Throughout Donald Trump’s presidency, a persistent media story-line held that Democrats were out of touch with the true sentiments of a certain type of economically populist white voter, particularly those concentrated in the industrial Midwest.
Coming after Trump shattered the “blue wall” states in 2016, his grip on his non-college white base through displays of presidential incompetence, malevolence and extraordinary corruption further entrenched that story line. When Trump outperformed Democratic expectations in 2020, the elite Democratic self-flagellation continued, even in victory.
The leading Democratic polling firms are undertaking a systematic examination of what went wrong with their polling in 2020, and it increasingly looks as if this self-criticism is being taken seriously.
I spoke to several Democratic pollsters involved in this self-assessment, and they helped clarify what it’s supposed to accomplish. Non-college white voters are at the center of it. CONTINUED
Greg Sargent, Washington Post
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