The Democrats’ Left Turn Is Not an Illusion nyti.ms/2QWyRwC
Well-educated whites, especially white women, are pushing the party decisively leftward. According to Gallup, the share of white Democrats calling themselves liberal on social issues has grown since 2001 from 39 to 61%. White liberals are now roughly 40% of all Democratic voters.
Blacks and Hispanics have NOT contributed significantly to the rising percentage of self-identified Dem liberals. Over the past 17 years, for example, the percentage of black Democrats who identify themselves as liberals grew by a modest 3%, according to Gallup and Pew Research
In fact, white liberals are well to the left of the black electorate on some racial issues.
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Take the issue of discrimination as a factor holding back African-American advancement. White liberals are to the left of black Dems, placing a much stronger emphasis than African-Americans on the role of discrimination and much less on the importance of individual effort.
Among white liberals, according to Pew survey data collected in 2017, 79.2% agreed that “racial discrimination is the main reason why many black people can’t get ahead these days.”
Only 18.8 percent of whites agreed that “blacks who can’t get ahead in this country are mostly responsible for their own condition,” a 60.4 point difference.
Stunning.
Stunning.
Among blacks, 59.9%identified discrimination as the main deterrent to upward mobility for African-Americans, and 32% said blacks were responsible for their condition — in other words, blacks are more conservative than white liberals on this issue.
The dominant role of well-educated, relatively "upscale white" Democrats in moving the party to the left reflects the declining role of the working class in shaping the party’s ideology.
Whereas just 39 percent of white Democrats said they were liberal on social issues back in 2001-2005, that has risen to 61 percent since 2015-2017. By contrast, blacks’ views have hardly changed: 34 percent in the 2001-2005 period vs. 37 percent in 2015-2017.
Black Democrats’ self-described ideology was very different, according to Pew. 28 percent said they were liberals, 40 percent identified themselves as moderates and 30 percent as conservatives.
The study, “Hidden Tribes: A Study of America’s Polarized Landscape,” was produced by a group called More In Common.
The report identified the most liberal constituency as “progressive activists,” a constituency that is expected to make up 1/4 of Democratic voters this year
The report identified the most liberal constituency as “progressive activists,” a constituency that is expected to make up 1/4 of Democratic voters this year
The "progressive activist' liberal wing stands "apart with “the highest levels of education and socioeconomic status” of all the groups studied. They are “highly sensitive to issues of fairness and equity, particularly with regards to race, gender and minority group identities.” 
