# Can Democrats perform better with white voters? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 25, 2019, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261 "2019-10-25T01:34:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261/61 "2019-11-04T20:49:25Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > I haven’t read _everything_ anyone has ever said, but I’d wager no democratic politician has ever said this. Joe Biden recently said “[Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/biden-racialized-poverty-gaffe/595855/)” To his credit (sort of) he immediately realized how awful that sounded (to everyone) and followed it up with “Wealthy kids, black kids, Asian kids. No, I really mean it. But think how we think about it. We think how we’re going to dumb it down. They can do anything anybody else can do, given a shot.” I think it offered some startling insight into (what’s left of) the mind of Joe Biden. ETA: Do I win the wager? ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261/62 "2019-11-04T20:56:33Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > Republicans just have to stop being racist. That is a tall fucking order. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261/63 "2019-11-04T21:05:28Z")
> [@str8cashhomie](#): > > Frankly I think the GOP would have a really tough time appealing to minorities, simply because of trust and perception. If they took a look at themselves and said “OK what are some positions we take that make minorities think we don’t have their best interests” and addressed those, it would take years and possibly decades for minority voters to trust them again. > > If they didn’t care about actual policy at all and just cared about winning votes in the short-term, I think their best move is to embrace Trump-style Republicanism to solidify the conservative and nationalist white base as much as possible and basically give up on trying to mend fences with minorities. There are obviously long-term considerations as well as the fact that a party is never going to completely abandon policy for a cynical vote-grab. > [@Yankees\_1996\_Champs](#): > > Yes, the GOP has a serious race problem with minorities. They only have one Republican senator who is a black Republican, Tim Scott. > > Black Republicans like JC Watts and Mia Love are no longer in office. > > The Democrats have a race problem with whites. > > Both parties are racially balkanized. > [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > It’s not about Republican positions on things like tax policy, gun control, etc. Conservatives will naturally gravitate Republican because the Republican platform is already conservative. All they have to do is make those minor feel welcome in the party by getting rid of the racist white people. The only reason they (Republicans) probably haven’t done so is because they probably believe that the number of racist white people is greater than the number of conservative minorities. I sense a conflation between the terms “minority” and “black” The asian vote has swung wildly from generation to generation. Right now the racism is making asians very Democrat but if you got rid of the racism, asians would drift right. Without the racism, I don’t know that jews vote so overwhelmingly for the anti-Israel party. Without the racism, I don’t know that hispanics vote so overwhelmingly for the pro-choice party. This is true for many minorities. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261/64 "2019-11-04T21:10:25Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > The Democrats don’t have a race problem with white people in the same way. They haven’t driven white people away because they are racist against whites. Instead they’ve lost the conservative white people because they’ve gotten rid of the conservative Democrats (except for Joe Manchin). I suppose it’s possible that there is a hidden pocket of racist but otherwise liberal white people who vote Republican for race reasons, but that’s probably a very small group. Pro-life Democrats have basically been kicked out of the party. Pro-gun Democrats have also been kicked out of the party. This led to more ideological purity tests, particularly on race issues. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261/65 "2019-11-04T21:17:46Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Can you list what conservative values you think Donald Trump has delivered on that Hillary Clinton wouldn’t have delivered better on? > > Note: Saying things like “Trump appointed conservative judges” doesn’t count unless you can articulate why you think conservative judges are better than other judges. Conservative judges are certainly preferable to liberal judges from a conservative standpoint. In fact this is among the only thing that the evangelicals seem to care about. Plenty of evangelicals are conservative but not racist. Trump is certainly seen by some to be fighting for poor working class [whites] with his trade war and immigration policy. If he could tone down the racism and the stupid things he says and the stupid things he does and the stupid way he behaves, more people would vote for him. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261/66 "2019-11-04T21:20:56Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > I agree. The reason they aren’t equal is because there are conservative minorities who would vote Republican if they felt welcome by the white voters in the Republican party. The Democrats don’t have a pool of white voters to appeal to who are otherwise liberal but vote Republican because the don’t feel welcome in the Democratic party for reasons of race. I don’t think such a block of voters exists. > > ETA. As I’ve already mentioned, what this means is that for the Republicans the solution for their problem is easy. Stop being racist. The solution for the Democrats is a lot more complicated and would mean having to adopt more conservative positions on a whole host of issues. There are some working class whites that believe that the Democrats are anti-white and push preferences for minorities over whites. Rich minorities go to the Democrats because of the Republican racism. Poor whites go to the Republicans because of the Democratic racism. