Warren Henry asks in a Federalist column whether rank-and-file Democrats will be willing to stick with increasingly radical leaders.
The data suggesting the Democratic Party is an upstairs/downstairs coalition in which a small faction of disproportionately white progressives dominate a more diverse rank-and-file has been piling up in studies by More in Common, Pew, and Gallup. In recent days, some in the media have finally begun to notice.
At The New York Times, resident propellerheads Nate Cohn and Kevin Quealy find that “[t]oday’s Democratic Party is increasingly perceived as dominated by its ‘woke’ left wing. But the views of Democrats on social media often bear little resemblance to those of the wider Democratic electorate.” …
… Cohn and Quealy report that approximately a quarter of Democrats are progressive ideologues; only a tenth might identify as democratic socialists. “The rest of the party is easy to miss,” they write. “Not only is it less active on social media, but it is also under-represented in the well-educated, urban enclaves where journalists roam.” …
… In fairness, the Democrats are a few percent more leftward and a few percent more credentialed than in past cycles, due largely to younger Democrats growing into adult voting behavior. But it’s still closer to your parents’ Democratic Party than the woke on social media and cable news believe. The woke may be in for a rude awakening.
