Discussions of race/ethnicity are usually pretty contentious here at Daily Kos.
Discussions of race and voting patterns are usually doubly tense.
For that reason, I am not quite sure how the news of a poll that states that 63% of African American voters feel as if the Democratic Party takes them for granted will be greeted here at the GOS.
The poll was conducted by Cornell Belcher and, as the story notes below, the results were presented to the Congressional Black Caucus.
I’ll present the story, present the data, and give a little (perhaps harsh-sounding) commentary:
Belcher made a presentation and presented his new study to members of the Congressional Black Caucus at their retreat on February 7. House Democrats then departed to Baltimore for their annual three-day retreat the next day.
Belcher’s phone survey questioned 601 African Americans, at least 18 years-old, and registered to vote; the survey was conducted from January 4 - 8.
The results of the Belcher survey showed that African American voters were dissatisfied with President Trump and the direction of the country, and want more drastic tactics used to fight programs and policies that negatively impact their communities. The results also showed that protecting social security, reforming the criminal justice system, keeping the country safe from terrorists and other issues are priorities for African Americans.
“African Americans are the Democratic Party’s most loyal voters and they should be treated as such,” said Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), the chairman of the CBC, regarding the new study. “The results of this survey are clear marching orders for the Congressional Black Caucus — African Americans want Democrats to stop using the same old playbook and to make substantive progress on the issues that affect their communities.”
Last but not least, two additional data points:
— A large majority of African American voters (63 percent) feel taken for granted by the Democratic Party. This startling majority represents a growing problem among one of the most critical components of Democrats winning coalition. The outcome of the 2016 election was widely the result of this coalition splintering away from the top of the ticket along the margins with younger and browner voters.
— The list of important priorities for African American voters includes:
Protecting Social Security (88 percent, very important), keeping us safe from terrorists (78 percent), criminal justice reform (74 percent), reforming the election process so the candidate with the majority wins (72 percent), investigating Russian interference with the 2016 election (72 percent), protecting Obama’s legacy (71 percent), banning assault weapons (61 percent), and blocking Sessions (60 percent) are the top legislative priorities for African Americans nationally.
Of course, I read many news sources other than the ones provided by Daily Kos either by the writers themselves and/or the news links that are provided in the stories posted here.
Since before the primary season and on through the general election season and now in this post-election occupancy of the Oval Office by Donald Trump, I’ve read a lot of items and comments here at DK that simply...don’t seem right, especially as it pertains to African Americans.
I think that many here at DK do as human beings are wont to do: they find an ideological cubbyhole that makes sense to their worldview and they stick to it; I do it myself, to be honest although I will confess to being, at times, coy about what my “worldview” actually is.
In my worldview…
I am mildly surprised at the “63%” number but I’m not surprised that the number is over 50%...and that number is actually pretty consistent across lines of age and education (although a gender and a geographic breakdown would have been really, really helpful).
While Donald Trump’s question to African Americans, “What the hell do you have to lose?” was met with a lot of derision and eyerolls among the people that I know, people forget that The Occupant asked another question in this portion of “African American outreach” (to racist white folks)
“Look how much African American communities have suffered under Democratic control.”
I remember going into bobble-head mode when he said it.
My Blog Sis here at DK, JoanMar, said, correctly, that Trump was “trolling” when he said that.
Which he was, of course, but that didn’t make his statement any less true. I know that among my African American friends and acquaintances, THAT was the most discussed statement of The Occupant’s “outreach” and they agreed with what he said (even though it didn’t translate to a vote for Mr. Trump, obviously).
In other words, the sentiment expressed in some of this polling was already there even before the 2016 general election...why wouldn’t it be?
Even though I wasn’t polled, I’m one of the 63%.
And I’ve been there for possibly two decades.
In my view, I did not think that any of the Democratic primary participants were willing or able to tackle a multitude of problems in black communities (or, in one specific case, I really didn’t believe what the Democratic primary participant was saying).
While federal lawmaking and policy is critical, I must note that many of the problems in black communities plays out even more at the state and municipal levels where I would argue it has done the most damage.
And then some people wonder why black people give literal and virtual eye-rolls to those that whine about too damn much “identity politics” and about renewed efforts to reach out to disaffected white working class voters that, by and large, did not vote Democratic in the 2016 general election.
You know what?
I say...go ahead and do that “outreach” to disaffected WWC.
There is more than one elephant in that particular electoral room, though, and Democrats ignore it at their own peril.