An interesting piece at WSJ.com tells us this: Democrats and Republicans Aren’t Just Divided. They Live in Different Worlds. That article is behind a paywall, but a summary can be found at Red and Blue Economies.
After comparing Democrat House Districts with Republican House Districts, the conclusion sums it up this way:
America’s political polarization is almost complete. Its two main political parties increasingly represent two different economies. And they barely overlap. Democrats can be found in educated cities and suburbs where professional jobs are plentiful. Republicans live in working-class and rural communities, home to agriculture and low-skill manufacturing. Another way to look at it: Democrats are dominant among high-producing districts, while Republicans now represent more of those with the least economic activity.
Meanwhile, thehill.com says it's not all bad news for Republicans. See Trump's economic advantage within the Democratic base. There we are told that Trump's advantage is that his policies have helped create new jobs and brought people back into the workforce. Excerpt:
If Trump’s enhanced economy is already likely to be an important consideration for the general electorate, imagine what its magnification could mean in groups on which Democrats rely so much. In America’s zero-sum two-party system, it would not take large swings in such key groups to yield big political impacts — and even with Democrats winning large 2016 margins within them, they still lost the presidency.
Finally, Democrats risk further compounding Trump’s economic advantage by nominating a candidate who either professes, or is perceived, to espouse a fundamental break from America’s historically free-market economic system. Not only would Democrats have to fight on comparisons of unfavorable economic performance, but a divergent philosophy as well.
I can picture Donald Trump telling Liz Warren, "It's the economy, stupid."
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2:49 PM 9/20/2019
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