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A voter wears a face mask and a face shield outside a polling station on Election Day during the 2020 general elections. (Photo: Yegor Aleyev\TASS via Getty Images)
After Boosting Low-Income Voter Turnout, Poor People's Campaign Mobilizes for Covid Relief
People did not turn out in record numbers in the midst of a pandemic to vote for a return to normal. They want policy change based on a moral agenda.
Nov 09, 2020
While higher-income voters swung further towards Donald Trump compared to four years ago, increased support from poor and low-income voters helped push Joe Biden over the top.
According to early polls, those with household incomes of less than $50,000 in 2019 voted for Biden by an 11.5-point margin (55 to 43), compared to an 8.2-point Democratic margin in 2016 (50 to 42).
This helped overcome Trump's gains among households with income above $100,000 from 45 percent in 2016 to just over half in this year's election.
At least six million more people in households with income below $50,000 voted in 2020 compared to 2016.
Many organizations across the country deserve credit for fighting voter suppression and boosting turnout among poor and low-income voters.
For example, the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, along with Forward Justice and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, trained hundreds of poll monitors in 10 states: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas.
A nonpartisan poll monitor in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Keep reading...Show less
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Sarah Anderson
Sarah Anderson directs the Global Economy Project of the Institute for Policy Studies, and is a co-editor of Inequality.org.
Margot Rathke
Margot Rathke is a Next Leader at the Institute for Policy Studies.
While higher-income voters swung further towards Donald Trump compared to four years ago, increased support from poor and low-income voters helped push Joe Biden over the top.
According to early polls, those with household incomes of less than $50,000 in 2019 voted for Biden by an 11.5-point margin (55 to 43), compared to an 8.2-point Democratic margin in 2016 (50 to 42).
This helped overcome Trump's gains among households with income above $100,000 from 45 percent in 2016 to just over half in this year's election.
At least six million more people in households with income below $50,000 voted in 2020 compared to 2016.
Many organizations across the country deserve credit for fighting voter suppression and boosting turnout among poor and low-income voters.
For example, the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, along with Forward Justice and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, trained hundreds of poll monitors in 10 states: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas.
A nonpartisan poll monitor in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Keep reading...Show less
Sarah Anderson
Sarah Anderson directs the Global Economy Project of the Institute for Policy Studies, and is a co-editor of Inequality.org.
Margot Rathke
Margot Rathke is a Next Leader at the Institute for Policy Studies.
While higher-income voters swung further towards Donald Trump compared to four years ago, increased support from poor and low-income voters helped push Joe Biden over the top.
According to early polls, those with household incomes of less than $50,000 in 2019 voted for Biden by an 11.5-point margin (55 to 43), compared to an 8.2-point Democratic margin in 2016 (50 to 42).
This helped overcome Trump's gains among households with income above $100,000 from 45 percent in 2016 to just over half in this year's election.
At least six million more people in households with income below $50,000 voted in 2020 compared to 2016.
Many organizations across the country deserve credit for fighting voter suppression and boosting turnout among poor and low-income voters.
For example, the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, along with Forward Justice and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, trained hundreds of poll monitors in 10 states: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas.
A nonpartisan poll monitor in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Keep reading...Show less
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