Who are the Democrats?

[joemurphy]

I did a Google search of this question and, interestingly, came up with this discussion from an old episode of The News Hour. It dates from shortly after Lieberman was selected as Gore's Vice-Presidential choice.

Here's the website:

<http://www.pbs.org/newshour/election2000/demconvention/dempanel_8-15.html>

Are we still the same?

[valerief]

1. Better question: what is this Democrat Party Bush and his ilk

refer to? Is it anything like the Repub Party?

:banghead:

[Jed Dilligan]

2. Should we be the same?

The world has changed a lot.

[joemurphy]

3. No, we should change, I think.

I did a long discourse around a year ago that I called "Who Are the Republicans?"

I was thinking of trying to do the same things with the Democrats.

Right now, I think we are still a diverse group.

We're still the heirs of the old Roosevelt coalition in many ways.

Labor is still basically Democratic. Blacks are very Democratic.
Progressives are still on board. Hispanics and Gays trend Democratic.
Environmentalists are Democrats. Women seem to be more Democratic than Republican. Catholics and Jews have been traditionally Democratic.
The poor trend Democratic.

I think we are the party of progressive ideas; the party of economic opportunity; the party of empathy. We are the party of societal change -- the party of Social Security; regulation of business excesses; progressive taxation; high employment; equality of opportunity.

We tend to be union members, professionals, working women, educators, idealists.

We tend to favor multiculturalism, urban values, open government, tolerance, free speech, secularism and privacy. We are pro-environment, pro-education, pro-gun control, and anti-war.

[Jed Dilligan]

4. It seems to me that urban vs. rural is the split right now

and the suburbs are the battle zone.

A trend your (entirely correct) analysis does not encompass is the trend away from party affiliation--the ever-increasing number of "Neithers" who may yet vote, though they are more likely to vote in 2008 than this year.

I think the "Neithers" are influenced in choice of candidate by their environment primarily. In a big city, you don't have to be very politically aware to realize everyone hates Bush. In the countryside, the converse is true. The (let's face it, mostly clueless) "Neithers" will be swept up in the current.

[joemurphy]

5. Urban/Rural is certainly true. If you look at a Red State/Blue

State map, as well, we seem to be situated near bodies of water. There's New England, the Upper Mid-West, and the Pacific Coast -- all Blue. The South and the West are Red.

There seems to be a big Religious/Secular split too. Church-attendees vote Republican. The non-religious seem to trend Dem.