Republicans Are Going to Use Dog Whistles. Democrats Can't Just Ignore Them.

[Nevilledog]

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Tweet text:
Jess Montejano
@JessMontejano
"In the heat of a campaign, popularism fails because Republicans will not let Democrats ignore race. Mr. Youngkin dragged race into the election, making his vow to “ban critical race theory” a centerpiece of his stump speech..." @torygavito @AJentleson
Terry McAuliffe

Opinion | Republicans Are Going to Use Dog Whistles. Democrats Can’t Just Ignore Them.
Liberals have to forge an effective counterattack on race.
nytimes.com
7:47 AM · Nov 4, 2021

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/04/opinion/democrats-republicans-virginia-race.html

No paywall
https://archive.ph/6Vo0a

The Virginia election results should shock Democrats into confronting the powerful role that racially coded attacks play in American politics. No candidate would think of entering an election without a winning message on the economy or health care. Yet by failing to counter his opponent’s racial dog whistles, Terry McAuliffe did the equivalent, finding himself defenseless against a strategy Republicans have used to win elections for decades.

Crucially, the Republican nominee, Glenn Youngkin, was able to use racially coded attacks to motivate sky-high white turnout without paying a penalty among minority voters. This appears to solve the problem bedeviling Republicans in the Trump era: how to generate high turnout for a candidate who keeps Donald Trump at arm’s length, as Mr. Youngkin did.

Before Tuesday night, conventional wisdom held that racially coded attacks could well spur higher white turnout but that those gains would be offset by losses among minority voters. Mr. Youngkin proved this assumption false. He significantly outperformed other Republicans among white voters, especially women: In 2020, Joe Biden beat Mr. Trump among white women in Virginia by 50 percent to 49 percent, but according to exit polls, Mr. Youngkin beat Mr. McAuliffe among them by 57 percent to 43 percent. At the same time, Mr. Youngkin suffered no major drop-off among minority voters — if anything, he appeared to slightly outperform expectations.

This should terrify Democrats. With our democracy on the line, we have to forge an effective counterattack on race while rethinking the false choice between mobilizing base voters or persuading swing voters.

*snip*

[leftstreet]

1. They can't combat it. They must change the subject

CRT vs Medicare For All

Which issue will pull out voters