I’m just jotting down these ideas about the election before I forget them (they’ll be explored later):

1) Abortion is a class issue. The narrative is “the rich, promiscuous slut who threw away all the breaks I never had now wants a ‘do-over’. Well, guess what? A lot of us never got second chances.” This narrative isn’t accurrate, but it is compelling.

2) Democrats have been labelled as an elitist party. Among the professionals who support the party, intelligence and education are too often viewed as virtues, not attributes. This alienates a lot of people who don’t have advanced degrees (never mind that as education increases, Democratic support decreases-again, this is the perception).

3) many Americans are anti-government because it is not clear to them what government does that directly makes their lives better (except national defense). If you make between $50,000-$150,000 and don’t deal with government directly (e.g., scientific research) except through taxes and regulation, why would they support the federal government. Democrats have not made the case for why the middle to upper middle class should support an expansive federal government.