Regardless of one’s personal feelings about wokeness and the culture wars (I think such things are important for many reasons, but have also spilt plenty of ink in critique), it seems likely they are one factor, out of many, holding back Democratic electoral success.
Some commentators have recently insisted that “The working class isn’t woke. That’s a huge problem for the left,” and that we need to recognize that the ideas of the “populist economic left” are popular but those of the “woke cultural left” are not. Perceptions that the Democrats are the crazy woke people may contribute (while not being the sole cause) to the fact that blue candidates will not garner votes even while progressive policies will — states that voted for Trump also voted for abortion rights, higher minimum wages, and so on.
The idea is to lean into bold leftwing policies that tangibly help ordinary people (which is the correct course of action when people are struggling and rightwing authoritarians and extremists are promising shelter) and lean away from what most of the country views as violations of common sense, unnecessary oversensitivity, language or thought policing, and so forth (let alone inaccuracies). People all over the political spectrum would love free healthcare or money deposited into their bank accounts by the State, but dislike getting beaten up for not using terms like Latinx. The Democrats are associated with the latter, not so much the former. And that’s trouble, because, conservatively, about 25% of independent voters and 10% of Democratic voters do not want a “woke” presidential candidate. Other research suggests that 58% of Democrats and 74% of independents are either concerned that politicians are too woke or are distracted from serious issues by wokeism. Some voters who have abandoned the Democrats will tell you directly they were tired of being told “how to talk,” with Democrats consistently “going too far.” They “lost touch with our priorities” and framed anyone who disagrees with wokeness as a “bad person.” A perceived focus on cultural issues rather than helping the middle class was the top reason swing voters chose Harris’ opponent.
There are those who saw Harris as properly progressive and having downplayed the culture war stuff, which is all debatable, but we’re talking about years-long, society-wide trends that are bigger than one campaign or candidate. Democrats would have to offer much more to help struggling people and work for some time to separate themselves from the woke Left, which is perceived as insane by too many badly needed voters.
To reiterate, an analysis of unfortunate effects and the perceptions of the masses can be acknowledged regardless of personal support for woke Left ideas. Sometimes the things you think are right hurt your electoral chances. Sometimes you’re the square peg being rammed into a round hole, at odds with most of the nation. Maybe Latinx is a better term, but 96% of Hispanics decline to use it. So you decide what hills are worth dying on; at times what’s right must be pursued regardless of electoral cost, while other things can be let go. Some woke battles are worth fighting, in my view, but if the larger culture war in any way helps hand the branches of government to the Republicans, it seems worth questioning. Many recent articles have screamed that the woke era had nothing to do with Harris’ loss, while others make it the main culprit — it seems reasonable to reject these absolutes, and most intellectually honest to say it is part of the story, and then consider how to act in response moving forward.
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