by Nicholas Lemann published in The New Yorker
Read original on The New Yorker's website
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Posted 717 days ago
Interesting argument that Democrats are pivoting to more social issues than focusing 100% on the "economy" (whatever that means). There does seems to be a bit of a shift, but that shift might be a little late.
It seems that the House will flip in these upcoming elections, and possibly even the Senate. If that does happen, it's very much possible that the Democratic coalition falls apart even further. If they can't win, the centrists will blame the leftists and just the reverse.
Democrats fighting for core social issues is a great platform, especially in the case of Nevada, but that doesn't play everywhere because there is alot of distrust. I'm from a small town in Appalachia and I can tell you that even if Democrats were to become the law and order and stability government, that's not what a lot of people are looking for.
There are a lot of people with a very good standard of living when comparing globally, and these same people can vote for whoever they want to. The argument that people are falling into poverty, which surely happens, is not the same in America as other places. There is too much of a focus on this point from Democrats, I think, and not enough people buy it.
I'm not saying we shouldn't fight for this, but I'm saying that Democrats shouldn't act like Americans would vote for them for life-or-death scenarios. There are a ton of poor Americans, and we should do everything we can to help everybody advance forward, but to think you are the only representative of this group is crazy. There are tons of people in "desperate" situations in the American mindset, that have the complete freedom and will to vote whatever party most aligns with their ideological (not economic) beliefs.