What can Democrats do to attract more white males nationally?

[NYCButterfinger]

Democrats don't need to win the white male vote, no Democrat has done that since LBJ in 1964, but they can shave some votes from the GOP.

Democratic share of white male vote nationally:
1972= 31%
1976= 47% (Best showing, Carter 1976, Watergate)
1980= 32%
1984= 32%
1988= 36%
1992= 37%
1996= 38%
2000= 36%
2004= 37%
2008= 41% (Best showing since, Obama 2008 during economic recession/uninsured crisis/Iraq/Bush corruption)
2012= 35%
2016= 31% (Lowest share, matching McGovern 1972)

Healthcare, jobs?

[TwilightZone]

1. Deprogramming?

I'm not sure anything short of that will work with many of them anymore. 40 years of conservative media have seen to that.

[TheBlackAdder]

46. Cons are self-effecting, out for themselves. Need to expose how they are being played as fools.

.

Must show how others are self-dealing, profiteering from public largesse, and sticking it to the regular guy. Cons hate it when they see others get stuff that they can't take advantage of, which is why the argument of certain people benefiting from social programs work well--they see others in a common plight getting something they aren't getting. Even if it's only $10/wk in food assistance--that's $10/wk more than what they get. Just being slighted by pennies pisses them off. Of course, if they get something other can't, they see it as deserving, but if others get something they can't plug into, it's a tax that they are somehow paying.

While race is a division that causes animosity and tribalism, first it comes down to me and the other guy and who is getting over on the other more. Social programs that assist poorer people angers poorer Whites because they can't tap into them--failing to acknowledge systemic racism. They see someone making slightly less or the same getting programs and 'free stuff' that they can't get. While racism is a flash point, it really comes down to who is getting more stuff than they are.

Show how shortly, under the GOP, they not only are losing jobs and industry, their savings, but that SS, the ACA and USPS will soon be gone.

.

[TwilightZone]

47. I'm not sure they're capable of that level of self-awareness.

If 20k+ lies, losing their jobs and their savings, and the threat of SS, Medicare, and the USPS heading out the door can't convince them, I'm not sure anything will. Trump flat-out *tells* them that they're being scammed and they still don't waver. As long as they believe he's sticking it to the right people, he can rob them blind and they'll love him for it.

Plus, Trump just tells them it's Nancy's fault and they believe it.

[JoeOtterbein]

2. Push for national legal cannabis.

It's is not only morally correct, it's a winning issue for us.

[Walleye]

8. Beat me to it. Great minds etc.

[JoeOtterbein]

13. LOL!

Now, for me a nice strain of Indica!

[In It to Win It]

66. and wrap that message in freedom and less government regulation in the industry! Let the GOP defend

more regulations.

[Walleye]

3. Campaign on legalizing weed

[Claire Oh Nette]

4. SOme kind of WPA

FDR put people back to work on infrastructure.

Infrastructure.

Retrofitting for the future with COVID, and whatever other viruses emerge. This is not a one and done.

Health care detached from jobs in a medicare for all or expanded medicaid, so that wages aren't going into health care.

Focus on working people, those who depend on their salaries and wages, and tax the shit out of the investor class.

Maybe teach some basic economics, too....

[rzemanfl]

5. Make them all Incels if they keep that shit up, including the married ones. n/t

[Leith]

14. I was going to suggest

a nationwide real life reenactment of the ancient Greek play Lysistrata.

[rzemanfl]

15. That was all men if I recall correctly. Why punish Dems? n/t

[Progressive Jones]

6. Better education. Less evangelicalism. Total debunking of white and or male supremacy. nt

[UTUSN]

31. Ding ding ding! -------- a generations-long endeavor!

[A HERETIC I AM]

7. Go back to the twenties and embrace the KKK.

In other words, the white males we have lost are the ones we don’t want anyway.

[obnoxiousdrunk]

9. Let them

know that reverse racism is real.

[Wicked Blue]

10. saltpeter nt

[jorgevlorgan]

11. Challenge Trump to a pushup contest

And then air an ad nationwide highlighting Trump's refusal and lack of fitness for office.

