In the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, campaigns that court low-income nonvoters by focusing on issues like expanding Medicare and raising wages could build progressive governing power for generations.

In presidential elections, low-income-voter turnout over the past 36 years has consistently been 20 percentage points below that of higher-income voters, according to a new report from the #PoorPeoplesCampaign @UniteThePoor.

Read the report: https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/resource/power-of-poor-voters/

The report shows that eligible nonvoters across income brackets in 2016 reported the same top reasons for not voting: They didn’t feel they were represented by the candidates who were running or they did not think their vote would make a difference.

Among the 34 million poor and low-income Americans eligible to vote, those views combined with an array of voter-suppression measures kept many away from the polls.

If poor ppl voted at levels similar to their higher-income neighbors, not only could their voting power flip the swing states Trump won across the Rust Belt, but they could crack the “Solid South” that Republicans have counted on for decades by flipping NC, GA, FL, MS, TX & AZ.

A road to victory through the South for Democrats in 2020 would be transformative because it could also unexpectedly add Senate seats in these so-called red states, resulting in governing majorities in the House and the Senate that could pass federal anti-poverty legislation.

Read my new opinion piece with @wilsonhartgrove @NYTimes @NYTOpinion

These People Hold the Key to a New America

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/opinion/2020-low-income-voters.html

#PoorPeoplesCampaign #MoralMovement #ThirdReconstruction