Getting more of the white vote

[Recursion]

Basically, all of the talk about Trump's support remains wrong, at least if you go by the actual data.

Up until about $150K, the richer a white person is, the more likely he is to support Trump. After $150K (all of this is household, not individual) it starts to even out, and basically the two parties split the Really Rich vote (though, even within that cohort, the richer you are the more likely you are to support Trump).

I think part of the misunderstanding is that people get the wrong idea about who the White Working Class ™ are. We're not talking about jobless people in dead mill towns where empty 2 liter bottles are now a form of currency (the "working" in "working class" is important -- remember even among white voters Clinton won people who listed "jobs" or "the economy" as their primary issue). We're talking mostly about high-school educated two-worker white families. What's their average household income? About $72K. Not coincidentally, that's pretty much exactly where Trump support crosses over Clinton support nationwide: that big group of general contractors, CPAs, and general managers who -- with a spouse working at least part time -- clear the national median income by a good $20K. These are the people who used to have cheaper insurance than they do, and feel like they're being asked to pay more for insurance to support them, which they will swear is not a racially coded pronoun.

If the Democratic party really wants to pivot on economics, we need to start asking "what can we do to appeal to a white couple making $80K in a town on the outskirts of Lancaster PA?" But I don't know that we actually want to pivot on economics, it just seems like an easier answer than what we need to do: dissuade those people from voting, and persuade poorer people than them to vote (including removing the many barriers being put in the way of their voting).

[tonyt53]

1. How? They don't care about Russia. They want affordable healthcare and steady jobs.

If you want this group to not vote, then we will lose again. Make this November about the economy and nothing else. It is as simple as that.

[joshcryer]

2. "dissuade those people from voting"

This is precisely what the Republicans have done for 30 some odd years. They work hard to convince people that there's no difference between the parties and that voting doesn't matter. What happens is the older folks, who went through the same thing of not ever voting, then go out to vote. And they tend to vote conservatively.

This is true, of course. We need to make them sour on their candidates. Stop attacking our own candidates, unify around our candidates, and get the fuck over it if certain candidates don't win their primaries.

[NCTraveler]

3. Discussions like this simply start on the wrong footing.

"what can we do to appeal to a white couple making $80K in a town on the outskirts of Lancaster PA?"

A majority of our platform is directed at this group. Clinton talked about economic issues that direct relate to them every day on the trail. Maybe that's why she pulled millions of more votes.

Candidate after candidate on our side is campaigning on issues directed at the group you mention.

What's missing in your talk? If we have such a good message for them, and we are delivering it, is economics really why many aren't voting for us?

[Recursion]

4. Of course it's not why

I imagine the percent of voters who actually vote based on policies would poll in the single digits.