2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: If Bernie thinks the only way to win is to win white working class voters at the expense of [View all]Garrett78
(10,721 posts)But the Dem candidate has won the popular vote in 6 of the last 7 presidential elections.
And the median income of Trump supporters was significantly higher than that of Clinton supporters.
It's less an economic issue and more a social/cultural issue. Does anyone think the average Trump supporter had a nuanced position on trade, or any other issue for that matter? Trump certainly didn't. If trade was such a big issue, then Ted Strickland would have beaten Rob Portman in Ohio instead of getting his ass kicked.
If the Democratic Party can engage even a portion of the disengaged (the 40+% who don't vote in presidential elections and the 60+% who don't vote in mid-term elections), Dems won't need to kowtow to bigots.
That said, the Democratic Party should take a page from Bernie's book and make the case more strongly that progressive politics are key to growing jobs and increasing wages. And that Wall Street has far, far too much influence on elected officials. Dems can do that while at the same time combating racism, sexism, heterosexism and xenophobia.