Democratic strategist James Carville argued “too many preachy females” in the Democratic Party could be to blame for President Biden’s bleeding support from key voters.
In an interview published Saturday with New York Times opinion columnist Maureen Dowd, Carville voiced concerns about the culture of the Democratic Party and how it could be impacting Biden’s support among voters, especially those that are male.
“A suspicion of mine is that there are too many preachy females … ‘Don’t drink beer, don’t watch football, don’t eat hamburgers, this is not good for you,'” he said. “The message is too feminine: ‘Everything you’re doing is destroying the planet. You’ve got to eat your peas.'”
Carville, who was a strategist for former President Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, argued this culture and rhetoric is not addressing the concerns of male voters.
“If you listen to Democratic elites — NPR is my go-to place for that — the whole talk is about how women, and women of color, are going to decide this election. I’m like: ‘Well, 48 percent of the people that vote are males. Do you mind if they have some consideration?” Carville said.
When it comes to Biden’s low approval ratings, Carville quipped, “When I look at these polling numbers, it’s like walking in on your grandma naked. You can’t get the image out of your mind.”
Carville in recent weeks has also expressed concerns about Biden’s falling support among voters of color and called it a “problem” for the incumbent last week.
According to a Gallup poll released last month, Democrats’ lead as Black Americans’ party of preference has fallen 20 points in the past three years, while their lead among Hispanic adults is at its lowest point since 2011. A CBS News poll from last month showed Biden’s support among Black voters was down from 87 percent in 2020 to 76 percent this year.
Despite his worries about the president’s campaign, Carville noted he “actually likes Biden.”
“He’s a tenacious guy that’s had a real life. He’s a state school guy. He doesn’t have an iota of elitism. He doesn’t even know what ‘woke’ is. He’s been demonstrably the best president that Black America’s ever had, Clinton and Obama included,” he said. “You look at incomes, employment, poverty rates, access to health care. It’s not where whites are, but it’s closer than it’s ever been.”
The Biden campaign is ramping up efforts to reach voters of color, and last week, it launched ads of Biden directly speaking to Black voters in battleground states. The campaign argued another term for former President Trump would be a “disaster” for the demographic.
The campaign later announced a program to engage Latino voters, whom Biden called “the reason why, in large part,” he beat Trump in 2020 while fundraising in Arizona last week.
The Hill reached out to the Biden campaign for further comment.