[czarjak]

12. As long as Democrats are seen as the party of you know who...

They’ll never switch.

[BigmanPigman]

16. Free year long supply of little blue pills.

[Lunabell]

17. We could be racist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynist and xenophobic but

who wants those people in our coalition?

In other words, those idiots need to change their whole mindset.

[walkingman]

22. I think you got it - and I thought it was just in Texas.....

[Nitram]

18. Free beer, more football, and more NASCAR.

[Sympthsical]

19. Reverse the devastation of unions

My father was a fairly socially conservative person. Went to church. Was pretty racist. Wasn't wholly thrilled when I came out as gay.

However, he was a union Democrat to his dying day. He was a Teamster. Growing up, I often heard, "Fuck Reagan! Fuck Bush!"

Union power in this country has been a severe downward trend for the past forty years. It has created a diminished manufacturing base, lower wages, and opened the door for racial and immigration resentments to come even more to the fore when trying to find someone to blame for economic degradation.

Clinton ran into trouble in the Rust Belt. We need to look deeply into what happened there, not just pay lip service to it. I know people here hate the man, but Michael Moore has a lot to say about what has gone on in that racial economic and geographic class for awhile now. He's worth a listen on those issues (on others, maybe not so much).

Support unions, really support them, and you'll see a significant shift in white men.

To a lesser extent, the Woke Left needs to be brought to heel a bit. Villainizing white men every other sentence isn't so helpful. Just a random thought there. People don't like it when a nice chunk of your movement decides it's ok to be racist against you because of power dynamics and things. People struggling to feed their families don't feel so powerful.

[JI7]

29. Why ? We villainize Cubans that vote republican, We villianize black people that vote Republican,

we villianize , Jews, even White women that vote Republican. We have no problem talking about the bigotry of minority groups .

Why should the group that votes Republicans in the highest numbers most of the times be left out ?

As you say, your father was a racist. Unions have always had racist white male republicans and that's why they discriminated against Minorities.

[Sympthsical]

32. Maybe not villainize anyone?

If everyone who disagrees with you is a Nazi, then no one is. Everyone, everywhere who voted for Trump is a racist? All of them? It's something objectively untrue, but that's the kind of lazy categorization we seem to do now. Thanks, social media. (Yes, I know the response to this one. "Well, if they're not racist, they're certainly tolerating it." To which I don't disagree. But people prioritize things differently. Voters are, in all things, deeply self-interested).

It's gotten a bit out of hand. A lot of the responses in this thread are what I'm talking about. The OP asked a question. I assume they wanted earnest answers instead of name-calling, bile, and otherization.

Otherization just divides the country further and further. I try not to participate in it. I certainly don't smugly congratulate myself when I inadvertently do.

As a gay man, our side hasn't exactly been great on my community's issues. It's gotten a lot better, but I see people all the time go, "Republicans are all evil homophobes," and then call someone a cocksucker roughly three seconds later.

Maybe treat individuals as individuals, and treat behaviors on a case by case basis. Once we all rest on our assumptions, we have given up the pretense of desiring unity or progress.

Just my perception of things.

[JI7]

33. If they aren't racist then they are Misogynist , Anti gay or some other kind of Bigot

The OP equated protesting racism with being a racist in another thread and has had a pattern of these type of threads.

And even here you do the both sides thing.

[Sympthsical]

37. I'm not doing both sides

The Right is objectively worse. That is why I am a liberal Democrat.

But look at this thread. Merely the question of how to attract more white male voters results in all kinds of vitriol directed at white men. I gave a serious response. Others . . . did not.

It's like imbibing poison while thinking you're administering a cure to someone else. Their condition remains unchanged while you're just harming yourself. I mean, everyone do themselves, but I can't imagine walking around with that kind of hate in me every single day. Too corrosive.

[JI7]

39. Part of it is because of what the OP has said in similar threads

And we go through this every year.

We don't talk about Cuban Americans and other minorities that vote Republican in the same way. With them we call them out for what they are . But when it comes to white men we have to be more sensitive and pretend they aren't what they vote as.

[Klaralven]

20. Abandon gun control

It has no chance of actually working anyway, given the number of guns in the hands of the public.

