Roland Martin recently asked poor white people in Mississippi what they had to lose by voting for the democratic candidate. He was attempting to flip the script that trump uses on black folks by posing the same question to poor white people.
It's an interesting question, but it misses the point of why they (poor white people) don't vote for democratic candidates in the first place. There are a couple of reasons for that.
First, often times the democratic candidate is a person of color. ---That happens to be the case in Mississippi now--- Most of these people, regardless of what you hear from the main stream media, are just flat out racist, and there is no way in hell they are going to vote for a black man to be dog catcher let alone their senator. The Negro cannot represent them because he or she is not worthy. It must be someone who looks like they do, and who"shares their values". It was racism not "economic anxiety" that drove all those poor white people to vote for trump.
Which leads me to the other reason. The republican candidates are smart enough to play on the racial fears and prejudices of these poor whites. (See Donald trump). They understand that these people would rather stay poor and uneducated than to change their way of life or thinking. It works every time. Just promise them their god and guns, and they will do without proper health care, better paying jobs, or a proper education for their children.
When you ask these people what they have to lose they are thinking that they do in fact have a lot to lose. They are thinking that the power that comes from being white is more valuable than money and a better quality of life for themselves and their families. So what, the thinking goes, if I am poor ; at least the people in charge and with power look like I do. That has to count for something.
This is why, even though we can objectively say that she is a racist, Cindy Hyde-Smith will more than likely be the next senator from Mississippi. All those poor white people down in Mississippi will not vote for a black man to be their senator.
Vanity Fair posted an article recently and wanted to know if Smith is too racist, even for Mississippi. The answer to that question would be no. And every poor white person in Mississippi knows it.

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