Democrats in Iowa looking for ways to win back Trump voters

[PoliticAverse]

DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa Democrats are looking for the prescription that will help them emerge from their withered condition, after dominating just a decade ago.

After sending progressive Tom Harkin to the Senate for 30 years and twice delivering the state for Barack Obama, Democrats are powerless in the House, Senate and statehouse, and remain stunned by President Donald Trump's solid Iowa victory last year.

While it's a familiar scenario across the upper Midwest, the pressure on Iowa Democrats to recoup the working-class voters who marched with Trump is more intense: They're charged with setting the tone in a little more than two years for the party's presidential nomination.

Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan has ideas for Iowa, his own state and elsewhere. He is among three rising House Democrats — including Illinois' Cheri Bustos and Seth Moulton of Massachusetts — in Des Moines on Saturday for a Democratic fundraiser, capping a summer of early activity in the presidential proving ground by more than 10 would-be White House prospects.

Read the rest at: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/democrats-in-iowa-looking-for-ways-to-win-back-trump-voters/ar-AAsEuNS

[LonePirate]

1. If they don't have the intelligence to see how awful a president he is, then we can't win them back.

[Bradshaw3]

2. As the article said Obama carried Iowa twice

So we should just give up on Obama/trump voters because they are not smart and people are mad at them? That is a sure way for Dems to keep on losing.

[drray23]

3. i am not sure they are the same.

Some of these voters who voted for obama just did not voye this time. Its easier to increase get out the votes efforts than trying to convince brain dead people. The more you talk to them, the more they persist. Many Trump voters will never admit they made a mistake. Just like their cult leader, they will go down with the ship rather than admit they were wrong.

[Bradshaw3]

11. You are talking about the hardcore trumpists' not the Obama/trump voters

that I was talking about. It's estimated at about 10 percent which even winning some back could make a difference in a close election. It's just not a good strategy to write off blocs of voters who have shown in the past they would vote for a Democrat.

[drray23]

33. it is a good strategy if this means diverting your resources to convince these 10 % when you could

instead boost your get out the votes efforts by that same 10 %. We know from experience in the field that it is easier to do the later than the former.

[Bradshaw3]

35. How do we know that?

Do you have a link? And why not do both? I worked for Obama in 2008 in Indian personally talking to voters who voted for Bush in 2004 and we flipped that county and state.
This vision that some have of "our voters" marching to the polls in masses to take over the country is just not realistic. Getting people out to vote has been tried and sometimes works, sometimes not. A lot depends on the candidate and their message and the situation of those who don't always vote. Sociologists have known for a long time that the less stake people have in the system the less likely they are to vote. Get out the vote campaigns are good, but so are strategies that try to win over voters who have voted both ways in the past. Giving up on them completely makes no sense.

[LonePirate]

4. People voted for him due to emotion and ignorance. They will not be persuaded by us.

They have to change their own minds. We cannot do that for them.

Also, there is not a lot of difference between Alabama and Iowa nowadays. We really should write off the state and focus our efforts on purple states instead of deep red states like Iowa. And yes, Iowa is a deep red state now. It will not turn blue again any time soon.

[Bradshaw3]

10. These generalizations are just not true.

People, including some drumpf voters, vote for a variety of reasons. Some of those same voters who voted for Obama also voted on emotion and were not particularly well versed on the issues. I don't know why you link Alabama and Iowa; they are very different. Regardless my point was about the 10 percent who voted for Obama and drumpf. They could be crucial in close state and national elections. To write off those numbers completely is just a failing strategy and makes no sense. It seems to be born more out of anger than a smart tactic. The repubs control statehouses across the country. In order to change gerrymandering and stop voter suppression Dems must win some back. To lay that off on them "changing their own minds" isn't going to make that happen. It's not just a matter of turning a state blue; it's important to fight on many battlegrounds and even coming close can affect some repub politicians. Look at the health care vote - several repub congress people who are in close districts paid attention.

[LonePirate]

12. Iowa is no longer a swing state. The reddening which flipped MO from swing to red now claims IA.

We are better off focusing on actual swing states and states moving to the Dem column like AZ and GA.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. THIS

[LBM20]

18. Writing places off is why the Dem party has been decimated all over the country. It must be a

50-state party. Sorry, but you couldn't be more wrong.

[LonePirate]

21. In case you hadn't noticed, Iowa is no longer a swing state. It is a deep red state.

The same thing that happened to Missouri has happened to Iowa. The state went from +5 D in 2012 to almost +10 R in 2016. Clinton campaigned heavily there. It was not a state she wrote off. The state is a lost cause and Dems should spend time and money elsewhere.

