Poor and Low-Income Voters Are a Sleeping Giant

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/sarah-anderson/109410/poor-and-low-income-voters-are-a-sleeping-giant

Poor and Low-Income Voters Are a Sleeping Giant
by Sarah Anderson | February 15, 2024 - 6:29am

— from OtherWords

Amidst all the nail-biting uncertainty over the 2024 election, one thing’s for sure: turnout will be key. This February, the Poor People’s Campaign announced plans to mobilize a powerful yet often overlooked voting bloc: the 85 million eligible voters who are poor or low-income.

snip//

What’s the biggest factor discouraging low-wage people from exercising this basic right?

“Political campaigns do not talk to them or speak to their issues,” explained campaign co-chair Bishop William J. Barber II. “In our election cycles sometimes we have 15, 20 debates for president. In 2020, not one of those — not 15 minutes — was given to raising questions about how the policies of that particular party or politician would impact poor and low-income people.”

The Poor People’s Campaign is organizing to push the concerns of poor and low-income people into the center of the 2024 political debate. Their goal is to mobilize 15 million “infrequent” poor and low-income voters.

Will politicians listen?

more...

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/sarah-anderson/109410/poor-and-low-income-voters-are-a-sleeping-giant

[2naSalit]

1. K&R

[Think. Again.]

2. Thanks for posting this!

I'll be joining my state chapter of Poor Peoples Campaign to see if there's any way I can help with this effort in my own community.

You can your state chapter info here: https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/take-action/

[brooklynite]

3. "Will politicians listen?" depends on "will voters vote?"

I'll believe it when I see it.

The Poor People's Campaign is 55 years old; they haven't figured out how to get low income voters engaged politically so far.

[babylonsister]

4. I prefer optimism to negativity.

Maybe if politicians actually listened, low income voters might actually engage.

Seems to me that's a whole helluva lot of votes that would be worth encouraging.

[brooklynite]

6. I prefer reality to either.

Political operations focus on optimizing turnout vs effort. Low income voters are notoriously hard to engage. Even the most left-wing politicians in the Democratic Party have been unsuccessful.

[Silent3]

10. It might be elitist of me to say this, but there's also no guarantee...

...that low income people, motivated to turn out to vote, would vote in their own best interests. It's easy to manipulate disgruntled people, especially if they tend to be less educated and less exposed to good sources of information, with demagoguery.

[IronLionZion]

20. Low income voters are tremendously diverse

there are MAGA types, minorities, immigrants, urban, rural, single parents, young adults, old adults, people with chronic health conditions, and much more. There are ways to get some of these folks easier than others.

[MiHale]

15. Well then they just gotta try harder...

This country is embarrassed by its poverty, its way easier to disregard the people that are affected or slander them by accusations of low education, not being able to understand…we freaking understand…they really want to hide us from view. Nothing to see here. In an unbalanced country sometimes circumstances beyond our control have left us in poverty.

“Political campaigns do not talk to them or speak to their issues,” explained campaign co-chair Bishop William J. Barber II. “In our election cycles sometimes we have 15, 20 debates for president. In 2020, not one of those — not 15 minutes — was given to raising questions about how the policies of that particular party or politician would impact poor and low-income people.”

[leftstreet]

21. +1

[Autumn]

13. I think it would be the job of the politicians to get low income voters engaged politically.

It's been a while since I have heard any politicians showing concern for any but the middle class and up.

[jaxexpat]

16. Maybe they have an "identity crisis".

[Silent3]

5. This article says nothing about which way this "sleeping giant" would tend to vote

Last edited Thu Feb 15, 2024, 10:51 AM - Edit history (1)

"Poor and Low-Income Voters" are a varied group, and I don't know how their vote would shake out.

Clearly Democrats would do more policy-wise to help the poor, but I'm sure there are many poor people who blame their poverty on immigrants, who think Democrats are doing more for immigrants and foreign countries than for Americans, who think Biden is responsible for inflation, etc.

[ITAL]

7. I think I saw a study a few years ago

That tried to find what exactly these non voters wanted and it was all over the map. It seemed similar to the current voting public. It's not like 70-80% would vote for Democrats, that's for sure.

[Farmer-Rick]

12. The folks around here

Who live in trailers and seem to barely have 2 nickles to rub together, mostly had the stinking Nazi signs, stickers and flags in their yards. Some still have all that crap all over their front lawns and flags on their old trucks.

It takes a lot of propaganda and a big con to make a person vote against their own best interest.

[ananda]

8. Good! I have always liked Barber.

Now listen up, politicans.

[moniss]

9. I've been on record

for a very long time that we absolutely must raise the issue of day care/child care for families to a much higher level. Along with the fight for a higher minimum wage we must address the basic reality of accessible/affordable day care/child care.

[malaise]

11. This ad needs to be made for every state

https://www.katrinaforussenate.com/wolves

[jaxexpat]

14. Better question, will the media,......

the guys who sponsor these " debates", will they listen?

Not likely since the media only caters to "consumers", not those who live on the edge.

[IronLionZion]

17. Our side should be able to get them with unions, rising wages, obamacare, education, etc.

we have the policies that benefit these folks. We just need to communicate more to get them to vote for us.

The other side only offers tax cuts and "they're coming across the border to steal your jobs", both of which should be less effective this year.

[appleannie1]

18. I just shared this article with a local group I belong to.

Thanks for posting it.

[Joinfortmill]

19. Joe cares.