Working class voters are not just rural voters – opinion

Hon. Carroll G. Robinson, Esq
Hon. Carroll G. Robinson, Esq

Democrats in DC need to remember that working class voters are not just white rural voters. Working America is multi-racial and lives in urban centers and suburbs as well as in rural America.

All Americans want a good paying job that will lift them out of poverty into the middle class and position them for continued upward economic mobility. All Americans want an opportunity to do better. We all want to live in safe, clean and healthy communities. We want a better life for our children and grandchildren.

Clinton not only lost white rural voters who voted for Obama; turnout was down in urban cities in the Midwest and if the exit polls are to be believed, Hispanics and women voted for Trump in greater numbers than expected.

As Democrats prepare to move forward from the Clinton era, they should look back to the Rainbow Coalition of Jesse Jackson as the blueprint for moving forward. The Obama coalition is the general election version of the primary coalition built by Jesse in 1984 and 1988.

Time changes political circumstances but the Rainbow Coalition is essentially the general election coalition that elected Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Jesse does not get much credit, but he did reach out to rural white voters and so-called Reagan Democrats.

Time changes political circumstances but the Rainbow Coalition is essentially the general election coalition that elected Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Jesse does not get much credit, but he did reach out to rural white voters and so-called Reagan Democrats.

Democrats would be wise to remember that, going forward, all elections are always about “the economy stupid” and how to make it work for all working Americans (and those aspiring to secure a job) as technology and innovation are driving change.

Middle America is more than a geographic place-“fly over country”-or an economic class-“the middle class”-it is a state of mind built on hope for the future and an expectation of competence in a government committed to standing up for the best interest of the people of America.

♦ Hon. Carroll G. Robinson, Esq. is a former Democratic candidate for Congress and General Counsel of the Texas Democratic Party who has served as an At-Large Member of the Houston City Council as well as a Houston Community College Trustee. Robinson is also an Associate Professor who teaches at a School of Public Affairs and has taught at two Texas law schools. Contact >>

 

 

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