Readers Write: Where the Democrats went wrong

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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Since I voted for the first time in 1968, the Democratic Party’s platform has significantly changed to a more progressive platform from one of moderation. Over the next few months, the party will begin a self-analysis to figure out how and why it lost the presidency. To start, Democrats should have listened to the millions of people who were appealing to them that inflation had reared its ugly head and was causing them to make difficult choices in their everyday living. Like virtually every presidential election in the past, pocketbook issues determine the outcome of the election. They should also admit that they have lost many of the blue-collar and middle-class constituents that the party once prided itself as being in the Democratic camp.

Donald Trump voters are not uniform. Yes, more of those in his constituency don’t hold college degrees, but many do have degrees and are not living paycheck to paycheck. The demographics include more than white males. This has been missed completely by the Democratic Party. The ugly truth of inflation is colorblind and the party, for whatever reason, failed to recognize this fact.

Finally, many of those same people who have left the Democratic Party and voted for Trump were and are frustrated with the elevation of issues that were perceived to be just as important to the party as the general economy, immigration and crime. The Democrats will have to decide whether they want to double down on the progressive platform or move back to the Democratic Party of earlier years.

Kip Knelman, Edina

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I believe the results of the presidential election were more of a Democratic loss than a Republican win. James Carville’s 1992 quip “It’s the economy, stupid” is still relevant. Trump’s supporters certainly set the table for him, but the Democrats’ inability to convey a digestible message explaining the economy over the last four years likely put him over the top. Nearly all metrics on the economy are favorable for Americans, but the electorate doesn’t believe it. President Joe Biden inherited a raging pandemic and an economy in crisis, yet he held very few news conferences in the past four years to address inflation. If roles had been reversed, does anyone honestly believe Trump would have hesitated using the bully pulpit, putting himself in front of the American people week after week, blaming inflation on Democrats? Granted, Trump’s snake-oil salesman skills, combined with the extensive right-wing media apparatus, give him an enormous megaphone.

Bottom line: If the Democrats can’t figure out how to message the truth, I don’t see our democracy recovering.

Susan Barrett, Mora, Minn.

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Why are the pundits avoiding the elephant in the room regarding the outcome of the election? It seems obvious to me that Vice President Kamala Harris lost a close election because of misogyny and racism. We knew that it was unlikely that a majority of uneducated young white males would vote for Harris. Many identify with Trump’s brand of toxic masculinity. But why did Harris lose ground among minorities, those people for whom the Democrats have fought since the 1950s? How many of the Latino men, Black males and Muslims simply would not vote for a woman regardless of what’s in their best interest? Why would Latinos vote for someone who has repeatedly called them murderers and rapists and “garbage”? Why not vote for someone who’s advocated immigration reform and for committing funds to help transition recent immigrants into American life, for supporting SNAP benefits, for supporting child tax credits, for trying to combat wage theft, for supporting DACA? Wouldn’t that person and that party be the logical choice? I have to conclude it’s because some approve of Trump’s toxic swagger and obvious hostility toward women. They simply won’t vote for a woman. And some Muslims would apparently rather vote for any man, even one who vows unconditional support for Israel in its campaign of genocide toward fellow Muslims, and who wanted to ban them from entering the country when he was last president.

Apparently, in their view, any male candidate is better than having a woman president. Maybe I’ll follow their lead and decline to vote for any males who run for president in the future.

Valerie Nebel, St. Paul

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The American dream is increasingly out of reach for many Americans. They expressed that frustration at the polls this week. Immigration, abortion, border security and inflation are important issues but scapegoats for the fundamental problem of economic stagnation of the working class.

Trump tapped into that frustration. Democrats sidestepped it with policies and messages that did not really speak to the fear. Republicans have two short years to answer the working-class frustration, precious little time to make a difference. Democrats have an opportunity, if they can set aside elitism and listen to the plight of disenfranchised Americans.

The Rev. Dr. Christopher Hagen, Plymouth

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Columnist Andy Brehm blames the Democratic Party for Trump’s victory (“Democrats have themselves to blame for Trump’s election,” Strib Voices, Nov. 7). He blames the party’s far-left progressivism. Brehm is not alone in blaming the Democrats for Trump. Some Democrats blame Biden for running for re-election the first place and then for delaying his exit until it was too late. Some think Harris should have chosen Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate. Others think the Democrats worked too hard courting Nikki Haley Republicans and should have spent less time campaigning with former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney and worked harder reaching out to working-class voters concerned about the price of groceries. The list of things the Democrats could have done better is long and important, and the criticism is necessary and healthy.

Among the most troubling criticisms I have heard concerns the hand-wringing over defections among communities of color from the Democratic ticket. Let me say clearly, so there is no misunderstanding: Communities of color delivered for Harris, even with the defections. If this nation had a majority-minority voting population, Harris would be president today. If Trump is a problem to be solved, we cannot and must not blame people of color.

Trump is a product of white folk. He carried white women and men. His base is white people. It should not require 90% of the vote of people of color to protect the nation from someone found liable for sexual abuse who tried to overthrow the 2020 election and who wouldn’t know the truth if tapped him on the shoulder.

Like it or not, in the United States we have a two-party system, and one party, the Republican Party, has bent the knee to a petty tyrant with a criminal record. Lord knows the Democrats have work to do, but if we want to pass out blame for Trump, let’s look up to those who have the power and the numbers to win elections, and not down to minorities and the less powerful.

If you must place blame for a second Trump presidency, the primary responsibility belongs to the supplicant Republican Party that put him on the ballot for the third time. Shame!

Jeff Kolnick, St. Paul

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I grew up in a Republican house. In 1976, I joined the Ford campaign. After 1986, I realized the GOP did not hold my same values and became an independent voter. In 2008, I joined the DFL caucuses and have since participated as a delegate to conventions. I joke that I am politically bilingual and can speak Republican. This brings me to my letter.

Today I watched a political pundit giving his review of what went wrong. He said exactly what I have been trying to get across to Democrats for years: You have stopped listening to voters. You have forgotten what the F and L stand for in DFL. Good or bad, this election went to the side that spoke to listening to the voters.

The perception of voters is that Democrats handpick candidates behind closed doors and cram them down our throats via conventions held prior to primaries. The nomination of Barack Obama surprised you because you had chosen Hillary Clinton that year. Obama’s overwhelming victory in the general election and the failures of the Clinton and Harris campaigns illustrates the power in listening. This campaign, you chose your main issue; the voters chose a different one. As a result, we have a president-elect who is less than desirable as a person but who voters believed listened to them. Next election, we as a party need to get better at listening.

Jacqueline Erickson, Minneapolis