PRRI Board Chair Pens Piece for Vox on Future of Democratic Party
A new
Vox piece co-authored by PRRI Board Chair Melissa Deckman, Ph.D. examines how young women of color could shape the future of the Democratic Party. Deckman, along with Shauna Shames of Rutgers University, focuses on how the primary defeat of Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY) at the hands of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a Latina democratic socialist, is in line with statistical trends. Deckman and Shames write, “Our analysis of their results shows that young women of color are distinct from both young white Americans and from young men of color in terms of policy views and partisan preferences — by a long shot. We also find young women of color to be the most politically engaged, which speaks to their potential future influence within the Democratic Party.” Deckman and Shames utilize several years’ worth of PRRI data to drive their point home. PRRI data
from 2016-2018 shows that women of color are most likely to respond that rising higher education costs, discrimination against African-Americans, LGBT rights, and wealth gaps are critical issues to them personally. They are least likely to support building a wall between Mexico and the United States. Of specific interest to Deckman and Shames is the 2017 PRRI/ MTV National Youth Survey, which showed that among young people (aged 15-24), the majority of women of color identify as Democrats.