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2022 Reflections: Ignore Pollsters And Challenge The Democrats

By Julianne Malveaux(TriceEdneyWire.com)To let the pollsters tell it, Democrats were going to get a drubbing or a shellacking just like the one President Barack Obama experienced in 2010 when Dems lost 63 Congressional seats and 6 Senate seats.In contrast, Democrats seem to have gained one Senate seat, and the Georgia runoff may push the number up to two. There was no red wave, hardly even a red puddle. Despite President Biden's tepid ratings and economic uncertainty, Democrats did not do badly.As of this writing, the partisan makeup of the House of Representatives is up in the air, but even if Republicans take the House, they'll hold onto it only narrowly. Republican control of Congress will, of course, be a blow to the African American community as key committees are chaired by members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including Rep. Bobby Scott (VA) in Education, Rep. Maxine Waters (CA) in Banking, and Finance, Rep. Bennie Thompson (MS) in Homeland Security, among others.The 2022 midterm elections remind us that pollsters spew nonsense and raise questions about the very nature of polling. It makes me wonder if the corporate media collaborates with pollsters to maintain the status quo. The pollsters take to the airwaves predicting, among other things, a red wave. Does it encourage people to stay home or to get out to challenge the polls?When the drip drip drip of negative polls is reported as breaking news almost every hour on the hour, what impact does it have on the electorate? Who are these pollsters talking to anyway? How many people? What demographic? What methodology? Are they doing internet polls? Are they properly sampling Black people? Are they stuck in the dark ages of landline phones (many people don't have landlines)? Polling methodology is replete with possible errors, and the voters highlighted those. No red wave, just a red puddle. The whole polling enterprise needs to be re-examined.The Democratic Party also needs to be examined. It relies on African American people as its base, yet it is expert in ignoring Black people when distributing resources.Organizations like the National Coalition for Black Civic Participation, Black Voters Matter, and other independent organizations get less support from the Democratic Party than they should. Further, Democratic indifference or belated focus on Black candidates has impacted the outcome of the midterm elections.North Carolina's senatorial candidate Cheri Beasley came within 3 percent of winning the election. Beasley got some Democratic Party support, but it was too late. In Wisconsin, Mandela Barnes came within 30,000 of winning, but a low turnout in heavily Black Milwaukee condemned Barnes to a loss. Could the Democratic Party have funded a ground game in Milwaukee? Did Mandela Barnes pay enough attention to his natural base? It's easy to do the Monday-morning quarterbacking about the midterm election. The process of making the Democratic Party more responsive to Black people is more challenging.Many of us got tens of emails daily from Democrats asking for

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