Andrew Yang Says Democrats Are ‘In Danger’ Of Being Perceived As Party Of ‘Elite’
During a discussion with HBO’s Bill Maher broadcasted on Friday night, former White House hopeful Andrew Yang discussed the Democratic Party’s electoral prospects, Fox News reported.
Maher began the discussion by pointing out that Joe Biden, the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee, is not comfortably ahead of President Donald Trump in the polls. The anchor noted that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had a more formidable lead over Trump four years ago.
When asked to comment on the presidential race, Yang recalled how he would often see a “negative reaction” when traveling across the country, saying that him being a Democrat was enough for some voters to completely disregard his message and campaign.
“And this is from truck drivers or waitresses or retail clerks that I thought the Democratic Party was fighting for. And the fact [is] that our message is not reaching certain Americans,” Yang said.
He suggested that Democrats need to analyze the situation and establish why they are viewed unfavorably by key voter groups.
“I think the Democrats need to do some soul-searching and say, ‘Why is it, why is it that so many people think the Democratic Party isn’t speaking to them, isn’t fighting for them, is patronizing them?'”
Yang added that the Democratic Party is “in danger of being perceived as this urban party or the party of the educated elite,” which could allow Republicans to make inroads with working-class voters across the nation.
Yang did not win a single state in the Democratic Party’s presidential primaries, but he nevertheless made an impact, introducing the idea of universal basic income (UBI) into the conversation. In a recent op-ed, the 45-year-old entrepreneur called on his party colleagues to embrace UBI amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who also participated in the discussion, appeared to echo the sentiments expressed by Yang, arguing that Trump’s promises and rhetoric resonated with Americans across the country. He added that Biden and his allies need to focus on spreading their message and reaching out to disaffected voters.
As CNN reported, while the Democratic ticket and other Democrats may be struggling with working-class Americans, they are winning over affluent suburbanites.
In fact, polling suggests that Biden is ahead of Trump largely because of the support he enjoys in the suburbs. At this point in the election four years ago, Trump was beating Clinton among suburbanites by a double-digit margin.
As the publication noted, in the 2018 midterms, the Democratic Party managed to win back the House of Representatives by dominating in suburban areas.
