Democrats Still Can’t Recover From Clinton’s Loss to Trump – US Academic

Despite the increasing polarization of US society, the Democratic Party has still failed to regain the support of its original working-class base, Brown University associate professor Vladimir Golstein told Sputnik. He explained why the American public would still prefer Republicans in the long run.

"If Democrats fail to offer something substantial and different in terms of economic and foreign policy, if they fail to renew their traditional commitment to working people, they will not get any traction with independent voters, the so called Reagan Democrats," Vladimir Golstein, associate professor of Slavic Studies at Rhode Island-based Brown University, told Sputnik.

As the November midterms draw near, the Democrats have begun to look desperate, weaponizing sex scandals directed at Donald Trump and his recent Supreme Court appointee, Brett Kavanaugh. Still, even this is unlikely to save them, according to the academic.

"Even if the wave of indignation against the 'sexism' of Trump and Kavanaugh can bring some new Democrats into the House, in the long run, the public would still prefer Republicans for the simple reason that a great number of Americans (and polls support this claim) do not think that the concerns of the current Democratic leadership, with its focus on sabotaging any Trump initiative, accusing him in in all imaginable transgressions, while promoting identity politics and other divisional forces, really address the pressing issues that face the nation. And in terms of foreign policy fixation on the military industrial complex and security, the voters still trust Republicans more," the professor explained.

Democrats Still Can't Reconcile Themselves With 2016 Defeat

Commenting on the Democrats' do-or-die attempts to throw a wrench in Trump's work, Golstein opined that they "still can't recover from Hillary Clinton's loss to Donald Trump." "Furthermore," the academic noted, "they realize that Trump has a rather activist program, so they want to challenge and subvert most of his initiatives."

"The Democratic base is clearly energized, as they don't seem to like anything that Trump does," he said. "But that does not apply to independent voters, who don't trust the pure negativity of Democrats, and who fail to see the real change within the Democratic Party."

According to Golstein, a lot of things will depend on the state of the economy: "If the economy does not take a sudden nose-dive, I am not sure that Democrats and their offensive will be effective," he opined.

Under these circumstances, "Democrats will surely get a lot of money from [George] Soros and like-minded donors — they are already the party of the rich (eight of America's ten most affluent counties voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016), so Democrats can sponsor highly publicized campaigns, but I am not sure that would be enough," the professor believes.

Democrats' Smear Campaigns Will Hardly Help Them to Win

However, the fierce struggle between Democrats and Republicans does not improve the political atmosphere in the US. To the contrary, society is becoming increasingly polarized and is losing its faith in both parties, the academic remarked.

According to the professor, many saw the recent sex scandal involving Trump's Supreme Court pick Kavanaugh as a mere "smear campaign."

"Kavanaugh was hardly challenged on his record — something that responsible Democrats were supposed to do," Golstein said. "Instead, the matter was politicized and sexualized. Consequently, the Democratic base that sees Trump and Republicans as the enemies of feminism, got even more energized, but so did those who support Trump. Increased polarization hardly helps anyone, as it pushes voters away from both parties."

The US academic highlighted that "what was missing in this increased atmosphere of political partisanship and accusations is the simple fact that most Americans focus on other matters." According to the recent survey, more than half of Americans cannot name a single member of the nation's highest court.

As Asra Q. Nomani of The Wall Street Journal suggested, many of the protest groups rallying against Kavanaugh were funded by George Soros-linked NGOs.

However, according to Golstein, "it is highly doubtful that Democratic smear campaigns would help them in the eyes of undecided voters, who are looking beyond division and accusations."

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