It will never meaningfully reduce the number of murders committed by criminals with already illegal handguns.

[Elmer1007]

54. abandon gun control

This and and maintain Social Security. Gun control just give them a club to beat us with.

[RhodeIslandOne]

59. The voters obsessed with guns are already programmed to vote Rethug

We shouldn't lose the women's vote by throwing up out hands and saying we can't even try to protect our kids.

[Mister Ed]

21. Hire Fox News-styled fembots to work as spokesmodels?

Seems to have worked for the right wing all these years.

[Withywindle]

23. Some of them we'll never get and we don't want

Those are the ones who are racist, xenophobic, misogynist, homophobic, transphobic, everyone-who's-not-exactly-like-them-phobic. As long as they see the Democrats as a party that is supportive of "minorities" and doesn't honor their sense of rightful kingship, they won't vote for us. We should NOT compromise to please them. We should not throw LGBTQ people and women under the bus to please the fundies either.

The ones we can get, it's going to be by real policies that really do improve the economy for lower-middle, working-class people.

[radius777]

24. We need to pitch a 'liberal' white identity politics.

As a gen-x PoC who grew up with many culturally liberal whites (ie, they are pro-choice and not religious) who now vote GOP - we can get these people back into the Dem column with the correct messaging.

Some white voters have the perception that Dems are for 'all of these other people' but have nothing specific for them. Like it or not people are snowflakes and like to feel catered to. We need to have an agenda specifically for (and use the term) 'white working class', and offer liberal solutions for alot of the problems (drugs, mental health, jobs, trade/outsourcing, education, healthcare, climate) that face many white communities.

Immigration is an issue that Trump killed us on with many groups, including some blacks, latinos, women, etc. We need to make it clear we support DACA but also believe in strong borders... basically take a centrist postion on immigration. Most voters don't want too much immigration, legal or illegal, as it puts too much pressure on the labor market, services, etc.

Guns often kill us with rural whites (and even some rural/southern latinos). We have to stress that we support gun control while respecting the rights of responsible gun owners. It's about getting guns out of the hands of dangerous people, which is good for everyone.

[CTyankee]

44. Unfortunately, some people aren't "dangerous" until they are and then it is too late.

I often say that it was Alcohol, Accessibility and Anger that fueled the rage that killed my niece. Her stepgrandfather was outraged (written out of his wife's will), started drinking heavily, and always had a loaded handgun in his nightstand for "protection," which is what he used to kill my niece in a drunken rage.

This happened in Dallas.

[JI7]

25. Get Rid of Civil Rights, Get Rid of Women's Right to Vote. Maybe even Bring back Slavery

[betsuni]

60. +1

[JI7]

26. Become the Democratic Party of Andrew Jackson and Jefferson Davis

[SlogginThroughIt]

27. I got it!

Biden Harris emblazoned truck balls!

Seriously I have no idea.

[Captain Zero]

45. Free Pick Up Trucks for every white male who votes Democratic !!

I know that would get us above 50% with them.

[SlogginThroughIt]

50. Ha!

[Awsi Dooger]

28. Attack conservatism

That's the only logical method. White males respond to fear and short sound bites. If Democrats constantly ran issue ads with theme of, "another example of failed conservatism," the phrasing would eventually stick, toward progress.

Maybe "hypocritical conservatism" also

[milestogo]

30. Electroshock therapy.

[oasis]

34. Investment in community colleges. Education is the key. nt

[UCmeNdc]

35. Buy up all conservative media assets. Own the messaging platforms.

[ansible]

36. Democratic Party really needs to focus more on bringing back jobs and prosperity

It gets really frustrating to see people here rather make a dozen threads about Melania's dress than talk about how americans are getting poorer and poorer, depending on food banks and living in tents. People ultimately vote out of self-interest, and Trump's false promises of a more prosperous America fools a lot of them.

[appalachiablue]

40. +1

[rufus dog]

38. Biden will do much better

White males will identify with him. That being said, Dems need to be careful of being too politically correct. Al Franken and the me too movement is a great example, he went down for a picture of him pretending to grab boobs while a woman was wearing a flak jacket.

