# Slate article - Dems are still pooping the bed when it comes to dealing with the white working class **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 5, 2017, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slate-article-dems-are-still-pooping-the-bed-when-it-comes-to-dealing-with-the-white-working-class/788208 "2017-06-05T18:40:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2017, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slate-article-dems-are-still-pooping-the-bed-when-it-comes-to-dealing-with-the-white-working-class/788208/61 "2017-06-06T03:04:31Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > It boggles the mind that Hillary’s loss is still being portrayed as a failure to reach the white working class. If only she had did this. If only she has said that. Then the poor whites would’ve seen the light. \*All yall fucking kidding me? \* > > Hillary lost because urban and minority voters in swing states did not vote like they should’ve. See [this](https://www.forbes.com/sites/omribenshahar/2016/11/17/the-non-voters-who-decided-the-election-trump-won-because-of-lower-democratic-turnout/#d86026753ab1) analysis. > > Dems can keep trying to appeal to the demographic group least receptive to progressive politics and most culturally biased to Republicans, but they will lose if they let that become all they focus on. I mean, Trump still has an approval rating in the high 30’s, despite all the idiocy he has done. If 36% of the population–most of whom belong to that white working class we’re supposed to be wringing our hands over–still think Trump is great, we are talking about people who are impervious to reason. Hillary can’t be faulted for this, sorry. I blame Hillary but not exclusively. Her failures are part of a larger failure by the democratic party, which relied too heavily on the notion that they could just keep winning presidential elections with Hispanics, Blacks, and white liberals and that center-right whites were no longer part of the equation. They need to be a party that vigorously defends minority rights – to be the anti-Trump. But they also need to focus less on ‘needy Latinos’ and start being a little more comfortable talking to white guys in pickup trucks. I say this as someone who lives in a so-called swing state. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2017, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slate-article-dems-are-still-pooping-the-bed-when-it-comes-to-dealing-with-the-white-working-class/788208/62 "2017-06-06T03:27:27Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > There were guys like [Rick Tyler of Tennessee](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/outrage-trump-inspired-congressional-candidate-wants-make-america-white-again-n597916) who put up a billboard that read, “Make America white again,” in his run for congress. You mean [this Rick Tyler, that got 1.9% of the vote](https://ballotpedia.org/Tennessee%27s_3rd_Congressional_District_election,_2016)? Yeah, those racists are really dominating Tennessee politics :rolleyes: Did you ever consider the possibility that Trump didn’t comment on Rick Tyler merely because he wasn’t A) a Republican or B) a candidate with even a small chance of winning? You said “There were guys like Rick Tyler …”. Does that mean there were additional candidates in this same racist mold (that you’d presumably like to discuss), or was he the only one? ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2017, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slate-article-dems-are-still-pooping-the-bed-when-it-comes-to-dealing-with-the-white-working-class/788208/63 "2017-06-06T04:13:58Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > But they also need to focus less on ‘needy Latinos’ and start being a little more comfortable talking to white guys in pickup trucks. I say this as someone who lives in a so-called swing state. Uh huh. See, this is what I’m concerned about. It would be one thing if you suggested the Dems speak and act more inclusively, with messages that transcend racial and class divisions. But in so many words, you’re saying Dems need to distance themselves from one or more groups to make themselves more attractive to another group. If Dems lost in 2016 largely because they took its base for granted, what makes you think this approach won’t result in the same thing? The Dems will deserve to lose if party desperation prompts black people and other minorities to suspect their asses will be sold the river in a minute by white politicians trying to get more votes. I brought up Trump’s approval ratings earlier and I’ll do so again. According to this, Trump’s approval has essentially hovered between [35 to 41%](http://www.gallup.com/poll/203198/presidential-approval-ratings-donald-trump.aspx) since inauguration. Think of allllll the shit the happened since Jan 20. Flynn, Comey, Russia, failed executive orders, the most stupid tweets ever imagainable, a horribly shitty failed healthcare bill, excessive golfing trips, the list goes on and on. And yet his approval hasn’t changed that much. I can’t help but look at that and see willful obstinacy at levels I’ve never seen in my life. Obstinacy that can’t be fount by rebranding Dems to be more pick-up truck dude friendly (whatever the fuck that means…and it’s not like we haven’t politicians rolling up their sleeves and affecting drawls and having photo ops at the corner diner since antiquity). Better targets would be gerrymandering, voter suppression, and community outreach to groups that historically have favored progressive candidates. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2017, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slate-article-dems-are-still-pooping-the-bed-when-it-comes-to-dealing-with-the-white-working-class/788208/64 "2017-06-06T04:14:35Z")
> [@astro](#): > > The Mondale metric - Wow… I have not thought of him in forever! I think I like the Mondale Line better. A minimum amount of charisma below which, no matter how good a politician in actual office, simply cannot win a campaign. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slate-article-dems-are-still-pooping-the-bed-when-it-comes-to-dealing-with-the-white-working-class/788208.md?page=3)