There Is a Very Wrong Lesson to Take From Kamala Harris’ Performance Among Black and Latino Voters

Slate ^ | 10/19/24 | Ben Mathis-Lilley

[DallasBiff]

Why is Kamala Harris doing worse with Black and Latino voters than previous Democratic presidential candidates? That’s the campaign topic of the week after a New York Times/Siena poll found Harris winning only 57 percent of Hispanic voters—a step down from the estimated 63 percent that Joe Biden won in 2020—and 78 percent of Black voters, 15 points less than Biden’s estimated 2020 share. In the New York Times, David Leonhardt suggested an explanation for the disparity that echoes a centrist critique we’ve heard a lot over the past few years: The problem is identity politics, particularly on the issue of immigration.

According to Leonhardt, the Democratic Party is suffering because it has made “the wrong diagnosis of the American electorate” when it comes to race and ethnicity. Democrats, he says, assume that people of color constitute a homogeneous voting bloc whose loyalty can be best earned through acts that speak to their “racial identity,” like the 2022 appointment of a Black woman, Ketanji Brown Jackson, to the Supreme Court. (That’s Leonhardt’s example, not mine.)

[PeterPrinciple]

‘A democracy, as long as we can keep it...’.

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At Mount Rushmore National Monument, you will see a movie in which Tom Brokow says, “our country was established for life, liberty and the pursuit of social justice.”

ears to hear.

[teeman8r]

I predict within 6 weeks of the election… 6 weeks. Hogan will deflate party affiliation as independent and will caucus with the dems.

[metmom]

True, that.

You just can’t seem to win.

Except I’m praying harder than ever.

God can still thwart the plans of the DS.

[NorthMountain]

Except I’m praying harder than ever.

That comes before and above all else.

[Does so]

“It doesn’t matter, they are going to riot the minute he is declared the winner.”
.
Fences are being erected as we write.

[packrat35]

I would be loading my weapons and stashing them strategically around the house if they hadn’t been lost in that tragic boating accident.