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July 20, 2022

Back in 2002, Ruy Teixeira and John Judis published a book boldly proclaiming The Emerging Democratic Majority. Demographics were destiny, said the authors.  The coloring of America would transform politics in the Democrats’ favor for a long time. 

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In the 20 years since, no such majority has materialized.  Is it stalled or stillborn?  Is the Democrat Party, instead, becoming an incredibly shrinking party lorded over by privileged, progressive whites?  We won’t pretend to read tealeaves or sift data with such glorious insight as Teixeira and Judis. But we can observe what’s happening now.  The Democrats’ anticipated emerging majority may be an emerging minority.  Even Teixeira has suspicions.         

The demographic changes that Teixeira and Judis ballyhooed as pivotal to Democrats aren’t producing the desired results. Seems Latinos have their own minds and want to pursue their own interests, even if that leads to them voting for Republicans. Middle- and working-class Americans of all colors are fleeing Democrats, too. That broader trend is more troubling for the Party of Biden.

If enough Latinos defect from Democrats and stay defected, the extreme “progressivism” — including D.C.-based election rigging, curtailing gun rights, and court packing — that Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and Joe Biden have pushed zealously becomes dustbin fodder.      

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Erosion of Latino support for Democrats started during the Trump presidency.  Noted the Wall Street Journal, January 12:

Nationwide, Mr. Trump’s share of the Latino vote grew by 8 percentage points compared with 2016, according to Catalist, a Democratic voter-data firm.  

Biden garnered 750,000 fewer Latino votes in 2020 than Hillary Clinton did in 2016, reports WSJ. The Journal offers a why, but we’ll let Teixeira answer.

From Teixeira’s The Liberal Patriot (Substack), July 14:

Recent data indicate that success for the abortion-gun control-January 6th strategy, to the extent it is working (and might work in the future) is attributable to those voters for whom these issues loom large and are less likely to be influenced by current economic problems. Such voters are disproportionately likely to be college-educated whites and it is here that Democrats have been demonstrating unusual strength.  [italics added]     

Other than echo-chamber dwelling affluent, progressive whites, Latinos and working- and middle-class folk don’t give a hoot about the phony January 6 insurrection.  Gun control isn’t a push-button issue, either. Abortion?  Plenty of Latinos identify as Catholic or, increasingly, fundamentalist Christian. Abortion is a grave sin to them.