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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump Is Losing His Grip on White America
Trump Is Losing His Grip on White America
Polls taken since George Floyds death show a big shift to the left on race and policing.
By William Saletan
June 20, 2020
10:07 AM
Donald Trump has spent his life stoking white racial fears. He has done it as a businessman, as a candidate, and as president. Now hes betting his reelection on it. My Administration will not even consider removing the names of Confederate generals from military bases, he tweeted on June 10. Our history
will not be tampered with. Trump calls for law & order, appeals to the silent majority, and vows not to watch the NFL if players kneel for the national anthem.
But Trump has a problem: Most white Americans dont agree with him. Polls taken since George Floyds death are showing a profound change in public opinion: White Americans, on balance, now perceive systemic racism and reject Trumps law-and-order message as inadequate.
Thats good news for America. But its bad news for Trump and his party, because the GOP relies on white voters. In 2010, 2012, and 2014, about 60 percent of them voted Republican. In 2016, that number fell to 57 percent. In 2018, it fell to 54 percent. As this number has fallen, so has the GOPs share of the overall vote. In 2016, Trump won enough states to take the Electoral College, but he lost the popular vote by 2 percentage points. In 2018, Republicans lost the popular vote for the House of Representatives by more than 8 percentage points.
The GOP isnt just losing white voters on issues such as health care and education. Its also losing them on race. In this months polls, most white Americans say the deaths of African Americans during encounters with police are signs of a broader problem, not isolated incidents. They say police and the criminal justice system are treating white people better than black people. They acknowledge a problem with systemic racism in America. They classify racism as a big problem, a very serious problem, and a major threat to the stability of the United States. They endorse the statement, Racism is built into American society. The assumption of white superiority pervades schools, business, housing, and government.
more...
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/06/trump-white-america-polling-shift-racism.html
LakeArenal
(28,845 posts)(On so many things)
Loser nut job.
Newest Reality
(12,712 posts)The GOP is fully aware of the demographics that indicate their agenda as obsolete. It's like the dinosaurs didn't really go extinct, they just devolved into the GOP, et al.
What I think we are seeing is their reaction to the reality of that and it goes way, way back, too. Nothing new.
When you are interested in maintaining power and control, someone like the current dictator wannabe in office can represent a potential to circumvent and destroy the foundational functions of a democracy that is designed to prevent something like a plunge into a full-on Fascist dictatorship, which we are now on the verge of.
If that is correct, then the drive to continue with their outmoded and now dangerous ideology is out of desperation and the inability to function respectfully and in a law abiding way within the strictures of our system at large. Tearing it down, as Trump is attempting to do, would be a means to hasten the kind of vulnerability that Fascists require in order to continue to resist change and impose their own, iron fisted and relentless demands for control, no matter what the cost. Just look at the Senate and that should be crystal clear.