The State of Our Politics: Learning How to Win (Part 2 of 3)

NOTE: This is a series of three blog posts that look at the current state of American politics. In the first post, I break down the Republican party base in the age of Donald Trump, using historical analysis for context. In this second post, I focus on what the Democrats, as the party currently out of power, can learn from the recent success of the Republicans. Finally, the third post highlights how we can all help move the country forward, regardless of which political party is in power.

The State of Our Politics: Learning How to Win

In the 2016 election, the Republican party took over the White House and Congress. With control of both the executive and legislative branches of government, the GOP earned the power to advance its agenda with little opposition. Many diverse factors aligned to make this rise to power possible, including what could be considered a backlash against the first black president and the country’s shifting racial and cultural demographics, as alluded to in part one of this three part series. But the GOP owes its political success, in large part, to very deliberate moves it made to galvanize the electorate behind its candidates in the years leading up to 2016. It would be good for the Democratic party to learn some of the tactics and strategies employed by the Republicans if the Democrats hope to regain any kind of significant political power ever again.  

One method of gaining political advantage the Republicans used to great effect is gerrymandering. Although both parties have been guilty of gerrymandering, the GOP used it after the last census to solidify majorities in districts across the country. The Princeton Election Consortium conducted in-depth research that debunked the myth that both sides are equally guilty of gerrymandering. They discovered significant and widespread Republican gerrymandering in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Michigan, Virginia, and Indiana that by and large surpassed any Democratic gerrymandering efforts. Journalists for Business Insider and The Washington Post have also reported on the extent of Republican gerrymandering far exceeding Democrats' own efforts in this regard. The solution, however, is not for the Democrats to work at becoming better at gerrymandering than the Republicans. After all, gerrymandering by either party hurts our democracy because the people who get elected do not accurately represent the people who elect them. The real solution is to take the necessary steps to minimize, or eliminate the practice altogether.

And while gerrymandering is a very old method of gaining political power, Republicans have also relied on modern technology, starting with the president. Donald Trump’s technology use is mostly limited to Twitter. He doesn’t even use email. However, his campaign used technology in revolutionary ways, by compiling detailed voter data and micro-targeting through social media, including Democratic voters for the purpose of switching their vote or depressing turnout. With the help of data firms like Cambridge Analytica, the Trump campaign devoted a significant amount of resources to its digital division, to great effect. This is all “listening” to the voters 21st Century style, and the Democrats would be well-served to ramp up their voter data analysis efforts in order to target their message right down to the individual voter, whether that voter is a Republican or a Democrat. And while many people still watch plenty of TV, social media can be much more effective to reach voters, particularly younger voters. Who knows? Maybe the next Democratic presidential candidate will be able to match Trump tweet for tweet!

Another one of the great strengths of the Republican party might actually be confused for a weakness. As of this writing, Republicans have struggled to pass a healthcare reform bill, even with majorities in both chambers of Congress. Although the bill’s unpopularity and the president’s low approval rating have certainly contributed to stalling this legislation, one of the main problems in mustering the necessary number of votes has been the wide political diversity within the Republican conference. The Republicans in the House include the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus, the more moderate Tuesday Group, and representatives spanning the entire conservative political spectrum. The Senate Republican membership also constitutes a wide variety of conservative ideologies ranging from very conservative to moderate. As a small example of the ideological diversity within the Republican party, right here in South Florida we have Carlos Curbelo, a Republican House member who's a strong proponent for climate change policy, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican congresswoman who's an outspoken supporter of LGBTQ rights. While this ideological diversity can sometimes present challenges when trying to pass legislation, it’s a testament to the GOP being a true big tent political party. With winning elections in mind, the Democrats would do well to embrace center-left candidates in the upper Midwest, even if they may happen to be strong gun rights advocates. They should support center-left candidates, who just might happen to be pro-life, in deeply religious districts in the South. They could win back control of Congress by helping center-left candidates in Arizona and Texas, even if those candidates are in favor of Trump’s border wall. This party loyalty and determination to win was most evident in the presidential race. While many Republicans had serious misgivings about a Trump presidency, most of them ended up uniting behind him as their candidate and helped propel him to the White House. On the other hand, many traditionally Democratic voters stayed home or chose a third party candidate rather than supporting Hillary Clinton. The bottom line is that in order to win more elections, Democrats need to relax their ideological litmus test and support members with more diverse views, even if some of those views might occasionally go against their own.

So, gerrymandering, technology, and party unity have all helped Republicans gain significant majorities at both the federal and state level. It all culminated with winning the White House in the November 2016 presidential election. In response to Trump’s victory and presidency, many Americans have taken to the streets in protest. While the right to protest is constitutionally protected, Republicans have shown that the single most powerful weapon we have is the vote. So, another very valuable lesson the Democrats can apply to themselves is to focus on getting out the vote instead of protesting. Because even though protests can help achieve some victories, the real winning always takes place at the ballot box. But you have to give the voters something to vote for as well, which is where messaging is crucial.

Perhaps the most important thing the Democrats can learn from the Republicans is the idea of having a simple and clear economic and political philosophy. The Republican ideas of smaller government, stronger military, less regulation, and lower taxes have a broad appeal to a majority of voters, even if those voters may disagree with specific policies. The Democrats need to formulate an equally appealing philosophy that the average working and middle class voter can embrace. Unfortunately, bigger government, less military spending, more regulation, and higher taxes just doesn’t cut it! In the classic sense of politics being the art of the possible, the message should focus on what needs to be accomplished: a healthier, better-educated populace; a vibrant and upwardly mobile workforce; a clean and safe natural environment. Those are policy messages that every American can support.

Ultimately, the Democrats, if they wish to regain political power in this country, need to learn from the party that actually possesses that power at the present time. Beyond that, the Democratic party needs to also find its own innovative ways to appeal to the American voter by doing more than just resisting Trump and the Republicans. If the Democrats don’t do this, we may end up with many years of Republican rule even while the majority of Americans may inherently support Democratic policies. Regardless of which party is in power, we the people need to take steps to heal the division that's such an inherent part of our nation's history, as discussed in part one, and learn to work together to move our nation forward. And how we can achieve this very important task will be covered more in-depth in the final part of this three-part series.