If the Democratic Party wants to win future elections outside of deep blue areas, they might just need to take inspiration from Goodwill Industries and embrace their philosophy of “A hand up, not a handout.”
In the election analysis business, there is a tendency to attribute President-elect Donald Trump’s win to one or two major factors, like the economy or immigration. And as time goes on, political scientists like me may learn more, but one takeaway that is not really being discussed as an electoral factor is the role of work, aspiration and prosperity.
Warning: There will be painting with a very broad brush here. Please proceed with the understanding that there are people in our society that require services, and this is by no means a suggestion that they not receive the assistance that they need.
Republican pollster and author of “Party of the People: Inside the Multiracial Populist Coalition Remaking the GOP” Patrick Ruffini recently joined New York Times columnist Ezra Klein on Klein’s podcast on an episode titled “The Book That Predicted the 2024 Election.”
Ruffini shared polling that he conducted with Hispanic voters living in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas. He asked them what is the No. 1 problem that you see today with the Democratic Party. Ruffini told Klein that the answer they gave “wasn’t too woke or the buzzword of socialism.” Rather, they perceived the Democratic Party as being “the party of welfare benefits for people who do not work.”
“And if you look at how the Democratic Party has been perceived in the last four years, in particular in terms of letting … illegal migrants into the country, and there’s a perception that they’re getting government benefits and not working,” Ruffini said. “And all of this is coming at the expense of people who made their way in America who started from the very bottom of the rung and worked their way up the economic ladder.”
This advice, if heeded, could have helped Vice President Kamala Harris in her campaign. Harris’ economic policy agenda focused on “Lower costs for middle-class families” and to “Build an Opportunity Economy to Help Americans Get Ahead and Build Wealth.”
While Harris’ plan may have put more money in working Americans’ pockets, the focus seemed to be about the government’s role in helping citizens, rather than empowering them to achieve success.
Consider it in light of Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu’s famous quote, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” A Harris administration would have doled out a lot of fish.
Speaking of encouraging achievement, back in May, Trump held a large rally in the South Bronx, N.Y., one of the most Democratic counties in the nation, where he tried to reach out to Black and Hispanic voters. While Trump’s speech was littered with lies about the 2020 election and other ramblings, he spent a large portion of that rally talking about success, both for the country and for individual Americans.
As we sift through the data of the election, it appears as if Trump was able to reach at least some of those voters. For example, he increased his vote share in the Bronx by 11 points, from 16 percent in 2020 to nearly 30 percent.
Trump won the 2024 election by turning out his base of supporters, but he also expanded his coalition among other voters, including groups that have traditionally been a part of the Democratic base.
VoteCast conducted a sweeping survey of the American electorate, interviewing more than 120,000 voters nationwide from Oct. 28 to Nov. 5. Their results found that Trump picked up a small but significant share of Black and Hispanic voters.
Talking about success seems to have bred electoral success, at least when it came to the former and future president.
For years now, Democrats have been wringing their hands over the loss of the working-class voter to Republicans. Instead of trying to “help” workers with aid and programs, Dems should acknowledge, praise and encourage Americans’ labor.
Lynn Schmidt is a columnist and Editorial Board member of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