[LBM20]

25. It is NOT a lost cause, and your thinking spells doom for the party. Enough of that. Dems need to

compete in every single county in the nation, period.

[LBM20]

19. Not true. Political pendulums swing back and forth. Iowa can be won again. The party must stop

making very bad campaigning mistakes to win it back.

[LonePirate]

24. Clinton campaigned heavily in Iowa and she still lost it by almost 10. It's time to focus elsewhere.

We have no chance of winning Iowa again any time soon. It's time to let go of the past and focus on the future, namely states that are not mostly rural, are not overwhelmingly white and are not overwhelmingly evangelical. Iowa is all of those things. The state is a waste of time and money for Democrats.

[Bradshaw3]

34. That's not what I was talking about

So this is probably pointless but try rereading it. I talked about winning more than just a presidential election. There are congressional races, state races that can be won, even in a state like Iowa. There are many aspects of politics rather than just wining a presidency every four years. If Dems follow your advice they will remain out of power on state and national levels, voter suppression and gerrymandering will get worse and policies we hate will become enshrined in law forever.

[LBM20]

22. Spot on correct. The party has lost all over the country because it has been messageless and has

just run very crappy campaigns. We need to do much better messaging to people and having a strong, clear, and compelling jobs plan. MANY people voted for Trump out of economic anxiety and anger with government. Our party needs to speak to that anger and anxiety, and do much better as well connecting with these folks culturally. For example, guns in rural areas is about putting meat in the freezer and protecting hearth and home when the nearest cop is 100 miles away. It's not the same as guns on the streets of crime-ridden areas in big cities. The party needs to CONNECT to EVERYONE again.

[LBM20]

17. Wrong. Many voted for Obama. They were angry with government and wanted change. The party CAN win

many back. This "Just write them off!" mentality must END. It is how you LOSE elections.

[LonePirate]

20. States don't flip almost 15 points over 4 years because people are angry. Iowa is a lost cause.

[LBM20]

23. Your mentality here couldn't be more wrong. You are writing off a state we have won in the past, and

that spells doom for the party. The party needs to stop running bad campaigns and needs to re-connect with EVERYONE EVERYWHERE. Do that, and we can become the dominating party again. You are very, very incorrect.

[LonePirate]

27. I don't think you are familiar at all with the dynamics at play in Iowa.

You are spending too much looking at the past instead of examining the present and following the breadcrumbs to the future. There are far more important and easier to win states for us than Iowa. It's time to cut the state loose and let them live in the Republican dystopia they prefer.

[DeminPennswoods]

8. These voters vote for "hope"

every time. Think about why these same white, working class voters would go for Obama, then turn around and go for Trump. Both candidates offered hope to these voters even though it was in completely opposite ways and they were rewarded with votes.

[Blue_true]

6. Some people voted for Trump for economic reasons.

The 1% are winning on both ends. They have damaged politics with dark money and they have made the plight of working people so discouraging that many decent people voted for a racist con artist under the assumption that he would lead better than his statements made in his campaign. Remember that many Muslims in the Midwest voted for Trump because they thought that he did not mean what he was saying before his crowds on the campaign trail.

I think that we need to engage some on them, not others. I believe if you just listen, you can tell the true Trumpers from the people that got fooled. The ones that got fooled do show remorse for their voted, I have met some.

[LonePirate]

7. No they did not. They voted for him due to ignorance, racism or greed.

His voters have to decide on their own not to vote for him or his party again. Nothing we can say or do will change their minds. We're better off finding people who didn't vote and registering new voters. His voters are a lost cause if they have not left him already.

[Blue_true]

14. I know one person who is a Vet and a second who is a single mom.

Both voted for Trump. Neither is racist or angry. Both regret their vote now. Decent people got fooled by the guy. Maybe they didn't think critically, but they voted for him. BTW, the single mom has interracial kids, I don't know her well at all, but I have seen enough to decide that she isn't racist.

[LonePirate]

16. Both were fooled so they voted due to ignorance even if they regret their votes now.

[GulfCoast66]

36. Now you are just talking in circles

Please reread your post and tell me exactly what you are trying to communicate?

Were they fooled?
Or ignorant? It is possible to be one without the other.

And if they regret their vote then it argues against all your previous post on this thread.

It seems like you have decided that every single voter who voted for trump is a racist bigot and a lost cause regardless of the evidence to the alternative. Fortunately you are not running our strategy. Hating on people is not a good way to win them to your way of thinking.

Have a nice day.

[LonePirate]

37. Ignorance is pretty much a prerequisite to being fooled.

Also, I said they would need to change their own minds as there is nothing a Democrat could say to win them over. Both of those statements are true here.