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261/67 "2019-11-04T21:29:38Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I’m not sure if people are just taking this point for granted, or maybe some people in this thread are just unaware… the advice the Republicans need to extend their outreach beyond white Americans is NOT about the 2016 election or any fundamental sense of fairness – it’s about betting on an aging horse. > > The percentage of white voters in 2016 compared to 2012 dropped by one percent, while the percentage of black voters went up by one, and Hispanic voters went up by two. These trends are expected to continue for the next couple decades. Not according to wikipedia. White AND black vote represented 1% less of the vote. The asian and hispanic vote represented 1% more of the vote. > [@](#): > > Republicans continuing to rely on white voters into the future is sort of like someone buying stock in Blockbuster Video in 2010. Blockbuster was still doing fine, but there were enough warning signs that a smart investor should certainly place their bets somewhere else. > > Right now, Dems are essentially betting on Netflix in 2005. It’s making them good money but they aren’t becoming billionaires off of it… in other words, its winning Dems elections a pretty decent amount of the time, but not every time, but it’s the long game that counts. Now tell me very clearly why Dems need to invest in Blockbuster. Because white voters account for 72% of the electorate and will continue to be the majority of the electorate for at least 20 more years. If people really voted according to race, Republicans would have a lock on every election for at least a couple of generations. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261/68 "2019-11-04T21:34:37Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Because white voters account for 72% of the electorate and will continue to be the majority of the electorate for at least 20 more years. If people really voted according to race, Republicans would have a lock on every election for at least a couple of generations. What does “vote according to race” mean? All the white people I know are Democrats. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261/69 "2019-11-04T22:08:01Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > No. Not even close. He opened national parks to people with guns. He never really paid more than lip service to gun confiscation. He never paid more than lip service to all sorts of gun control. He realized that gun control was a political loser. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261/70 "2019-11-04T22:12:15Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > What does “vote according to race” mean? All the white people I know are Democrats. And we should be fair to them and their children regardless of the color of their skin. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261/71 "2019-11-04T22:12:23Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > He opened national parks to people with guns. > He never really paid more than lip service to gun confiscation. > He never paid more than lip service to all sorts of gun control. > > He realized that gun control was a political loser. That does not make him a staunch Second Amendment supporter. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261/72 "2019-11-04T23:13:38Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > He opened national parks to people with guns. … Senator Coburn did that. Obama was just one of the guys Senator Coburn outsmarted along the way to getting it done. ---
**Author:** ![str8cashhomie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@str8cashhomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/str8cashhomie)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261/73 "2019-11-05T00:04:22Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > And we should be fair to them and their children regardless of the color of their skin. Can you clarify what you mean by this? Given the subject of this threat it seems like you must be implying that the Democratic party doesn’t treat white people fairly. ---
**Author:** ![Yankees\_1996\_Champs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Yankees\_1996\_Champs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yankees_1996_Champs)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261/74 "2019-11-05T02:37:52Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > There are some working class whites that believe that the Democrats are anti-white and push preferences for minorities over whites. > > **Rich minorities go to the Democrats because of the Republican racism. Poor whites go to the Republicans because of the Democratic racism.** This. Prince George’s County, MD is the wealthiest black county in American history, more than Fulton/Gwinnett/DeKalb, GA. Those are American Dream black professionals; doctors, lawyers, scientists, small business owners, athletes, journalists, bloggers. They would be black Republicans because of the taxes. But the GOP is so racially toxic, that they vote Democratic and most of PG County’s representatives are Democratic. