESS so they can start voting for Republicans again. Last time Kansas Rep went for a President that was a Dem was LBJ and that was either sympathy or they actually realized how CRAZY Goldwater was.

It will happen again in Kansas IMO when a Dem is once again elected Governor to clean up the Brownback disaster,they will be voted out next time around.

[Zoonart]

2. TEAM TEAM TEAM

Team politics has taken over. Our quarterback really sucks, but he's our quarterback.

Like the Eagles fans hate the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys have a a really good. Even more reason to hate them- because the Eagles have been lousy. Will we become Dallas fans because they hold that promise of great, competent football? Hell No! Those are "our birds".
Same thing only with ultra dire consequences.

[gratuitous]

3. Stay in touch with your very good friend

Remind him from time to time of promises that Trump has broken, and inquire about just what it was about Hillary Clinton that was soooo awful that he's glad his candidate is now in the White House, ruining the country. They forget really quickly when Fox isn't billboarding the latest "outrage" 24-7. Do the job that Fox did on Clinton for your friend on Trump.

Get him to the point where he starts seeing it for himself. It's going to require time and patience, repetition and reminding. But it's his only path back to being a decent human being, albeit one who will have always voted for Trump.

[madokie]

4. My neighbor told me it didn't matter

that he and his wife voted for tRump cause the whole state went for dRumpF. My reply was you didn't know that when you voted
One of those fake Christians. He is not sure his wife is. I think she just puts up with him. Too old to change, too old to care anymore.

[KingCharlemagne]

5. 25% unemployment will do wonders to bringing them to the light. - nt

[beachbum bob]

6. still more of us than them...I could care less to have any trump supporters vote democratic

we have the numbers, its matter of us getting off our asses and quit the "lesser of 2 evils"....litmus test.....those people elected trump...not trump supporters

[demmiblue]

7. Obama won Michigan in a landslide in 2008.

We can get some of them back.

We need: 1) candidates that inspire people from all walks of life, 2) a good ground game, and 3) stick to the principles and platform of the Democratic party.

[Orsino]

8. Until the stakes are obviously much higher than Meskin-hate and pissing off libruls...

...politics will continue to be a spectator sport in America.

Numerous marcher argue that this next cycle can be very different. Recall that we don't have to turn every Trump voter into a Democrat; what we absolutely must do is reduce enthusiasm in the Trumper camp. That the GOP seems hell-bent on doing that heavy lifting for us leaves us with fewer excuses. If we can't win againt their failheap, and win big, it's time to stop pretending we're Democrats.

[Tom Rinaldo]

12. If voters can shift one way, they can shift another

Hard core backers of policies values and ideologies don't move around much (though a few do transform) but there are a lot of voters who aren't hard core anything. Yes the somewhat fluid ones represent a minority of voters, but they often provide the swing difference in close elections.

Which isn't the same as saying that we shouldn't fire up our base and nominate diverse candidates, of course we should. The odd almost paradoxical thing is that real passion can attract the interest of the ordinarily apathetic. So if Democrats actually stand up strongly for real values - we can pull back some of the voters who have drifted away from us in the past.