Scott Tibbs
The Right is about to have a "Basket of Deplorables" moment
By Scott Tibbs, November 30, 2022
If we are not careful, the Right is about to have a "basket of deplorables" moment. As you recall, Republicans started proudly calling themselves “deplorable” after Hillary Clinton made a very foolish statement about large numbers of Republican voters being a “basket of deploables” back in 2016. This speech was probably the single biggest factor that caused her to lose a Presidential election that everyone thought she would win easily.
Republicans are reversing that narrative after the 2022 election. Single women were the key demographic that pushed Democrats across the finish line barely holding the United States Senate and losing far fewer seats in the House of Representatives than expected.
The Right has responded by mocking and ridiculing single women. Because as we remember from 2016, the single most effective argument that the Democrats had for convincing rural white voters to vote for Clinton was to talk about Donald Trump’s voters as a “basket of deplorables” and ruthlessly mock and ridicule them as rednecks and white trash. Oh, wait, that had exactly the opposite effect and pushed those voters to support Trump even more. They felt Clinton was coming after them, and Trump played into that brilliantly.
Republicans are repeating that same error with single women. Regardless of what you think about why single women voted for Democrats in 2022, this is a really stupid political strategy. The answer to this phenomenon is not to attack single women. The answer is to make a policy argument as to why Republican policies are better for single women than Democratic policies, as well as to get Republican voters to turn out in much bigger numbers.
If Republicans make significant inroads with single women, Democrats are in huge trouble in 2024. But we cannot make any progress with voters who see us treating them like the enemy instead of potential constituents we can help.
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