What's your definition of the "Democratic base"

[calteacherguy]

Poll question: What's your definition of the "Democratic base"

We hear that term thrown around a lot, but what is it? Are we all operating under the same assumptions? What's the "base."

[hisownpetard]

1. Wow - I cast one vote, and got a blue line all the way from here to Timbuktu (which, BTW, happens

to be Democratic). Casting the first vote is the way to go!

[calteacherguy]

2. O.K., it's early in the poll, but I have some comments.

"majority of Democratic voters" seems to be running away with it...

How does that square with so many posts here at DU claiming Hillary Clinton is not supported by the "base" and even "the base will stay home" if she is the nominee? (Given the fact that a recent poll shows her support at more than 50% among likely Democratic voters).

Something just isn't making sense here...perhaps there's some folks who need to redefine their definition of "the base?" :shrug:

[JeffR]

10. One comment

The majority of Democratic voters, and the majority of Americans period, are much more progressive than conventional wisdom insists. Sorry, don't have links handy but I think we've all seen survey results about this.

My own private disconnect is that candidates like Senator Clinton don't pick up this torch and run with it. Instead, they play it safe. That might be sound campaign strategy - again, according to the tenets of conventional wisdom - but it ain't very inspiring.

[illinoisprogressive]

3. I think the majority of Americans agree with the dem base, progressive ideas.

[Blue_In_AK]

4. Me.

I'm the Democratic base -- and they'd better not forget it.

[Capn Sunshine]

5. well, depends

I think everyone at DU has a different opinion about this, but the base to me is also characterized as the populist movement that has its' roots in The Dean campaign and helped implement the 50 state strategy, bringing the Democratic Party to places that hadn't seen an organizer ever, because the Inside the Beltway conventional wisdom crowd (some would call them DLC) posited that it was a waste of money to run where you weren't strong.

[ProudDad]

6. As usual with flame bait polls

you don't have the right answer as a choice...

The way the system is now, the answer is:

"The corporate capitalist masters who have all the money and buy the candidates"

-- just like the republicans...

[calteacherguy]

7. My intention was not flamebait.

Thank you for voicing your valued opinion.

[Colobo]

8. Your poll is very flawed. You fail to describe the so-callec "majority of Dems"

You need to describe them ideologically to distinguish them from the "left wing" of the party.

[bread_and_roses]

12. And how would you do that, since most Americans, and presumably most Ds want out of Iraq, some form

of national health care, living wages, support for the poor, oh, and (on edit)strong goverment regulation of products, strong regulatory support of corporations, and fair, not "free" trade......hard to differentiate that, I think, from the "left wing" of the Party, whatever that is....

[ulysses]

21. do tell.

You, presumably, have a definition in mind...

[Colobo]

29. No- I though the left-wing of the party was actually a big chunk of the base

[ulysses]

30. you wrote:

You need to describe (the majority of Democrats) ideologically to distinguish them from the "left wing" of the party.

I asked you to elaborate on this, not on anything regarding the base.

[Colobo]

31. Well, cal makes a poll asking about what is the "base" of our party

and he puts DU and "the majority of Democrats" as choices, which in a way makes both choices opposites or mutually exclusive choices.

In order for the poll to make sense, he needs to make a case by justifying the exclusion of DUers from the "majority of Democratic voters" options. How come we are not part of it?

[ulysses]

32. there are those who say that they *are* mutually exclusive.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3586947&mesg_id=3586947

[Colobo]

35. Do you think they are?

[ulysses]

37. that the Dem majority and the left are mutually exclusive? no.

[LWolf]

9. Other.

The Democratic Party has a long and rich history, and has not always stood for the same values.

The 20th century saw the Democratic Party championing (for the most part) the non-elite. Labor and the poor. Heading into the 21st century, the party is evolving into the party of the corporatists. Not that it's the first time the party has been through this cycle; Grover Cleveland and the "Bourbon Democrats" appear earlier in the party's history.

The "base" of such a party are big business and people who are willing to vote against their own best interests to win, and who will avoid loss at all costs, declining to fight and compromising anything they stand for to "win."

I think right now the party is in the midst of a battle for identity. Will the Democratic Party remain the champion of those with less power, or will it finally OPENLY abandon them for the "third way?"

When the older "base" they are no longer championing leave in large enough numbers, those left will be the new "base."

[Sparkly]

36. Questions

Since corporate-connected entities and people still donate and vote primarily for Republicans, and Democrats still support regulation while Republicans work for deregulation, how does this fit with the notion of the Democratic party becoming "the party of corporatists," also?

Why do unions still support Democrats? Why would Democrats abandon their traditional support for workers in favor of becoming "corporatist?" What's the evidence for it?

When the old base leaves, where will they go? Why would the Democrats risk losing this old base? Who would be their new base?

[LWolf]

38. Answers:

I see less and less opposition to deregulation among Democrats. If you discount rhetoric and pay attention to the work they are doing, and then connect that work to who is supporting their campaigns, it seems pretty clear to me. I don't think you are going to hear Democrats speak out for corporations, or for de-regulation. You'll just see them slowly back off regulation as an issue.

Why do the "top 3" leave insurance companies holding the strings in their health "plans?" How much of their "war chest" came from those insurance companies? Why do they support privatized health care, instead of a national health care system?

Why won't they impeach? Why won't they stop funding the war? Why, on all of these issues of substance, will they not stand up and work for us? Who is benefitting from non-action?

