Tip for Texas & National Democrats: Dont Condescendingly Dismiss White Working Class Voters Non-Economic Anxieties

Obamas Executive Actions to prevent gun violence making down-ballot Democrats more than a little nervous. Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. Americans are mad as hell. Results of a survey sponsored by Esquire and NBC News published Sunday indicate half of the U.S. is angrier than it was last year. And the rage appears to transcend class gender race and sexual orientation. 68 of those polled said they hear or read something in the news that makes them angry either once a day or a few times a day. That encompasses 73 of whites 66 of Hispanics and 56 of blacks.

From Cole Stanglers report on a new NBC News/SurveyMonkey/Esquire Poll conducted November 20-24 2015.     

Most respondents said they do not believe the American dream the idea that if you work hard youll get ahead  is alive today:

• 52 said it once held true but does not anymore"
• 36 said it still holds true and
• 11 said it never did

African-Americans were slightly more likely than either whites or Hispanics to believe the dream lives on. Among other indicators of an enraged population:

• 54 of those surveyed said theyre in a worse financial position than they thought theyd be when they were younger
• Just 22  said theyre better than off than they once imagined they would be

The NBC News/SurveyMonkey/Esquire Online Poll was conducted Nov. 20-24 with a national sample of 3257 adults ages 18 and over. Its margins of error ranged between 2.2 and 7.4 percentage points depending on the grouping. President Obamas decision to hold town meetings on gun violence and take some executive actions to prevent more of it will drive wingnuts even battier than usual. But it will also make some Democrats down ballot more than a little nervous. However a recent Quinnipiac University poll conducted December 16-20 showed that:

• 87 of respondents favored requiring background checks on people buying guns at gun shows or online and 58 supported a nationwide ban on the sale of assault weapons while
• 83 favored banning those on the U.S. governments terrorist watch list from purchasing guns.

There is ample political room for meaningful reforms to curb gun violence and Dems should not be intimidated from supporting such clear common sense reforms to reduce gun violence. No surprise that Trump or any Republican would think that former President Bill Clintons personal mistakes in the 1990s are relevant to the 2016 presidential campaign -- yet another example of the GOPs desperate politics of distraction. But its amazing that Trump thinks he has the credibility to criticize anyone about disrespecting women. Rabid narcissism often comes with an astounding lack of self-awareness. Although Trump symbolizes what is dysfunctional in American politics Mark Schmitt has a New York Times op-ed reminding readers that Trump Did Not Break Politics. Schmitt explains:

 In recent years Republican politicians especially have not only defied the rules they have also protected themselves from the consequences. Restrictions on voting along with aggressive redistricting reduce the influence of the median voter. Campaign war chests (including super PACs) scare off opponents from within their own party as well as the other. By crippling civil-society institutions such as unions and community groups which organize middle- and lower-income voters they sometimes avoid being held accountable. They can use ideological media to reach mostly like-minded voters. Long before Mr. Trump came along the supposedly immutable laws of politics had begun to fall.

Supporters of reducing income inequality take note: As Paul Krugman observes as a direct consequence of the presidential 2012 election the wealthy are now paying more taxes. Says Krugman:

While the 2013 tax hike wasnt gigantic it was significant. Those higher rates on the 1 correspond to about $70 billion a year in revenue. According to the new tables the average income tax rate for 99 of Americans barely changed from 2012 to 2013 but the tax rate for the top 1 rose by more than four percentage points. For top incomes Mr. Obama has effectively rolled back not just the Bush tax cuts but Ronald Reagans as well. The bottom line is that presidential elections matter a lot even if the people on the ballot arent as fiery as you might like.

At the Washington Post Heres the secret to making people care about climate change: Make them think about their legacy by Ezra Markowitz and Lisa Zaval provides an instructive read for those who want to promote not just awareness but also action to heal and protect the environment. As the authors note:

Heres a depressing statistic if youre worried about climate change: 63 of Americans say theyre concerned about the issue but only 47 think the government should do anything about it... That divide known as the attitude-behavior gap isnt all that uncommon. And activists and politicians have tried all kinds of strategies to address it... In a series of psychological studies we conducted over the past two years with Americans from across the country we found that simply asking people to reflect upon how they want to be remembered by future generations can lead them to engage in more helping behavior in the present particularly when it comes to protecting the environment.

Ill conclude this first Strategy Notes posting of 2016 with an observation that facebook may be the most powerful forum for mass political education America has ever known. Nowhere else in American life are political ideas and information so thoroughly discussed or broadly-shared. Even newspapers at their peak power never matched the level of inter-active citizen participation we see on Facebook. Television still reaches more people but its all pretty much one-way communication. Twitter has its uses in terms of planting soundbites and memes but the 140 character limitation makes it a poor instrument for education. Granted there is a lot of misinformation being bandied about on Facebook and also a lot of preaching to the choir. But now at an astounding 1.5 billion average monthly users Facebook has become the most-visited town hall for tens of millions of Americans the place to go for convenient up-to-date free-of-charge discussion about the political issues of our times. There is even some data indicating Facebook has boosted voter turnout. Political campaigns that fail to leverage it are doomed. Those which master it are going to do better. J. P. Green writes for The Democratic Strategist.