Is There Anything That The Democrats Can Model After Republicans Re Working Class Outreach?

[TomCADem]

One of the post-mortems of the 2016 election is that Republicans won by appealing to the working class. This criticism has been given by folks on left and right. Now, it seems to me that Republican policies are pretty hostile to the working class, but who am I to say?

Is it just a matter of rhetoric, rather than action? Given the example of Republicans, is it just a matter of pounding the table with populist rhetoric, but you could pretty much take from the working class in order to finance huge tax cuts to the rich? Or, do working class simply support policies that cut their benefits in order to finance corporate welfare, and do they find Democratic policies to be patronizing?

Maybe Chaffetz admonition to the working class to suck it up and invest in healthcare, rather than purchasing an iPhone, resonates among the voters who voted for Trump?

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/business/economy/trump-budget-entitlements-working-class.html?_r=0

Trump Budget Reflects Working-Class Resentment of the Poor

In “White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America,” due out in May from Harvard Business Review Press, Joan C. Williams argues that white workers’ resentment of the safety net should not be surprising: They get next to no benefit from it.

Ms. Williams, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law, writes that these struggling workers resent not only the poor beneficiaries of the government’s largess but also the liberal policy makers who seem to believe that only the poor are deserving of help. And they bristle at the perceived condescension of a liberal elite that seems to blame them for their failure to acquire the necessary skills to rise to the professional class.

By contrast, they see themselves as hard-working citizens who struggle to make ends meet, only to be left out of many of the government programs their taxes pay for.

Over all, 61 percent of poor Americans draw from one means-tested benefit program or another, according to an analysis by the Census Bureau. But among families with incomes above the poverty line — many of which are barely better off, making just over $24,000 for a family of four — only 13 percent do.

[samnsara]

1. remember we won by 3 mil votes. The election was rigged and stolen...

[TomCADem]

3. Bernie Sanders 'deeply humiliated' Democrats lost white working-class voters

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/14/politics/bernie-sanders-humiliated-democrats-loss-working-class-voters/

Washington (CNN)Sen. Bernie Sanders expressed his disappointment Monday with Hillary Clinton's failure to secure the support of white working-class voters in last week's presidential election.

Donald Trump "very effectively" tapped into "the anger and angst and pain that many working class people are feeling," the Vermont independent senator who challenged Clinton in the Democratic primary said on "CBS This Morning."

"I think that there needs to be a profound change in the way the Democratic Party does business," Sanders said. "It is not good enough to have a liberal elite. I come from the white working class, and I am deeply humiliated that the Democratic Party cannot talk to where I came from."

Sanders did point out that Trump shouldn't overstate his mandate since the Democratic presidential nominee has a clear lead in the national popular vote.

[Orrex]

5. Sanders has nothing to say in this

In his drive to keep the spotlight on himself, he clung like grim death to his failed campaign long after he should have acted like a grownup and thrown his full support behind the candidate. Instead, he retreated to his northeast oasis and went back to being an Independent because it was more convenient for him to do so.

White working class people have stated clearly and for the record that they support a racist rapist, so let them support him as he nosedives the country into the toilet.


For that matter, why should we kiss the ass of white working class voters? There are plenty of other working class voters out there. Democrats would see greater success by reaching out to women and minorities.

[LonePirate]

7. So we need to prioritize anger over intelligence?

WWC voters embraced anger, jealousy, hatred and ignorance in November. We should not follow them down that hole. Let them learn the painful lessons from the despicable choice they made.

[emulatorloo]

11. Hillary won working class voters overall

Bernie's leaving that out. He may not be aware of it.

Trump tapped into anger all right. Per exit polling his voters most important issues were:

Immigration
Terrorism

In otherwords, a Muslim ban and mass-deportations tearing families apart.

Voters concerned with economy as top issue voted for HRC

[leftstreet]

2. I think that term does not mean what you think it means

[JHan]

4. what Republicans do well is demonize government.

While giving the rich (and corporations) a pass.

Much money has been expended over decades to nurture ideas antagonistic towards government, which is why anti-establishment arguments work well for the GOP - even though they are responsible for gridlock in Washington.