Labor? Unions, and other groups, endorse those they see as "electable," in the hopes that the endorsement will garner some support from the politician. Democrats have been traditionally stronger on labor, so they tend to get the endorsements. That doesn't mean they get all the votes, of course. I decide who to vote for. My union doesn't make that decision for me. Democrats abandoned labor in the 90s, with NAFTA, and in the 2000's with CAFTA. NAFTA is nothing if not a blow to labor to benefit corporations. If there were other major players, I doubt labor would still be endorsing Democrats. Since Republicans have never even pretended to care about labor issues, they'll stick with the pretenders for now, in the desperate (and futile) hope that they will come to their senses.

When the old base leaves, it will be to 3rd parties or to independent status. Or they will retain their democratic registration, but not their loyalty to the party. The "new base" is the "new democrats." The third way/dlc/pro-corporate "centrists," many of whom come from the less-religious moderate swing voters and republicans.

[Mz Pip]

11. I think the "base"

of the Democratic Party is much more flexible than the right wing ideologues of the Republican base.

I have always voted in the primaries (though, I have never picked the candidate that has gone on to win the nomination). I have always voted. Always. So, in that respect, I consider myself part of the "base". For what it's worth.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[TreasonousBastard]

13. Another "other" I have no...

idea what the term "base" actually means. It's something that seemsd to be used by telepundits to make some sort of point, but I'm not sure there is any "base" to either party any more. If there ever was one.

Democratic stalwarts over the years have been as varied as the Princeton intellectual Wilson and his Secretary of State, the farmer Bryan. A third of the Perty was once Southern segregationists with the other two thirds being Irish and Jewish immigrants in the cities and Midwestern farmers.

The Party has always been a herd of cats, and included a billionire who ended up being elected Mayor of New York as a Republican because it was easier to buy his way on to that line than go through the torturous NYC Democratic primary battles.

So, what's the "base" in Newark, NJ, Chicago, or anywhere in Montana? Who's out there and what do Iowa Democrats have in commmon with Georgia Democrats?

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

14. unions. single women, blacks, GLBT, civil libertarians, pro-choice voters., et al.

I would think a party's base is those groups which are most dependably for the party, and most subject to rousing with specific issue oriented appeals. (Single women don't really belong on my list because they vote in lower proportion than the general public.)

[ozone_man]

15. The democratic wing of the party.

Not the DLC wing. It should reflect populism, not corporatism. The party was driven right away from core Democratic party principles by the DLC. Now it's time to change that, away from corporate economics, NAFTA, and outsourcing.

So, the "base" is still there, it just needs to be energized, reawakened from the illusions created by the MSM and DLC. We don't have the settle for the candidate that the MSM has chosen for us.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

16. The Base

African Americans

Hispanics

Jews

Asians

Working class folks

Intellectuals (some of whom are self professed ones)

Union members

Single women

Residents of large and medium sized cites

I'm probably missing some groups...

Suburbanites split pretty evenly between the two parties...But the further you get away from the city the more Republican it gets...

What I think is often missed here is the fact that the majority of Democrats are (not) very ideological...

[Grandrose]

18. You nailed it!

Will Rogers Quotes. I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat. :patriot:

[DemocratSinceBirth]

22. The Republican Base

White Evangelicals

Rural Residents

Small Business Owners

Big Business Owners ( but not as overwhelmingly as some think)

Suburbanites are pretty evenly split between the two parties

[bobbolink]

24. Where do poor folks fit in?

Dems complain if we poor folk don't vote Dem, yet we don't seem to show up on any of your lists.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

25. They Would Fall Under The "Working Class Folks" Category

eom

[bobbolink]

26. Not all poor folk are working.

Elderly.

Disabled.

Unemployed.

etc.

It would be helpful to remember us.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

27. I'm Sorry

They should be part of the base too...

It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.

-Hubert H. Humphrey

[bobbolink]

28. Thank you. I agree with your quote... the problem is that we don't get included or mentioned.

I keep bringing it to peoples' attention, which isn't easy. It's a lonely and depressing place to be.

We are the forgotten.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

33. I Liked The Lesson Joe Kennedy Taught His Kids...

"The rich can take care of themselves...The poor need a hand..."

[bobbolink]

34. We need a hand........ and a heart!

The compassion has gone waaay down.

It's good to remember that there was a time in this country when rich folk BELIEVED in doing for others.

Before the era of ME< ME ME.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

17. I don't think it's a well defined term.

I think that the idea that one vote is worth more than another is probably not a good way to win elections.

[denem]

19. Energizing The Base

Democrats who would NOT vote for a Republican candidate. Period.

(yes this is my first post)

[ulysses]

20. LWolf is correct upthread.

It's a flexible thing, and reflects both who most reliably votes Dem as well as for whom the Dems most reliably work. As she also points out, that used to be folks like the poor, workers, African-Americans and liberals in general. I don't know who it is now. I would say the corporate class, but they like to spread the love a little too easily to be considered reliable, much as the party seems to be reliably working for them these days.

[bobbolink]

23. The "base" are those without power, without a voice.

The millions of us who are on the bottom, is the traditional "base" of the Dem party.

Yet, we're being tossed to the wolves, and then the complaint is that we don't "support the party".

The "party" needs to decide whether it truly wants our votes.....or not.