cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/25218510
THIS IS NOT A TROLL. I’d like a deeper dive into this as a black man.
For context, I’ve voted Democratic my entire life, same with my family & most of my friends, including most of my white friends. We tend to agree on the obvious issues in American politics like lobbyist & foreign affairs. But we continue to vote Democratic because we see it as the best way forward for progress compared to the GOP.
But my question is why are white people specifically so strong for the GOP? It seems like no matter which election you look at post civil rights, the GOP either comfortably wins the white vote, or narrowly wins it. Despite issues like the war on drugs, early 90s recession, war on terror, mortgage crisis, Trump’s abysmal response to COVID, cuts to Social Secuirty, Tax Cuts for the Rich, etc. It seems like the white electorate always backs Republicans in big numbers. No matter what.
You could say the same for black people and the Democratic Party, but we are a far smaller voting base that can’t really decide elections outside of a state like Georgia (I live in Chicago). But also, the Dems aren’t perfect, I don’t expect any political party to be, but their track record and policy positions work much better for the common man to me.
Obviously there’s a large contingent of white voters who greatly represent the progressive movements on the left more than any other group, but they’re vastly outnumbered by their Republican counterparts. And Trump did worse with white women in 2024 more than any Republican has post-civil rights.
TLDR; Why does it seem like no matter what Republicans do, white voters who always give them a large amount of support? If Dems held policy positions and had the rhetoric of the modern day Republican Party, I doubt black people would support them.
I am not sure. I’m white (enough to have benefited from it anyway) and progressive and most of the people at my work are not conservative regardless of race. My mom and dad and Dad’s family, all were progressive, I grew up in a household that was not conservative.
When I ask people who are Republican still (some older people did shift after Trump 1) the way they talk about politics doesn’t make any sense to me. My guess is that now they live in a different media ecosystem and absolutely believe some things that most people don’t, and that fear is leveraged by the Republican politicians. They talk about things I’ve never heard of, and when I say it sounds like not real things that just makes them feel like they are better informed, it doesn’t occur to them that they are being fed nonsense.
I wouldn’t discount racism and sexism, those are still around and so some people may think they will benefit if others are held back, may see the economy as a zero sum game. So they think being on the winning team might benefit them somehow.
But mostly, at least with the younger set, I think they are brainwashed in a different direction than the rest of us and honestly believe that somehow reducing regulations on business, forcing more social conformity, that those things will make a better world.