On November 9, 2016, the nation watched as Hillary Clinton lost the Electoral College to Donald Trump. Even though Clinton won the popular vote by almost 3 million votes, the Democrats should not blame the Electoral College for their defeat. Democrats should take a look at the state of the party and the DNC.

The Democrats chose Hillary Clinton to as part of their continuous campaign to play identity politics, a system where they attempt to capture all of the minority and female votes. This failed in November as Hillary Clinton “captured the Democrats lowest share of female voters since 2004,” and it got worse as Trump “outperformed [Mitt Romney] among blacks, Asians, Hispanics and Young People” said Al-Gharbi of Columbia University in an article with The Conversation, an academic website. The DNC needs to take a clear look at their party if after four years of identity politics they still manage to lose the demographics they where attempting to capture.  

“The Democratic Party tends to have this hypereducated ruling-class mentality, and we need to realize that’s not making us connect with a lot of voters.” said Brianna Wu in an interview with the New York Times Magazine. The Democrats try to act like they are above the rural regions and low income white Americans and that they don’t need them to win elections. Democrats have had this idea of being a party for all but have really failed in reaching middle America and rural regions. While the Republicans have done a great job in capturing these areas and securing their vote.    

Some Democrats could argue that it is possible to continue on the current path and be fine because after four years of a Trump presidency the voters in the Midwest who voted for him will go back to the Democrats. But I don’t think this will happen. Everyone thought Clinton’s campaign would be an easy win for the Democrats but she ended losing by 74 electoral votes and it’s unlikely that we will see the electoral college go away. Even though Clinton won the popular vote the, Democrats popular vote win also “came overwhelmingly from densely populated and left leaning states like California. Relative to Barack Obama, she under performed in key Midwestern states.” said Al-Gharbi The Conversation. In order to avoid a repeat of 2016 the Democrats will have to start pushing into the Midwest and focusing on the entire voting population rather than just the populations to which they want to appeal.