In 1992 the Democratic Party nominated a Southern-drawling man from Hope, Arkansas, as it’s choice to become president. Almost a quarter century later, the party that will choose that man’s wife as its nominee is a different animal than it used to be. As Peter Nicholas reports for the Wall Street Journal, the Democratic Party of today is more liberal, better educated, less willing to compromise, and decidedly less white.
The Dems used to have a strong, often rural working-class white contingent. But now, says Nicholas, these voters “have gravitated to the Republicans over the past two decades, drawn by the GOP’s stance on guns, immigration and other social issues.”
As those voters defected, the rest of the party moved left. In 1994 30% of Democrats considered themselves liberal. In 2016, that figure has nearly doubled.
