Alan I. Abramowitz and Ruy Teixeira understate the stupidity and futility of the GOP doubling-down on the all-white electoral strategy. Why? Because, while they prove that the strategy won’t work, they neglect to point out that any effort to get more of the white vote will almost by definition cause the Republicans to get even less of the nonwhite vote.
Republicans are doing pretty well with white voters currently, but to do better they need to increase the percentage of whites who see their political interests in racial us-vs.-them terms. Even if the language they use is carefully constructed, the dog whistle can be heard just as well by people of color as it can be by whites. And there a lot of whites, particularly the younger generations, who are as hostile to racial messaging as blacks, Latinos, and Asians. You don’t just add white votes when you engage in this kind of politics; you lose some white votes, and you lose even more minority votes.
