Republican vision of building a viable party based on white nationalism doomed to fail

[mota bhai 2,675]

by Michael Tomasky

As you are certainly aware, the new consensus among most Republicans and conservatives is that they don’t need no stinking Latinos and will soar to victory on the strength of the white vote ... There’s an assumption embedded in the argument that no one disputes: namely, that whites will always be as conservative as they are now and will always vote Republican in the same numbers they do now. This assumption is wrong. White people—yep, even working-class white people—are going to get less conservative in coming years, so the Republicans’ hopes of building a white-nationalist party will likely be dashed in the future even by white people themselves.

...

Back in March, the Brookings Institution and the Public Religion Research Institute released a big poll on immigration ... It’s the first poll I’ve seen that breaks the white working class into four distinct age groups (65-plus, 50 to 64, 30 to 49, 18 to 29) and asks respondents attitudes about a broad range of social issues. And guess what? White working-class millennials are fairly liberal!

...

On most questions, white working-class respondents in all three other age groups yielded results that were pretty similar to one another’s, but the youngest cohort was well to their left.

White working-class young people back gay marriage to the tune of about 74 percent. Another 60 percent say immigrants strengthen the United States (the totals for all three other age groups are below 40 percent). About 56 percent agree that changes immigrants have brought to their communities are a good thing. Nearly 40 percent agree that gays and lesbians are changing America for the better (more than double the percentages in the other three age groups).

They have different views because they’re different people: only 22 percent of white working-class millennials are evangelical, compared with 32 percent as a whole and 42 percent of seniors. And an amazing 38 percent of the group call themselves religiously unaffiliated.

All in all, not your father’s white working class. Sure, their views will become a bit more conservative as they age and have kids and own property. More will start attending church, undoubtedly. But the striking differences between their views and those of the three older groups are consistent, they are uniform, and they are pretty vast.

...

So let’s hand it to the Republicans. They make the strategic decision to go all 1980s South Africa on us at a time when a sizable and sure-to-be-growing chunk of one of the most Republican-friendly segments of the white vote isn’t going to want that anymore.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/07/10/why-whites-will-abandon-the-gop.html

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

the Republicans’ hopes of building a white-nationalist party will likely be dashed in the future even by white people themselves.

Compound statement that is wrong on so many levels.

[Jacque67 7,328]

So what is the future for the Republlicans? Uncle Toms and snails?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Racial epitaphs are unnecessary.

[Protocol417 161]

Wow. Perhaps the demographic information is true, but to say Republicans are building a party of white nationalism and "going all 1980's South Africa" is extreme to say the least.

[mota bhai 2,675]

Wow. Perhaps the demographic information is true, but to say Republicans are building a party of white nationalism and "going all 1980's South Africa" is extreme to say the least.

Team Romney's election strategy depended on winning 61% of the white vote and ensuring minority turnout did not exceed (as a % of the electorate) 2008. That was their entire campaign strategy. They failed, of course.

[Protocol417 161]

Team Romney's election strategy depended on winning 61% of the white vote and ensuring minority turnout did not exceed (as a % of the electorate) 2008. That was their entire campaign strategy. They failed, of course.

Playing on your strengths and stifling votes amongst groups who typically don't vote for you (assuming for the sake of argument that it's true) is still a far cry from trying to establish white nationalism.

[mota bhai 2,675]

Playing on your strengths and stifling votes amongst groups who typically don't vote for you (assuming for the sake of argument that it's true) is still a far cry from trying to establish white nationalism.

Disagree.