The Electoral College and its cousin gerrymandering are definitely problems.
But I think the problem is that it's possible that the only way to court some of those people is expressly by excluding other demographic groups. They do not care what nice things you offer them, unless you are expressly not offering nice things to groups they do not like.
The ones who don't think that way probably do fall under the heading of "if you believe that 'inalienable rights' business in the Declaration of Independence, come sit here by us in the Democratic Party." (Hopeful thing I read in the NYT today: not only are the current administration's approval percentages dropping, including among those who identify as Republicans, but there's some indication that the reason their approval is as high as it is among Republicans is that there are Republicans following Joe Scarborough's lead and no longer identifying as Republicans at all. Even if they just sit out the next Presidential election out of refusal to vote for either Trump or a candidate that thinks people who don't look like them are people, and the Democrats do get their people out, that's game-set-match. Hence my focus on us casting as wide a net as possible.)
(Admittedly, some of the following is that I'm a liberal/civil-libertarian who's lived in red/swing states almost all my life, but I also tend to feel that for the Democratic party to embrace policies/a platform that will make it less safe for people who lean left (or more to the point who fall into those demographics outside "white working-class") to live in red states is going to exacerbate the "liberals/Democratic voters fleeing to the coasts" problem and make it harder to win the EC. Going for a short-term vote grab that pulls the party rightward--- especially on life-or-death issues like reproductive rights--- risks making things worse in the long run.)
no subject
But I think the problem is that it's possible that the only way to court some of those people is expressly by excluding other demographic groups. They do not care what nice things you offer them, unless you are expressly not offering nice things to groups they do not like.
The ones who don't think that way probably do fall under the heading of "if you believe that 'inalienable rights' business in the Declaration of Independence, come sit here by us in the Democratic Party." (Hopeful thing I read in the NYT today: not only are the current administration's approval percentages dropping, including among those who identify as Republicans, but there's some indication that the reason their approval is as high as it is among Republicans is that there are Republicans following Joe Scarborough's lead and no longer identifying as Republicans at all. Even if they just sit out the next Presidential election out of refusal to vote for either Trump or a candidate that thinks people who don't look like them are people, and the Democrats do get their people out, that's game-set-match. Hence my focus on us casting as wide a net as possible.)
(Admittedly, some of the following is that I'm a liberal/civil-libertarian who's lived in red/swing states almost all my life, but I also tend to feel that for the Democratic party to embrace policies/a platform that will make it less safe for people who lean left (or more to the point who fall into those demographics outside "white working-class") to live in red states is going to exacerbate the "liberals/Democratic voters fleeing to the coasts" problem and make it harder to win the EC. Going for a short-term vote grab that pulls the party rightward--- especially on life-or-death issues like reproductive rights--- risks making things worse in the long run.)