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261/75 "2019-11-05T03:41:37Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Conservative judges are certainly preferable to liberal judges from a conservative standpoint. But if you can’t explain why conservatism is better than liberalism than it’s a pretty ignorant viewpoint. People shouldn’t treat politics like it’s sports and cheer for a team just because it’s their team. > [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > If he could tone down the racism and the stupid things he says and the stupid things he does and the stupid way he behaves, more people would vote for him. Subtract all the stupidity out of Donald Trump and there might not be enough left to vote for. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261/76 "2019-11-05T13:41:08Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > That does not make him a staunch Second Amendment supporter. You said “No. Not even close.” This may not make him close to being a staunch supporter but it’s not like he’s Feinstein. He knows an AR-15 ban is pointless. He knows that gun control is a political loser but he still has to appease the gun control folks by paying lip service. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261/77 "2019-11-05T13:46:03Z")
> [@str8cashhomie](#): > > Can you clarify what you mean by this? > > Given the subject of this threat it seems like you must be implying that the Democratic party doesn’t treat white people fairly. No. It doesn’t. Everything is viewed through an intersectional woke SJW lens. It places diversity ahead of merit and in the case of colleges and universities, this frequently means preferences for middle class and wealthy black and hispanic kids over poor kids of any other race. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261/78 "2019-11-05T13:59:12Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > But if you can’t explain why conservatism is better than liberalism than it’s a pretty ignorant viewpoint. So you don’t think that conservative judges are preferable from a conservative standpoint? Why would I have to establish that the conservatism is better from the conservative viewpoint? > [@](#): > > People shouldn’t treat politics like it’s sports and cheer for a team just because it’s their team. You mean like the kneejerk opposition to all conservative nominees to the Supreme Court? > [@](#): > > Subtract all the stupidity out of Donald Trump and there might not be enough left to vote for. This election will be closer than you may think. Assuming that Trump is an incompetent boob is a pretty good way to lose this election. His actions resonate with three groups of people that I can think of: Staunch partisans that will support anything with an R next to their name. Racists and white supremacists who have Pavlovian responses to dog whistles. Working class whites who feel like the Democrats care about everyone except them. He can do no wrong when it comes to the first two groups. Between his immigration policy and trade war with China, he is viewed by working class whites as protecting them from foreign competition. You might be able to tear away some of the last group but you have to start channeling a Bernie Sanders “worker’s party” platform. ---
**Author:** ![str8cashhomie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@str8cashhomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/str8cashhomie)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261/79 "2019-11-05T14:14:46Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > No. It doesn’t. Everything is viewed through an intersectional woke SJW lens. > > It places diversity ahead of merit and in the case of colleges and universities, this frequently means preferences for middle class and wealthy black and hispanic kids over poor kids of any other race. If this is true the democrats are doing a terrible job of it, because black and Latino students are still underrepresented compared to white students. > **[Facts about race and college admission](https://hechingerreport.org/facts-about-race-and-college-admission/)** > > Race and ethnicity in college admissions: The Trump administration has reversed policies encouraging the consideration of race as a factor. Here are the facts. I understand why “restorative justice” such as affirmative action is controversial, but there seems to be an attempt on this thread to draw an equivalence between affirmative action and GOP policies that legitimately deny several minority groups of equal rights, and the facts just don’t back that up. If they did, we wouldn’t continue to see numbers demonstrating that black and Latino people are still less likely to go to college, less likely to go to more competitive schools and more likely to have a tough time affording it than white people. Given that we still have all those things, the fact that affirmative action is still functioning as restorative justice is clear. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261/80 "2019-11-05T14:28:39Z")
> [@Yankees\_1996\_Champs](#): > > This. > > Prince George’s County, MD is the wealthiest black county in American history, more than Fulton/Gwinnett/DeKalb, GA. > > Those are American Dream black professionals; doctors, lawyers, scientists, small business owners, athletes, journalists, bloggers. > > They would be black Republicans because of the taxes. But the GOP is so racially toxic, that they vote Democratic and most of PG County’s representatives are Democratic. Not all of them, but a lot more than they have now. It used to be that Republicans relegated the racists to a small corner of their tent where they could express their racist views in hushed whispers and dog whistles. But they would get kicked out of the tent if anyone else caught them being overtly racist. I don’t know about other minority groups but asians probably wouldn’t be so overwhelmingly Democratic but for the racism. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-perform-better-with-white-voters/842261.md?page=5)