Democrats' Biggest Problem? Their Voters Don't Like Them

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton delivers her concession speech. But Clinton's loss was only a symptom of a far more serious malady of the Democratic Party, which has grown out of touch with its own voters. (UPI/Newscom)

Election 2016: No doubt, the defeat of a candidate who was supposed to be a slam-dunk, shoo-in is painful. But the self-deceiving Democratic Party and its liberal media allies have only themselves to blame for their disappointment over Hillary Clinton's epic loss.

As the final voting tally shows, outside the way-liberal coastal enclaves of California and New York, Hillary Clinton didn't sell well. As we reported last week, Hillary carved out a 4.2 million vote margin over Donald Trump in bluer-than-blue California alone — in other words, if you subtract the Golden State, she lost the popular vote to Donald Trump across 49 states.

A new piece by the Daily Mail notes that the final count shows pretty much the same thing: Clinton beat Trump by 2.8 million votes total, but won by 5.8 million votes in California and New York. So Trump won the rest of the country by 3 million votes. Remember that when Trump-hating media mavens try to cast doubt on Trump's "legitimacy."

In short, Clinton's candidacy was a coastal, progressive-state phenomenon, which explains why the media elites in those states were so shocked when she lost. It's reminiscent of the famous comment by New York critic Pauline Kael who, after Richard Nixon trounced George McGovern in 1972, said, "I only know one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are I don't know. They're outside my ken."

Things really haven't changed much with the media, have they? As with Kael, all those "deplorables" in the middle of the country in 2016 were also "outside" the media elites' ken — and the Democratic Party's, too. Which explains why they spun their wheels for over a month trying to get recounts in key states and then to get Trump electors to defect, both through death threats and bribes.

Instead, Trump actually increased his popular vote in the Wisconsin recount, and it was Hillary who lost the most electoral votes — four to Trump's two.

No doubt about it: The Democratic Party is a mess. And a new USA Today/Suffolk University Poll shows why. Democratic and Independent voters don't want Hillary to run again. Indeed, they don't really see anyone in the party they like these days as a potential standard-bearer for a 2020 presidential run.

Some 62% of those queried said Hillary Clinton shouldn't run again. Only 23% said she should. Socialist Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — who isn't even a Democrat — got 44% saying he should run, Vice President Joe Biden was just behind him at 43%, and far-left Sen. Elizabeth Warren trailed at 34%.

But here's the kicker: 66% of all those queried said they would like to see "someone entirely new" run. Perhaps more worrying to the Democratic Party, which has veered sharply leftward in recent years under President Barack Obama, are these numbers: 59% of likely voters think Trump will "significantly dismantle" Obama's governing legacy. But 45% said that's a good thing, while 43% said it was bad.

As for all the bad-mouthing the Democrats and their mainstream media buddies did about the Electoral College, it didn't have much effect, if any. Fifty percent of the poll's respondents said the Electoral College should be kept as is, while 42% said they would prefer a straight popular vote.

It's official. The election is now over. The Democrats, rather than wailing like spoiled children, need to face up to their serious electoral shortcomings. Since Obama took office, Democrats have lost more than 900 state legislature seats, 12 governorships, 69 House seats, and 13 Senate seats. And now, the presidency. They've been devastated.

Yes, Obama's popularity remains high as he leaves office. But the rest of the party, not so much.

The Democrats' progressive dogma of more welfare spending, open borders, a weaker military, enforced political correctness, draconian gun control and the incitement of racial animosity have been soundly rejected. So here's a bit of friendly advice: Democrats, you are out of touch with your own voters. If you ever want to govern again, you'd be wise to rediscover the virtue of all those forgotten working men and women in America's middle that Trump successfully courted, and turn your far-left party sharply back toward the center.


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