Posted on 06/06/2018 5:17:06 AM PDT by Kaslin
As we churn through primary season, laying the framework for November's elections, we're seeing the emergence of a new face of the Democratic Party -- more progressive, more left wing.
The Democratic Party is delivering more candidates around the nation like Stacey Abrams, recently nominated for governor in Georgia. She's unabashedly boilerplate, in-your-face, hard left. Pro-big government, pro-abortion, pro-LGBT rights.
Recent Wall Street Journal/NBC polling shows how the Democratic Party has changed. In 2004, 67 percent of Democrats identified as moderate or conservative and 31 percent identified as liberal. In 2018, we see a shift to the left of 20 points. Forty-seven percent identify as moderate or conservative and 51 percent as liberal.
Amidst all this, what might we expect from blacks, Democrats' most consistent voting bloc? In 14 presidential elections since 1964, Democratic candidates captured an average 88 percent of the black vote. But blacks generally don't fit the new far-left profile.
According to recent data from the Pew Research Center, black Democrats have very little religiously in common with white Democrats. Religious behavior of black Democrats is much more closely aligned with white Republicans.
Forty-seven percent of black Democrats say they attend church at least weekly, compared to 45 percent of white Republicans and 22 percent of white Democrats.
Ninety-two percent of black Protestants say they believe in God as described in the Bible, compared to 70 percent of Republicans and 45 percent of Democrats.
But it's not just religious attitudes that raise questions about black monolithic affinity for the Democratic Party.
In the Pew Religious Landscape study published in 2014, 36 percent of historically black Protestants described themselves as conservative and 24 percent as liberal.
Regarding the role of government, 23 percent of historically black Protestants say they prefer smaller government and fewer services and 70 percent say they prefer larger government and more services.
Regarding government aid to the poor, 27 percent of historically black Protestants say government does more harm than good and 66 percent say government does more good than harm.
You might say that these responses regarding the role of government explain why blacks vote disproportionately for Democrats.
But that's not correct.
The data reported above is for what Pew defines as "historically black protestant" -- which, according to Pew, consists of 53 percent of all blacks. However, according to Pew, 79 percent of blacks identify as Christian.
Pew reports in addition to 47 percent of all black Democrats saying they attend church at least once per week, 74 percent say they pray daily, and 76 percent say religion is "very important" in their lives.
So data that Pew reports for historically black Protestants seems to be a reasonably rough sample of black attitudes in general.
When 36 percent identify as conservative, and when 27 percent say government assistance to the poor does more harm than good, yet on average, 88 percent of blacks are voting for Democrats, something is amiss.
Voting Democrat is not written in black genes. From 1936 to 1960, the black vote for the Republican presidential candidate averaged 30 percent. In 1956, 39 percent of blacks voted for Dwight Eisenhower.
Black voting behavior has far reaching implications, as America changes demographically into a country less and less white. In 1980, 88 percent of voters were white. In 2016, 70 percent were. This trend will continue.
In a new Harvard-Harris Poll, 33 percent of blacks say they are now "better off" in their financial situation and 32 percent of blacks approve of the way Trump is handling the economy.
Republican Party outreach to blacks has ratcheted up considerably since the Obama years.
If Republicans can succeed in courting these church-going black Christians, we could see a political realignment in the country that will change profoundly America's political landscape.
Yes, there will be 3 more Africans voting republican.
With all due respect I don’t really care if black ‘folk’ vote Republican but if the Dems are that hard to vote for then by all means black ‘folk’ stay home on election day.
Exactly. Pandering specifically to Blacks would cost more votes than it would gain. They are free to join us based on our already existing beliefs.
If they like to work and not exist on welfare.
Hard to say.
Will more blacks marry the other parent of their children? Will more blacks study for school? Will more blacks stop using and selling illicit drugs? Will more blacks stop shooting other blacks? Will more blacks stop focusing on being black and start focusing on their success?
I find it hard to fathom why a white guy would vote Democrat. The Democrats do nothing for the white male and offer nothing. They are not part of their identity politics. It is pure idiocy IMO.
Socialism is cynicism directed towards society and (concomitantly, in that government exists only to curb evil in society) faith in, even naiveté towards, government.Republicans cannot out-pander cynics; they must argue forcefully for the common good.
Ain’t gonna happen.
I know.
This article is about Blacks.
You make a valid point.
The goal is not all but merely enough
How many varies with location but 15% will do
The apparent total lack of interest by the Sessions DOJ in indicting local election officials around the country for 2016's misdeeds does not bode well for the future.
LOL! LOL! LOL! ---- NO!
true
It all depends on their perspective. . do they see a growing economy and low unemployment numbers being in their interest or do they see government hand-outs, Section-8 housing, food stamps, bad attitudes, fatherless homes, violence, bad schools, crumbling neighborhoods and constant whining by rich athletes to be in their interest.
Does that include Walter Williams, Allen Keys & J.C. Watts?
Yes at rate Blacks are coming over we can expect that by November 35% to vote Republican another 10% will stay home and 5% will vote 3rd party leaving the Democrats with 50% which is 40 points below what they need to win.
No, there are EXCEPTIONS to every rule, but the rule still stands. Exceptions are the outliers in any population of data.
This has nothing to do with “pandering.”
A few elections ago, I worked on GOTV stuff in a small Southern city. We leafletted, called, etc. All over town - except in the black neighborhoods because it was regarded as a waste of time. And then we actually got a call from a black resident of one of these neighborhoods who asked if we could come and leaflet there because he was planning to vote Republican and he knew there were a few others who might if they dared (he literally said he was scared and he only talked to a few neighbors he had reason to think might be sympathetic). So he said it might help them if they saw the door hangers for the GOP candidate and make them feel that somebody cared about their vote.
DId we do it? Of course not. I offered to go and distribute literature, but the local “leadership” just said it would be worthless. It wouldn’t have been, since one of the reasons blacks don’t vote GOP is that nobody in the party makes any effort to even give them the choice to or encouragement in voting GOP. We write them off from the start, saying they’re “all Dems.”
Outreach is not pandering. Treat black neighborhoods just like any others: have candidates’ nights, meetings, leafletting, etc. And you might be surprised.
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