The bar for Democrats to keep states like Iowa blue was so incredibly low, requiring only action.
What would Democrats have had to do? Is there any chance that any sort of Evangelical appeal from a Democratic candidate wouldn’t be appealing to the rest of the democratic voters?
It goes back, I don’t know, 30 years? With both agricultural US and union areas (sometimes the same places) the Democratic party consistently expected those votes without actually delivering anything. Bill Clinton and the party get blamed for things like NAFTA and jobs moving to other countries, etc. So eventually these folks drift to the Republican party. Many of these people were broadly conservative anyways. Later, the religious aspects and toxicity of what started with Newt manifested to what we see now.
I don’t know if an evangelical Democrat would fly now. It’s a really bad situation with very entrenched beliefs.
What would Democrats have had to do? Is there any chance that any sort of Evangelical appeal from a Democratic candidate wouldn’t be appealing to the rest of the democratic voters?
It goes back, I don’t know, 30 years? With both agricultural US and union areas (sometimes the same places) the Democratic party consistently expected those votes without actually delivering anything. Bill Clinton and the party get blamed for things like NAFTA and jobs moving to other countries, etc. So eventually these folks drift to the Republican party. Many of these people were broadly conservative anyways. Later, the religious aspects and toxicity of what started with Newt manifested to what we see now.
I don’t know if an evangelical Democrat would fly now. It’s a really bad situation with very entrenched beliefs.
Many evangelicals will go down with the Boomers. They are becoming more and more rare by the generation.