Do Democrats Need To Court Trump Voters?
The oft-troubled Trump administration will be coming to an end tomorrow at noon. A legacy of misinformation, corruption, grift, and discrimination will forever tarnish the four years that Donald Trump and his toadies occupied the White House.
In the aftermath of the January 6th attack on the Capitol by Trump zealots that believe the 2020 election was “stolen,” despite no evidence and dozens of court cases tossed out in the months after, Trump’s approval rating is at an all-time low, sitting at 29% according to a poll by the Pew Research Center. He is by far the least liked president in modern history.
Despite never having more than half the country approve of his work as leader, a record-setting 74 million voters turned out in November and chose to give the president another term. Unfortunately for them and Trump, he was resoundingly thwarted by Joe Biden’s own record-setting support, to the tune of 81 million voters.
What about the future, though?
By the looks of it, Republican leadership is happy to try and push Trump out of the GOP in order to regain control and move the party platform closer to its less far-right base that could appeal to more centrist voters.
However, that is easier said than done, as the upcoming impeachment trial of Trump for inciting the Capitol mob is not only certain to cause more friction between Democrats and Republicans, but also between the more moderate GOP members and Trumpists, as can already be seen by the contemptuous response to some Republicans voting in the House to impeach Trump.
So, while Republicans are busy wrestling back the party from the far-right, authoritarian, Nazi-sympathizing sect of the new GOP, now could be the chance for Democrats to go after the less fanatical part of the electorate and strengthen their own base.
But, do they need to and should they?
The election results showed that despite heavy Republican turn out, Democrats are able to secure victories if they are able to energize their existing base and appeal to the more progressive branch of their party, which generally scoffs at electing more moderate candidates. Running against the most hated president since the Civil War was all the motivation needed for those voters to turn out.
If Republicans are able to oust Trump and get back to their usual business, Dems might be hard pressed to see the same levels of turnout in upcoming elections, including the 2022 midterms, which will be the first after redistricting. A majority of states are Republican-led and new district maps will undoubtedly prove unfavorable for Democrats to retain a majority in the House.
Efforts to rein in voter turnout will be in full effect as well, as states like Georgia have made it evident that they will be up to their old ways and look to implement more restrictions on mail-in voting, which saw a record amount of usage in the recent election.
With these obstacles to overcome, the big question becomes where will Democrats find the votes needed to maintain control?
As odd as it may sound, Trump voters may prove to be a viable target for Dems in 2022.
Now, I’m not talking about the deranged, install-Trump-as-king voters that stormed the Capitol and troll far-right social media platforms like Parler and Gab.
Many two-time Obama voters ended up as two-time Donald Trump voters, thanks in no small part to the feeling that the so-called liberal elites had used them for their votes and abandoned them. After the corporate bailouts following the 2008 economic collapse that saw the wealthy continue to thrive, many of these voters felt burned after efforts to improve their lives were blocked time and time again by Washington political gridlock.
So a perceived successful businessman rolls into town and says all the right things to entice them. They can forgive some of his rough-around-the-edges remarks and the “locker room” talk because in the end he’s going to make things easier for them and they can worry about being nice later.
“It’s not Trump’s fault nothing got done in his first term. It’s all Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer’s fault according to the GOP and they wouldn’t lie to us. Liberals want us all to stay home and not have our freedom just because some people are getting sick. They want us all dependent on the government so they can run our lives.”
This is the successful messaging campaign that Republicans were able to feed disillusioned voters to get them to stick around and vote for Trump a second time. If not for Trump’s unmatched skill at self-sabotage, he could be gearing up for his second term.
Democrats must do the unthinkable in order to secure victories going forward: they actually have to tell people how they’re going to help them.
For what feels like decades at this point, Dems have been so god awful at putting out an effective message that wasn’t simply “We’re nicer than Republicans and we might be able to help you out if you vote for us.”
Poll after poll has shown that liberal and progressive platforms are popular among the electorate, even those who are consistent Republican voters. The problem is that most voters don’t actually know or understand what those platforms are because Democratic leadership is stuck in their old ways of thinking.
Like a grandparent who calls every gaming system a Nintendo, liberal leaders are blind to the nuance in modern politics. With the rise of Donald Trump, the game has changed and Democrats have been slow to recognize and adapt.
Thanks to up-and-coming members of the party like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Stacey Abrams, the narrative has begun to turn a bit as their efforts have seen many first-time and returning voters come into the fold.
So, while many pundits and critics will be quick to dismiss Trump voters as a whole and be willing to try and push forward without them, it would be short-sighted to do so.
It’s time for Democrats to admit that they messed up and to get out their own way. The upcoming impeachment trial of Donald Trump and the near-constant media blitz deriding GOP sycophants is turning the tide with some voters, but now is the time to remind those people on the fence why they should be voting blue.
