Mediaboss Marketing

Democrats risk losing election after election if they focus too much on winning back white blue-collar voters from PresidentTrump, according to progressives worried that young minorities are abandoning the party.

We are not going to get back to national majorities again without these voters, said Cornell Belcher, the top pollster who worked on both for former President Barack ObamaBarack ObamaTrump aims to use UN climate fund for coal plants: report Trump will ask Supreme Court to block judge's order on travel ban Axelrod: 'Implausible' POTUS didn't know about Trump Jr. meeting MOREs campaigns.

Belcher recently conducted focus groupsin Florida and Wisconsinfor theCivic Engagement Fund that point to the problems Democrats have with millennials of color. The group, founded by progressive leader Andrea Hailey, analyzes data from past elections to increase voter engagement.

Research conducted by the Brookings Institution shows that millennials will be the largest voting bloc in the U.S.by 2020. As of 2015, 44.2 percent of millennials are people of color.

You're damn right, I don't have any loyalty to Democrats, one participant in the Florida focus group said. If Republicans want to get real about shit that's happening in my community, I would vote for every one of them. Thenmaybe Democrats would take usserious too.

The Civic Engagement Funds work found that a number of black and Hispanic millennials either voted for a third-party candidate last year or stayed home.

In the focus group conducted by Belcher, millennials said they had no regrets about electing Trump through their actions.

Though they hold strong negative views of Trump and feel his presidency is an embarrassment, these voters do not regret voting third party or choosing not to vote in the 2016 election, the Civic Engagement Fund wrote in their report, provided to The Hill.

They view their decision as an effective means to shake up the system in 2016 and in future elections.

To win the voters over, theCivic Engagement Fund says Democrats shouldembrace issuesthat it says would appeal to young progressives.

In 2016, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary ClintonHillary Rodham ClintonRussian lawyer who met with Trump Jr. was in touch with top Russian prosecutor Kushner scheduled to address congressional interns next week Artist fills a giant snow globe with Hillary Clintons unused election night confetti MORE did about as well as 2004 Democratic nominee John KerryJohn KerryWhite House says US-Russia cyber unit would not share intel 2 years in, Iran nuclear deal needs a healthy dose of transparency Progressives: Dems at risk of perennial election defeat MORE with black and Hispanic voters, but fell well short of Obamas numbers.

She won 88 percent of the black vote compared to just 8 percent for Trump. In 2012, Obama won 93 percent of the black vote compared to 6 percentfor Republican Mitt Romney.

In 2008, Obama won 95 percent of the black vote.

Clinton won 66 percent of the Hispanic vote compared to 28 percent for Trump. That compares to 71 percent for Obama in 2012 and 27 percent for Romney.

The drop in support from Obama could have cost Clinton, who won the popular vote over Trumpby 2.9 million votes, in key states.

In Milwaukee County in Wisconsin, Wayne County in Michigan and Philadelphia County in Pennsylvania, Clinton failed to turn out as many black voters as Obama. She lost all three states, the first Democratic presidential candidate to do so in decades.

The third-party vote also hurt Clinton, and the Civic Engagement Fund argues that an important number of those voters are millennials of color.

Belcher pointed to statistics thatshow that 8 percent of black voters ages 1829 voted for someone other than Clinton and Trump, while 6 percent of Hispanic voters of the same age group voted for someone other than the two candidates. In 2012, just 1 percent of black voters in that age group and 3 percent of Hispanic voters in that age group voted for third-party candidates.

Their breakaway cost Hillary the election, Belcher said.

In Florida, where Trump beat Clinton 48.6 percent to 47.4 percent, 3 percentofvoters backed a third party.

In Wisconsin and Michigan, 5percent backed a third party.

Its not about what Donald TrumpDonald TrumpRoger Stone says House testimony is delayed Russian lawyer who met with Trump Jr. was in touch with top Russian prosecutor Foxs Shep Smith on Trump Jr. meeting: Mind-boggling deception MORE did, Belcher said, making the point that Trump matched Romneys numbers in 2012. Its what she failed to do.

Belcher and others argue that its not just a matter of a natural drop in black voter support for Democrats with Obama, the nation's first black president, off the ballot.

Clemmie Harris, a visiting assistant professor of political science at Syracuse University who specializes in African-American studies, said he warned Kerry of the dangers for Democrats12 years ago.

He argued that the message Democrats used for past generations of minority voters might not work for millennial minorities.

I stated that the Democratic Party will likely continue to fail in its desire to attract younger generations of blackvoters because its strategies for outreach to the African-American community were based on a civil rights era paradigm, Harris said.

I pointed to the party's continued reliance on traditional modalities of black leadership from the baby boomer generation rather than build a new brand that would point towards the future by cultivating a new post-civil rights generation of African American leaders.

The pressure from progressives comes as other Democrats say the party must do more to win back white working-class voters from Trump who rolled up figures across the country that surprised members of both parties.

The tensions within the Democratic Party over these issues can be seen everywhere from Sen. Bernie SandersBernie SandersMajor progressive group endorses Martha McSally challenger OPINION | Sanders triumphs over Trump in healthcare's battle of ideas Progressives: Dems at risk of perennial election defeat MOREs (I-Vt.) rise in power to the debate over whether Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) should stay on as the Democratic leader in the House.

It is important for the Democrats to regain their standing with working-class voters, but not at the expense of other core constituencies like African-Americans or immigrants. That would be a huge mistake, said Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. If the Democrats treat this as a zero-sum game, they will further hurt their coalition rather than strengthening and growing it.

Former aides to Clintonacknowledged that they could have done more in the campaign to win over young black and Hispanic voters.

There were a lot of levels of engagement, but ultimately I don't think we did enough,said one former Clinton campaign aide who dealt with millennial outreach.And I dont think we did a good job in creating a message that resonated with everyone.

An aide at the DemocraticParty also acknowledged the party's lack of focus on the key demographic."They're right. No doubt. And the numbers bear out."

Democratic National CommitteePolitical Director Amanda BrownLierman took it a step further.

It's not enough to show up at a black church or a historic black college every fourth October," she said. We want to be a presence every month, every year.

Brown Lierman said the party has taken steps to improving upon grassroots efforts in all 50 states andpromoting "the values we share"including healthcare, jobs and education as well as "pushing back against this administration's assault on civil rights.

Focusing on young voters can be a risky business.

Millennials are less likely to go to the polls than senior citizens. During the 2012 presidential election, 72 percent of Americans 65 and older cast their ballots, while only 41 percent of those 1824voted.

Jamal Simmons, a Democratic strategist, says the party needs to make a more concerted effort to get these voters to the polls.

Weve been looking for shortcuts when it comes to campaigning, Simmons said. Much of the focus is spent trying to turn out middle of the road, right-leaning swing voters and I think the balance is wrong. Were overloaded on swing voters but were under-resourced on base color persuasion.

Simmons isnt alone in that assessment.

Rep.EmanuelCleaver (D-Mo.) said in an interview that he and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus were sounding the alarm bells to the Democratic National Committee throughout the 2016 cycle and well before that to not just focus on persuading right-leaning voters.

Every member of the CBC was preaching that sermon for a decade, Cleaver said, adding that they were dismissed by the DNC because of polling, even while experts were saying the opposite.

Cleaver said ultimately, the millennials of color were not inspired.

That was not an inspirational election that we went through. It doesn't mean we lost them, he said. We just have to do more to get them active again."

View post:
Progressives: Dems at risk of perennial election defeat - The Hill