It was a friggen joke, yet his career was ruined, for a friggen joke! It plays right into the fears that someone is going to shut them down for joking.

[SharonClark]

41. Franken did it to himself. The "friggen joke" was

not funny, very sexist, and juvenile behavior. How many votes do you think Dems lost over that little incident? I’d suggest none.

[rufus dog]

42. thus the poor numbers in the white male vote

Good luck with your purity purges.

[JonLP24]

53. I never seen "purity" used in good faith

However I consider unwanted sexual advances to be much different than not liking a mainstream Democratic politician because they are not liberal enough.

[RhodeIslandOne]

58. Politically motivated

The woman involved didn't care and laughed about it until she realized what she could do to one of the biggest thorns in President Sex Predator's side.

But you're right, it sure didn't work out the way Kristen Gillibrand hoped.

[RhodeIslandOne]

56. It was a joke the woman didn't care about....

....until she became a Trumper and realized she had the power to bring down a thorn in Fuckwad's side. Several on our side fell for it.

She'd probably love it if President Sex Predator grabbed her by the you know what though.

[meadowlander]

43. Work on the ones you know. Wait for the old ones to die.

Get articulate lefty veterans like Pete Buttigieg out in front of the cameras to counter the myth that only the GOP respects the armed services and only the GOP are real Christians.

Sad but true that there are a lot of white men who only want to hear it from other white men who look and act like them. Send the Steve Bullocks of the world after them, without compromising on representational messaging for the party as a whole.

[dawg]

48. Stop advocating so much for women and minorities.

But, of course, we should never actually do that.

The sad truth is that the majority of white males believe that the gains of women and non-whites all come at their expense. In their minds, Trump and the Republicans are standing up for them and we are tearing them down.

The only real solution is long-term, and it is for parents of white boys to do a better job of raising them up to be compassionate and ethical men. Empathy should be encouraged. It should never be thought of as weak or feminine.

[treestar]

57. Your last sentence

Amen. The macho culture is something Dotard has traded on.

[Polybius]

49. Be racist, attack BLM, say ALM, and stop supporting women's rights and gun-control

Thankfully, we won't do that because it's wrong (except for the gun-control part, that's at least a good debate). Unfortunately, we won't win the white male vote anytime in the near future.

[JonLP24]

51. I'm a white male

I what I want is different from a conservative white male. I want more progressive policies -- I was a Sanders supporter during the primaries.

I'm also progressive on social issues so I don't need to be pandered to specifically. I want to end discrimination of all forms.

[crickets]

52. Start by getting rid of Fox News and RW hate radio.

Good luck with that.

[treestar]

55. From those stats, get Carter to talk to them

dressed up to do construction.

[JonLP24]

61. Carter knew how to appeal to George Wallace voters

One of things I learned when I looked up dog whistles.

[lagomorph777]

62. Free beer?

I dunno, I'm a white male but I just honestly don't understand other white males most of the time.

[Kaleva]

63. It'd be easier to work at getting a majority of the white female vote.

Do that and it'd be highly unlikely any Repub could win battleground states.

[Bettie]

64. The problem is that most of the older ones

at least the ones I know and am related to, were raised to believe that they are the center of the universe.

Moving the center, even a little bit, makes them feel as if they are losing exclusivity. They don't like it and will lash out against it.

What I mean by exclusivity is that they were always the only voices that mattered, the voices that were listened to, the people in charge of nearly everything.

Now, there are women, people who aren't white, people who are GLBT+, and others. White evangelical religion very much reinforces the idea that white men should rule all spaces, private and public and they add to it the idea that these white men are persecuted for being white men. It means that a portion of them will NEVER accept a society with a goal of equality, that feels like oppression to them.

I'm hopeful that future generations of white men will be better, but given that my boys appear to be unicorns among their peers, it isn't easy. People are constantly telling us that our boys are "different" from the other boys, then, they tell us that they are kind and decent.

It bothers me that those attributes are unusual, but I live in a town full of right wing evangelicals.

[LanternWaste]

65. Engaging in one's own allegedly sincere discussions is one method.