And they're generally upper middle class, some quite wealthy particularly if they're connected to the arts in some fashion. They're low-key hostile to unions, Medicare for All, and progressive tax policies. They're in favor of DEI, abortion rights, and infrastructure projects.
And I mean progressive tax as in much higher taxes relative to wealth. They're in favor of certain taxes being higher generally, but nothing that significantly disrupts their power.
my 72 year old mother--super active politically and during the Bush years hated the Cheney family more than literally anything --loves this Liz Cheney bit
I used to be the chair of my county Dem party & can confirm this was the case, or was pre-2016, at least. I was in my mid-to-late 30s when I 1st started showing up & was by far the youngest person at every meeting. When younger folks showed up after 2016, I would plead for them to keep coming back.
As someone who was an Iowa Democratic Party activist for a decade, can confirm. In my early 40s, my buddy and i lowered the median age of any room we were in by a decade. Gets very hard to get younger people involved. The olds are quite gate-keepy, resistant to change.
This tracks here in suburban PA. I'll add, I'm a bit younger than this demo and am very happy Harris is campaigning with Cheney. I want the biggest tent we can possibly make and we know from the primaries that there are a bunch of Haley voters out there.
I'm proud to say that my son, in his 40s, is the exception to the rule. And I don't feel up to it anymore. But when I was, this described our org pretty accurately, except the white part. Here in the DC suburbs we're a pretty diverse lot.
I have. Back when I used to engage, I’d be astounded at how old the attendees at these meetings were. They were old enough to be my grandparents. The internet is not a real place.
Spent about a decade involved in a local Democratic Party group near Raleigh, and this is 100% accurate. I'm Gen X, but most of our team was late Boomer (although that was starting to change a little).
When we had signs put up at the edge of our woods, two men—both in their fifties—showed up in a work truck wearing IBEW shirts. Every time I’m in the county Dem office there’s either a retired librarian who has four cat lady shirts or a retired physician named Henry working the front desk.
I think normie Dems respect Liz Cheney for standing up now (still don’t agree w her on any policy and still give her side-eye for throwing her sister & LGBT community under bus to get elected) because she makes it hard for even Fox-pilled GOP to pretend warnings re trump are from “crazy socialists”.
I’d also like to point out that it is only the people who are near or in retirement who have both the time and the money to do this much volunteer work. Younger people are putting all their energy into basic survival and kids. It’s the empty nesters who have the resources to do the work
So the base of the party workers may be 50 to 60-year-olds in terms of people actually showing up at party events. That doesn’t mean that younger people are not interested and following and influencing these folk. It’s just the younger people are too busy to commit to the volunteer work
Have to think people who are *that* engaged are a small fraction of stalwart Democratic voters. Most of us aren’t that active in the party, frankly/sadly? Sure, white boomers are a big part of the “stalwart voter base” together with black women and perhaps young women in general?
They shouldn't be because Presidents' only power over policy is the bully pulpit and signing legislation. They can also direct priorities of executive agencies. But they do not enact policies. Work down ballot if you want to affect laws.
Idk man, my mom is 65 and she + her friends have more time and energy than my entire friend group combined. My mom's a heavy in the local politics of my small hometown and the shit she's managed to pull together for that community has been borderline miraculous. It was a dying small town when I left
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But when you are looking at campaigns in three states, some fresh legs would be more than welcome.