Monday, 10 July 2017

Wonkbook: Democrats’ internal dispute over the white working class is about to get real

By Max Ehrenfreund Ever since Donald Trump shocked Hillary ... | Sponsored by American Wind Action
 
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) talks with reporters at the Capitol on June 22. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

By Max Ehrenfreund

Ever since Donald Trump shocked Hillary Clinton in November and Republicans won victories up and down the ballot, the Democratic party has been debating what it needs to do to connect with voters and put themselves back in control of government.

Those debates may soon be coming to a head. Led by Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the Senate minority leader, Democrats in Congress are developing an economic agenda that could serve as a statement of the party's principles in next year's midterm elections. Schumer has suggested the document would be public in the coming weeks, although Democratic aides have cautioned that no date is set.

But while Democrats are unified in opposition to the president, they're split over an agenda of their own -- particularly when it comes to bringing back working-class, white voters who flocked to Trump in 2016.

After decades of relying on free-market solutions to achieve liberal aims, Democrats have shifted to the left in recent years, and many are calling for more government intervention in the economy. Yet despite the emerging consensus around more progressive policies, it is unclear whether Democrats can form a winning electoral coalition around those ideas, and some say the party must tack to the ideological center.

"People don't like Trump," Schumer told ABC News. "But they say, 'What the heck do the Democrats stand for?'"

Read the rest on Wonkblog.


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