The Glaring Difference Between Reagan Democrats & Trump Democrats

Source: Soshable | 6 March, 2016 | JD Rucker

There’s a silly narrative being passed around by the media right now that wonders if GOP frontrunner Donald Trump is pulling in the “Reagan Democrats” of the 1980s to account for his success in states that have open primaries but his losses in closed primaries and caucuses where only registered Republicans can vote. This narrative has several fatal flaws, but we’re going to focus on the most glaring.

Ronald Reagan himself was the prototype of a Reagan Democrat. He watched as his party shifted away from the values that he believed in, even famously saying that “I didn’t leave the Democratic party. The party left me.” This is an important distinction already from Trump since Trump was supporting Democrats as recently as four years ago while Reagan won the White House 18 years after his evolution, but I digress. Reagan’s shift was less pronounced than the shift of his party that recognized the potential that leaning far-left could bring in the way of minority voters. Reagan was actually very conservative even as a Democrat and continued to evolve his ideologies, albeit mildly, over two decades.

With him came other Democrats who were seeing the reality of the party’s shift. Then, Jimmy Carter happened. What Carter brought to the table was the last straw for many registered Democrats who were seeing that the economic policies which were holding them to the party were not effective. Like Reagan, they didn’t really shift their views as much as they came to the realization that the party’s views were shifting under their feet. Thus, the Reagan Democrats were born.

Trump’s situation is completely different. Barack Obama, for all of his shortcomings that conservatives hate, is not an unpopular President within his party. There isn’t a groundswell of white collar workers disenchanted with the President and his policies the way there was with Carter. In fact, Obama’s appeal to Democrats is the highest since John F. Kennedy (yes, even higher than Bill Clinton’s by a fraction of a percent) at 80%. Carter, by contrast, averaged 57% approval rating among Democrats and helped to usher in the Reagan Revolution with the help of Democrats.

Presidential Approval Ratings

If Trump’s support from Democrats isn’t coming from a magical conversion that has them believing that we should build a wall and deport 11 million illegal immigrants, why is he polling so well and winning open primaries where Democrats can vote. The answer should be obvious.

Trump Democrats are Saboteurs

read more at: http://soshable.com/the-glaring-difference-between-reagan-democrats-and-trump-democrats/

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  • Discussion
  • slhancock1948 #2386

    This is not being talked about. Look at the democrats coming over. Vicious, insulting, not conservative, etc.

    The democrats with the Reagan revolution were conservatives whose party left them behind as it veered farther to the left. We certainly don’t need pushing farther to the left…or we’ll be looking for another party ourselves. The establishment republicans are happy to be only slightly less socialist than the democrats, but we still get to socialism one way or the other.

    I like Cruz’s method. If you want things done, you take it to the people. That is what Reagan did. The people get a voice again!

    Pray for righteousness to be restored and for the peace of Jerusalem

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