Republicans Need a Suburban Agenda. [View all]

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By Eric Cantor
Mr. Cantor is a former Republican House majority leader.

'These voters are leaving the Republican Party and we need to win them back.

An election provides a certain definitiveness for political candidates, win or lose. I know from experience, having lived through both the ups and the downs. For political parties, elections also provide a chance to reflect, learn and move forward with the business of attracting more voters next time. Or at least they should.

For Republicans, losing the House majority in last week’s midterm elections is a clear demonstration that the party must do more to appeal to suburban voters, especially college-educated women. Once a Republican mainstay, this group has been slowly moving away from us for the past few cycles.

The data is indisputable, and Republicans must address it. We need a Republican suburban agenda.

There is no doubt that some of the loss in support this year from college-educated women, for example, is a result of the negative opinion these voters have of President Trump. But it is also true that Republicans have not had much to offer suburban voters on what they consistently say are their top issues, including health care, child care, education, the environment and transportation. . .

Republicans, however, are not alone in not being able to reach people for whom their message used to resonate. The Senate results demonstrated that the Democratic Party continues to suffer from its loss of non-college-educated white men. Exit polls showed these men favored Republicans by a whopping 34 points. A decade ago, these voters split pretty much evenly between the parties. Not surprisingly, of the Senate seats that flipped to Republican, the share of non-college-educated white men in each state exceeds the national average by 2 points.

What does the Democratic Party have to say to non-college-educated white men who so often see the party as hostile to them on social and cultural issues and out of touch on issues like securing the border and law and order?

Unfortunately, in the past week, both parties have so far sought to explain where they fell short in the midterms by placing the blame on factors outside of their direct control. House Republicans have linked the loss to a record number of retirements and open seats. Senate Democrats have attributed their poor night on the “map” and having to defend so many seats in states President Trump carried in 2016. . .

There is an added bonus for all the beleaguered voters who aren’t quite ready to dive back into a divisive political process: A campaign where you’re trying to bring more people into your party tends to be more civil and less toxic than what we just experienced.'

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/13/opinion/republicans-suburban-voters-2020.html?

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Imagine eric cancer advocating civility!!!