Regarding “every blue-collar Democrat we lose in western Pennsylvania..."

I'm a believer in the progressive insurgency currently underway in the Democratic Party. Not because I'm convinced it will succeed, but because I don't think the bastards should have any "safe space" anywhere.

I still hold out some hope that the insurgency will win, but after looking at this new Pew study it's obvious that the odds are rather long.
party_id.jpg

With the (odd) exception of the group with some college, the party ID of white voters had a big inflection point in 2010. There was only modest movement before then, but starting in 2010 the high school crowd suddently flocked to the Republican Party while the college crowd flocked to the Democratic Party.
Two things happened around 2010 that could have affected voters strongly: the Great Recession and the presidency of Barack Obama.

How much significant change can you expect out of a political party that is increasingly made up of successful, comfortable households?
Even if you take corporate money out of the equation, the Overton Window isn't going to be very big with that crowd.
Chuck Schumer's dream is slowly happening, and that changes how the Dem's respond.

the evolution of the two political parties, recently noted that disconnect in terms of the Democraric Party's silence on President Trump's tariffs:

"This silence speaks volumes about the Democrats' inability, or unwillingness, to recognize the evolving nature of the party's demographic and geographic base. While many Democrats still think of the party as the home of blue-collar industrial regions hostile to trade, in fact, the party is now centered in the major metropolitan areas that are integrated into global markets and at the forefront of the transition into the information-age, digital economy."

The WashPost had an interesting take on this.

“When race and education are taken into account, white voters who do to not have a college degree make up a diminished share of Democratic registered voters. White voters who do not have a four-year degree now constitute just a third of Democratic voters, down from 56% two decades ago. By contrast, non-college white voters continue to make up a majority of Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters (59% now, 66% in 1997).”
...
As the Republican Party increasingly becomes the party of those without degrees, their leaders may feel pressure to champion policies that benefit working class voters — often defined as those lacking a degree — more than those with professional careers resulting from a college education.

ROTFL!
Yeh, Repubs really care about working class people.
Soon they'll champion labor unions and worker safety laws. LOL

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smugness

First, there's the ABC News/Washington Post poll published last week that found just 28% think the Democratic Party is "in touch with the concerns of most people in the United States today." Even among Democrats, only slightly more than half (52%) think the party is in touch with people in the country.
...When CNN's Jake Tapper asked smug liberal comedian/political commentator Samantha Bee this weekend whether there is a "smug liberal problem," her response was: "I don't think there is."

Meanwhile, a survey of Dartmouth students published last week found that not only are liberals smug, they are far less tolerant of other viewpoints than Republicans on campus.

More than two-thirds of Republican students at Dartmouth (69%) say they'd be comfortable with a roommate who had opposing political views. But only 39% of Democrats said that. Nearly half of Democrats said they'd be uncomfortable with a roommate of a different political persuasion; just 12% of Republicans said that.

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Hawkfish's picture

@gjohnsit

I wouldn’t put too much stock in the opinions of the students at the alma mater of Dinesh DeSousa, Laura Ingraham and the rest of Ronnie’s “Dartmouth Mafia”. Back in the 1980s, it was the home of the flagship right wing college rag The Dartmouth Review.

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We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg

@gjohnsit Where else to go get the pulse of what Americans think than a selective, privileged, elite eastern college.

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Bollox Ref's picture

But the Democrats of today are the Rockefeller Republicans of yesteryear.

Don't mess with their country club memberships.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

thanatokephaloides's picture

I'm a believer in the progressive insurgency currently underway in the Democratic Party. Not because I'm convinced it will succeed, but because I don't think the bastards should have any "safe space" anywhere.

No wonder I hear the "safe space" whine so often over at TOP (Daily Kos).....

Wink

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

@thanatokephaloides

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

@Ellen North
are safely locked in rooms with padded walls.

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EdMass's picture

@thanatokephaloides

Searching for someone I recognize. Searching for cogent thought.

Searching, searching, searching.

Hey, Trump fd a porn star...Big news. Everyone is shocked. At least she says she wasn't abused.

DKos to the rescue in their never ending pursuit of the dive to the ground, keep pushing that stick forward.

You think you can't be President? How about this?

Grover Cleveland was the only president to officially serve as an executioner (hangman). As the sheriff of Erie County, New York, he performed the role on multiple executions and earned the nickname "Buffalo Hangman."

Derp

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Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!

Firesign Theater

Stop the War!

thanatokephaloides's picture

@EdMass

I will admit I visit there [TOP/Daily Kos] regularly

Searching for someone I recognize. Searching for cogent thought.

Searching, searching, searching.

You, me, and Diogenes of Sinope !!

Wink

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Who apparently didn't get the news that I dumped the dems. Luckily I still had a wooden shim to include with my rant, triggering the requirement for a very costly hand canceling charge to Jerusalem- belongs-to-Israel-coz-its-in-the-torah Schumer. Eh!

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@GusBecause

Ah! Got an urgent request for $ today from Schumer Who apparently didn't get the news that I dumped the dems. Luckily I still had a wooden shim to include with my rant, triggering the requirement for a very costly hand canceling charge to Jerusalem-belongs-to-Israel-coz-its-in-the-torah Schumer. Eh!

It's too bad you couldn't have had it sent from Jerusalem.....

Wink

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

And that the Democratic "membership" will bolt in a minute.
I have a friend wwho was a chemical engineer. He retired early because a high school graduate with an iPad could replace him. Once teh employers realize that the college grad demographic is doomed to the same poverty that high school onlys now enjoy.
The good part of all this is that the more this happens the less people will fall for the "Democratic" selling point that they are somehow superior to the great unwashed. At first they may flock to the Reb... fascists, but they will quickly learn that fascism is a con, leaving huge opportunities for a new party.
I'm a cockeyed optomist.

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On to Biden since 1973

@doh1304 I was going to say you should see an optometrist about that but...I'm thataway too: you can have my rose-colored glasses when you can pry them from my old dead hands.
Without those glasses, I won't get out of bed every morning.

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Pricknick's picture

How much significant change can you expect out of a political party that is increasingly made up of successful, comfortable households?

Your own words.
Both parties are basically the same.
Well done!

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

@Pricknick Keep sayin' if your well enough off you'll be buying expensive houses in the 'right' town, looking for the best schools for your kid all the way to that elite university, buying vacation homes in the same area, buying more expensive cars, have good health care and generally more than you need to get by. You'll be commuting into work on the same trains......
as your wealthy conservative neighbors.

You'll use the same lawn care services, nannies, auto repair shops, caddies and trash pickup and bitch about the cost, same as your conservative neighbors. Your public service will be writing checks to a political party and volunteering in (and to benefit) your own community.....
just like your conservative neighbors.

So, really, at that level, who has more in common with each other? If the conservatives want to destroy us, these people won't care. We're just not on the radar.

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of confluences that would start to sweep away the two party system, as so many commentators have recently opined.

or maybe it is happening, and it's just not obvious. people are thirsty for more political participation, thanks in part to the dotard in chief, but we still have to shunt them into a two party machine.

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did 9 months in California prison, because Neoliberal Democrats and GOP maggots work together to profit off the drug war

Steven D's picture

I stopped right there. No need to read further.

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"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

EdMass's picture

Long Live Nancy Pelosi

According to the reporting the Dems are allowing candidates to say they won't support the Nancster as the House Leader so they can get elected. Hello PA Lameraingadaing . After that, bidness as usual. They really do think we are stupid.

I dared to say on ToP that is was time for her to go. The interesting response was that it was the Clintons fault and Nancy was just fine.

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Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!

Firesign Theater

Stop the War!