Examining Hillary's 'Inevitability' with People of Color
In the ONTD post last night, all the Hillary supporters bragged about the margin of Black support held by Hillary Clinton and how she's got it pretty much 'in the bag' so to speak, especially in South Carolina. I woke up this morning after the crushing defeat of her campaign in the NH primary to a wake-up call for the #ImWithHer crew. Before I get to that, however, let's address one thing. As it turns out, women had a stern message for Hillary and her Bougie Feminist cohorts: "NOPE. NO THANKS."
Hm. Seeing Exit Poll coverage saying Sanders wins w all women 53 to 47. Given back & forth regard. Steinem, Albright, etc. that's big. #IMO
- Gaius Publius (@Gaius_Publius) February 10, 2016
Cot damn, it's a new day RT @BuzzFeedBen: Yikes, via @notlarrysabato pic.twitter.com/AtJXJOkc6I
- man without pants (@ManWithoutPants) February 10, 2016
Bernie won all demographics of the Democratic party except for one. And it's telling.
Clinton won among families making over $200,000 and 65+ age group. Jesus Christ could this get any better
- Roqayah Chamseddine (@roqchams) February 10, 2016
So what's next?
Now that it's been more or less proven that Clinton isn't making headway with young women, time to pretend to care about PoC. Bring it.
- Roqayah Chamseddine (@roqchams) February 10, 2016
Now that the Clinton campaign's narrative push regarding women and feminism finally found its nail in the coffin, their next go-to is people of color, and more importantly, the Black vote. The way that Hillary supporters gleefully discuss this 'mythical', 'monolithic' group I see striking parallels with the 2008 primary. Hillary led black voters over Obama with her supposed 'inevitability' until she took them for granted and the Iowa caucus proved he was a viable candidate. Hmm. Notice a pattern here?
The gap between Hillary and Bernie over voters of color has all but evaporated if the NH primary is any indication.
Exit polls show Bernie taking 55% of women-and 49% of non-white voters. That second number, in particular, is not good news for Clinton.
- Yoni Appelbaum (@YAppelbaum) February 10, 2016
Furthermore, let's dig further into the black voter base and see how it's not monolithic at all. It's not only white youth who support Bernie over Hillary.
Hillary apologists reject data they don't like, this is a sample size of 5616 from respected Reuters/Ipsos pic.twitter.com/g8m3aLskln
- Matt Bruenig (@MattBruenig) February 8, 2016
DO THE MATH. If the white voter turnout mirrors New Hampshire in its demographics, including Independents, the youth, rural working class (which Democrats massively lost over the decades), plus 1/3 of black and brown voters, and among Asian Americans, where Bernie Sanders is the leading Democratic candidate in a recent Gallup poll--that's a winning coalition, ladies and gentlemen.
Now on to my main point.
. @BernieSanders pulled down the support of Ta-Nehisi Coates, Michelle Alexander and Harry Belafonte-all in one morning.
- Darren Sands (@darrensands) February 10, 2016
This is a big deal, y'all. Black voters aren't a static group as previous Democratic primaries proved. These are big names that will make waves in South Carolina and beyond.
Video:
Pretty big: @tanehisicoates: “I will be voting for Senator Sanders." https://t.co/5VtNVp5KXK
- Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) February 10, 2016
This is who Toni Morrison dubbed the second coming of James Baldwin. What's more, Michelle Alexander is the most esteemed writer on race in America today with her seminal powerhouse The New Jim Crow. She published a scathing indictment over the Clinton legacy regarding mass incarceration and how they caused more harm to black people than Ronald Reagan's administration. It isn't a vigorous endorsement of Bernie. Rather Alexander is simply stating choose the lesser of two evils and don't be fooled by Hillary's pander game.
Wow. In @thenation, Michelle Alexander torches @HillaryClinton. She's trending on Twitter. https://t.co/jVqvLkaqnG https://t.co/KeC0oqSvqN
- rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) February 10, 2016
Man this Michelle Alexander piece done started some sh*t. Wow.
- Rugged Amethyst (@GrooveSDC) February 10, 2016
My mother just said she will not be played by the Clintons again after reading Michelle Alexander article 😂😂😩
- Annie (@Annetteee_007) February 10, 2016
Here's Michelle Alexander's pointed critique of black support for @HillaryClinton - #uspoli #uspolitics @SenSanders pic.twitter.com/rarRiQYhab
- Colin W. (@grapemanca) February 10, 2016
Does Bernie Sanders have a tough fight ahead of him in South Carolina? You bet. But these endorsements (some are muted, admittedly) by Ben Jealous, Harry Belafonte, Ta-nehisi Coates, and Michelle Alexander will sway middle-age Black voters heading into the SC primary, where Bernie appears to have the most trouble.
Join me in welcoming SC Rep. @cezarmcknight to Team Bernie Sanders for POTUS. ✊🏽🇺🇸✊🏽 #FeelTheBern @BernieSanders pic.twitter.com/W6v5N0K8T5
- Justin Bamberg (@JustinBamberg) February 10, 2016
Signs point to a Latino surge for Bernie as well. In the Iowa caucus, 15 of the 20 counties with the most Latino populations went to Bernie Sanders after a strong ground game. It proves Latinos are receptive to Bernie's record and message. More and more Latino politicians are endorsing him in key primary states.
#BernieSanders is gaining white and people-of-color votes at almost exactly the same rate. pic.twitter.com/btjwbmTBuE
- Jim Naureckas (@JNaureckas) February 6, 2016
The idea that Hillary Clinton has the majority of the Latino vote w/o any respectable polling, but only based on past years is presumptuous.
- Viva Bernie (@vivabernie) February 6, 2016
Can Bernie Sanders ever appeal to non-white people? Well Reuters says he already leads with nonwhite voters under 40 pic.twitter.com/MbPVcFUz0a
- Matt Karp (@karpmj) February 10, 2016
Please also note that Bernie raised millions of dollars after his victory speech in New Hampshire. This is notable because Hillary had spent the lion's share of her funds in order to stop Bernie's momentum.
Bernie Sanders raised $5.2 million in first 18 hours after New Hampshire polls closed. That's $4,814 a minute https://t.co/DsN5Ec1M3h
- Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) February 10, 2016
Let's be clear here, Hillary's campaign spent the lion's share of resources on IA and NH because it viewed them as crucial
- Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) February 10, 2016
The Clintons are not new to politics they understand the value of momentum and they wanted to blunt Bernie's. They didnt quite do it
- Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) February 10, 2016
At this point media has already written off SC for Bernie so that wont hurt him much. This is gonna go into states like MN and CA
- Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) February 10, 2016
Suffice to say, the momentum Bernie has gained over Hillary isn't only limited to white voters. All signs point to a long and arduous primary battle on the Democratic side. South Carolina will be tough for Bernie. The other caucuses are much more competitive based on the most current polls. We'll see how it plays out.