All three Democratic presidential losses in the Eighties were caused by centrism.

[nyabingi]

73. I think the problem with the Democratic Party

of the 80's and 90's was it's persistent belief that they could "win back" whites who had fled the party for the Republicans. People, even today, don't want to acknowledge the factor of race in our politics in America and how it is THE major factor in deciding political affiliations today (and has always been). Yes, there were weak candidates during these decades, but the one major thing they had in common is that they all sought to regain the voters who chose Reagan during the eighties and that was never going to work, no matter how far to the right they shifted. Why?

Appeals to racism have always worked for the conservative party in the US, to such an extent that it was the major factor in the two major parties shifting their political ideologies. If every Black person abandoned the Democratic Party this year and became Republicans, I can guarantee you all the white conservatives would become Democrats again the day after. Democratic pandering to conservative white voters has done nothing but cause Democratic presidents to sign bad Republican ideas into law (NAFTA, "workfare", the Affordable Care Act) and keep this country much more right-wing than I think the majority of the population is.

Weak candidates and bad campaigns aside, most Republicans are going to stay Republicans as long as the majority of Black people vote Democratic and Democrats would serve themselves well by acknowledging this and structuring their future appeals to constituents they can actually count on...