For Dems, 2018 race means addressing race

— from his predecessor Obama may have had more to do with many Trump voters’ choices than economic concerns that cross other demographic lines.

But if you want to talk about economic anxiety, ask black folks. So says a new poll conducted by former Obama and Democratic National Committee pollster and strategist Cornell Belcher and his firm, Brilliant Corners Research & Strategies, and due to be released by the independent political organization BlackPAC.

As reported by The Atlantic, the poll of 1,000 black voters in the battleground states of Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Michigan, North Carolina, Illinois and Florida finds more than half of those surveyed believe the economy is getting worse and only 1 in 10 believe they are getting ahead economically.

Eighty-nine percent of black voters said they believed racism in the country has gotten worse since 2016, and more than half believe that one of the key shifts in American politics has been a renewed attack on black Americans.

With at least 25 potential Democratic presidential candidates beginning to hit the road to audition their vision, slogans, punch lines and policy ideas, we have yet to see who can best navigate these different perspectives.

For many voters the answer is intensely personal, as a survey by pollster Stanley Greenberg reveals. He came up with the label “Reagan Democrat” to describe the crucial swing voters of Macomb County, Mich., while working for Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign. He returned there for a recent study of what they might do next, after voting for Obama twice and Trump once.

One white working-class man said he “lost contact with (his) own daughter because of the election.”

No wonder so many people are reluctant to talk about race, especially in racially mixed company. Maybe it takes an audacious grandstander like, say, Kanye West to break the ice. But it remains to be seen how many of this year’s office-seekers can wade successfully into those treacherous waters without being pulled under.