Looking back at the 2018 election, it seems clear that Identity Politics is the dominant mode both major parties base their appeal to voters on in a period when partisanship has rendered government accomplishments nearly impossible.
The Democratic identity strategy can be described as a “minority identity” approach – actively recruiting women, members of minority groups, LGBTQ folks – and making the appeal that the Democrats include “all” America.
The Republican identity strategy can be described as a “white identity” approach with a focus on martialing the votes of white Americans who see their majority position under siege by demands from others who want a piece of the pie.
The result was clear at Trump’s 2019 State of the Union. The Democratic side was a highly diverse sampling of all sorts of citizens. The Republican side was marked mostly by diversity in the choice of red or blue ties worn by white men in dark suits.
In the quest for regaining the House majority, the Republican House leadership is now announcing they want to mimic the Democratic strategy and recruit a much more diverse slate of candidates than Republicans presented in 2016. Efforts are underway to find more women and African-Americans to run for the House. (I suppose LGBTQ is a bridge too far at this point.)
What do you think? How sincere do you think this effort is and how effective do you think that it will? Can the Republicans make enough gains by playing to minority identity politics to offset the potential losses from moving away from white identity politics?