[Skidmore]

8. This is what the Rs have been successful at doing.

Their policies are destructive but they created a narrative with its own lexicon. Gingrich and Luntz contributed mightily to the development of the language of propaganda. Then the rhetoric was promoted by developing an overlay of media outlets and personalities. Expecting lockstep adherence to the agreed upon narrative strenghtened it, even if it was fact-free.

[Starry Messenger]

6. Polls show that actually economically anxious voted for Hillary.

So unless you guys are willing to enact the kind of racist shit that will placate Chump voters, we don't have a lot to discuss here.

[KittyWampus]

9. Data mining and using social media to target people with messages tailored

to their exact psychological profile.

Like Cambridge Analytics.

[LonePirate]

10. Our economy has changed dramatically in 30 years. WWCs have not changed, hence the problem.

We offered a candidate with a vision to help move WWCs to the modern economy. They rejected her in favor of fantasy and lies. If they don't want our help, leave them be and let them live the doomed to fail experiment they opted for instead.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

12. Jealous of people on welfare?

[meow2u3]

16. Some of those RWNJs think people are living large on their meager allotments

Go figure.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

18. Right

When I was younger, I felt like my parents were overly hard on me and not hard enough on my brother, who was troubled/irresponsible and complained about it once to my Mom, who shut me down by suggesting that I should be glad that I have my stuff together and wondering why I envy their treatment of my brother when he is messed up. I admit that that "pep talked worked on me and never complained about it again.

To be honest though, I do envy Medicaid recipients in terms of their healthcare coverage but I don't think that they shouldn't have it because they all surely need it for themselves and, especially, their children. I just think that everybody should be allowed to have the same kind of comprehensive health coverage. I'd even be willing to pay a reasonable premium to have the kind of Medicaid coverage that recipients have. I think that that is what distinguishes liberals from right-wingers: We want everybody to live safe, happy, productive lives, which includes helping everybody- even the least among us- survive and thrive. Right-wingers think that, because they are working long hours for limited pay and benefits (which is partially because of the kind of people they vote for) and are generally miserable, they see what they think is poor people "living it up" at government expense, they want poor people just cut off out of resentment/spite.

[Orsino]

13. Simpler messaging that reclaims the term "family values."

The current GOP overreaching ought to help us make that sale.

[Hortensis]

14. Republican politicians lie constantly because they

have to--revealing their true agendas would guarantee losses. So they make the lies really...juicy, "real-housewives-of" ones so they'll be enjoyed and spread all over.

Can we copy this? No. Guaranteed loss for us--this stuff doesn't work on the left.

But Maddow, and now some Facebook people like Dan Rather (with, to be fair considerable assistance from 45 ), are managing to make truths juicier and more enjoyable, and thus more likely to be spread around.

Btw, reportedly the biggest nexus of right-wing lie dissemination hasn't been any of the regular social media. Rather. it's those vicious trashy but enjoyable emails, sent out and then spread exponentially from friends to more friends.

[hatrack]

15. Dunno - wear shiny white hardhats and lie? Talk about Jeezus a whole lot more?

Find new people to hate on and blame?

[gratuitous]

17. How about going to the small towns once in a while?

Big rallies in urban centers are fun, but stop off in Sheboygan or Ashtabula from time to time. Gin up a little local excitement, even if the crowd is smaller. Then . . .

TELL THE PEOPLE WHAT DEMOCRATS ARE DOING FOR THEM. You like weekends off, higher wages, better schools, and functional roads? You like being able to go to the doctor at the first sign of illness, rather than waiting until your condition becomes acute and you can't stand it anymore? You like drinking clean water? You like breathing clean air?

It's not a hard case to make, unless you're determined to pander to the temporarily embarrassed millionaires subsisting on minimum wage until they hit the lottery or something, when they will want those massive tax cuts.

[Trekologer]

19. We don't abandon our values by doing this

This is exactly what we need to do--talk with people.

Some detractors think that simply talking to rural voters means we have to abandon our values and try to appeal to the worst of the worst. That is simply not the case.

We haven't done a good enough job explaining to voters why the policies we champion are good for them. Instead, a lot of Democratic candidates have tried to run away from them. We need to embrace them and message better why those policies are important.

[lame54]

20. Lie and promise things you can never deliver