[LBM20]

28. You couldn't be more wrong. Polling shows that 20% of those who voted for him didn't even like him.

BUT, they were angry with the economy and with government and simply wanted change. You are being very stereotypical and simplistic in your thinking. It is much more complex than how you are thinking about this.

[LonePirate]

30. You are discounting their ignorance here - ignorance of the modern economy and his false promises.

Anyone with half a brain could tell you his economic ideas were not going to bring any economic relief to them given our modern, global economy. They voted for him anyway instead of voting for the candidate who actually had worthy and beneficial economic solutions that reflected our economy. I stand by my belief that ignorance played a part in why people voted for him.

[Scruffy1]

38. I've had long experience with Iowa politics.

I was arround when Harold Hughes was senator. This is all about branding. Therer are many different Iowa's. Just because you get beat in one or two elections doesn't mean it's he end of the game.Through massive propagands the Republicans have claimed the rural less educated voters, but they are fickle. It seems to me they voted more against Hillary because of the vast and well financed smear campaign that has been going on with the complicity of the MSM.. When you get out in the rural areas the only informatio a lot of people get is from the radio and television. Believe me they can be amazingly ignorant, but then that's the whole point of the propaganda machine. when you get into the better educated araes such as Iowa City, Des Moines, and the Quad Cities you will find a whole differentscenario. Personally, I think Iowa can swing back to Democratic leaning by 2020. Historically, populist movements of the kind Trump ran fizzzle out fast and have usually ended up resorting to racism to keep their power.When you make a lot of promisses that aren't kept, the voters soon realize they have been had.
There are still plenty of good Democrats in Iowa and they know how to fight back. The debacle of Dolt 45 is an hostoric opportunty to retake the control of the government. It won't happen by playing defense alone. You have to have a plan, a message, and good candiadates in order to win. Talking about stuff from 90 years won't get you threr.

[Girard442]

5. Flipping Trump voters back to the Democratic column sounds nice, but...

...not if changing your message causes four would-have-been-Democratic voters to stay home in disgust for every Trumper you flip.

[Blue_true]

15. I agree.

We should not back away from the things we believe and want done as Democrats. We are not welcoming to racists and that must stay the way we are.

[LBM20]

29. To say that all Trump voters were "racist" is racist thinking. It's just not true, so enough.

[Blue_true]

31. I agree with your view. Some non racist people voted for Trump.

The ones that regret it, we should engage.

[Me.]

9. Corporatist Tim Ryan

with the wide-eyed, oh so innocent looking face when giving an interview?

[Blue_true]

26. Is everyone a Corporatist?

Never saw a term more mid used that some favorite rightwing terms.

[Me.]

32. No...But He Is

“Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan (Ohio) is going against party leaders and calling for a business friendly agenda ahead of the 2018-midterm elections.
“To be competitive globally, we have to reduce the corporate tax rate,” Ryan told The Hill in an interview from his Youngstown, Ohio, district office. “We’re just not competitive globally because of that."

Ryan, a fast-rising Democrat from industrial Ohio, is challenging Democrats to take a different approach to big business and work with corporate America to create jobs.”

http://thehill.com/video/lawmaker-interviews/348776-rising-dem-star-tim-ryan-splits-with-party-endorses-corporate-tax

“Rep. Tim Ryan is on the receiving end of some praise from the right after he called on his party to be willing to cut corporate tax rates alongside other taxes.

“To be competitive globally, we have to reduce the corporate tax rate,” the Ohio Democrat said in an interview with The Hill published Thursday. “We’re just not competitive globally because of that."

https://www.salon.com/2017/09/01/tim-ryan-who-wanted-to-lead-democrats-in-congress-floats-corporate-tax-cuts/

[GulfCoast66]

40. You do realize that all the European countries toy kive

Have lower corporate tax rates than us, right.

Just sayin'. Because they are not Socialist but Social Democrats. They want their businesses to do well.

[Me.]

41. You Do Realize That No Corporation Pays Nearly What They Should In Taxes

Between deductions and off-shoring. And then there are the corps such as Walmart who pay so little their workers need food stamps, Medicaid and so forth, all of which falls to we the taxpayers to ante up. And they still get deductions. No one is saying they don't want businesses to do well but they, right now are hugging billions in profits and little of it is being used to create jobs or much of anything else. But that is the case being made for lowering taxes, more jobs will be created. It's the same trickle down lie that Cons have been selling for years.

[NobodyHere]

39. I sincerely wish them all the luck in the world

Iowa is a state we need to take back.

[bluestarone]

42. agree

here