Can Democrats’ message on DEI convince white women to dump Trump?
As President Donald Trump and Republicans seize on diversity policies, political experts weigh in on Democrats' strategy to combat their agenda.
As Democrats have pushed back against President Donald Trump‘s executive actions on eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion and their potentially far-reaching implications, some leaders are emphasizing the attacks on DEI will impact not just Black, Latino, and LGBTQ+ Americans but also women — namely white women.
Following Trump’s Thursday press conference, where he essentially blamed the deadly plane and helicopter collision near D.C.’s airport on DEI, Congressional Black Caucus chairwoman Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., in a statement last week noted that the Republican Party’s targeting of diversity programs and policies is rooted in a “desire to divide us as a country.” She added that such policies “work to benefit all Americans who have traditionally been kept out of opportunities, including white women, veterans, and aging Americans.”
“People are suffering, and the leader of this country decides to go out and pedal lies, conspiracy theories, and attack people of color and women without any basis whatsoever,” said House of Representatives Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., similarly told theGrio last week, “Donald Trump is blaming white women and minorities for the deadly crash under the guise of DEI.”
Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright, who advises top Democrats like Jeffries and Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., told theGrio he sees some of the messaging from Democrats as it relates to white women and DEI as an intentional strategy.
“What Republicans have done is weaponize diversity, equity and inclusion to make it just about race and not about what it really means … which covers a multitude of things from race, age, gender, sex, disabilities, special needs, you name it,” said Seawright, who added that Trump and Republicans’ return to power has resulted in an attempt to “reframe DEI as a strategy to divide, exclude and insult.”
The Democratic insider said, “Sadly enough,” those who have benefited from DEI, emphasizing, “I’m not talking about Black Americans,” are “not the ones speaking up and speaking out at this moment.” He said it’s critical Democrats “paint a realistic picture of what it means when we say diversity, equity and inclusion.”
The apparent reframing of DEI beyond race to include gender, and more specifically, white women, is notable, considering the years-long frustration in Democratic circles over the voting patterns of white women. White women as a voting bloc have been accused of voting against their own interests. In the 2016 presidential election, a majority of white women voted for Trump despite his recorded comments about touching women’s genitalia without their consent. And in the 2024 presidential election exit poll, data shows an even greater amount of white women voted for Trump, despite his role in nominating three U.S. Supreme Court justices with the intent to overturn federal abortion rights under Roe v. Wade.
Ironically, white women have also disproportionately benefited from DEI policies in higher education and the business sector, including among those hired as chief diversity officers, according to data from Zippia, a jobs research firm.
“The fact that so many people think that DEI is just about people of color and that white women haven’t been the biggest beneficiaries of DEI programs and affirmative action programs is a function of how it’s messaged. It is perception is reality at its worst,” said Tara Setmayer, co-founder and CEO of The Seneca Project, a super PAC focused on women and democracy. She told theGrio, “If you’re not a white Christian male, apparently you’re undeserving of anything in this country other than subjugation.”
As Democrats seemingly attempt to unite various minority groups against Trump and Republicans, much like the multi-racial, multi-generational coalition cultivated by former President Barack Obama that crossed gender lines, Setmayer said she believes there are some white women who cast their ballot for Trump who could be persuaded away from his party’s agenda.
“It doesn’t have to be a large percentage. It could be, you know, 5% of white women who voted for Donald Trump to realize that what they’re getting is not what they thought they were voting for,” Setmayer explained. However, she admitted that many pro-Trump white women voters are “unpersuadable,” adding, “Even if they do pay a price, and even if they do start to suffer from Trump’s policies, they’ll never admit they were wrong.”
Political commentator Reecie Colbert says she worries about Democrats emphasizing the disproportionate benefit of DEI for white women because it “plays into that kind of dissatisfaction, disillusionment with the DEI framework.” She told theGrio, “I don’t think that it’s effective.”
What Democrats should do instead is “galvanize” their “actual base” of supporters: Black and brown Americans.
“I think that the genius of Republicans is that a lot of Black people don’t feel like DEI has really benefited them. But the DEI the Republicans are talking about is not what Black people have felt they don’t benefit from,” Colbert explained. “The DEI they’re talking about is basically anything and everything since Jim Crow.” She added, “I think that they should be calling this Jim Crow 2.0 every chance they get. They should be saying, ‘This is the biggest assault on civil rights since the reconstruction.'”
Colbert said she’s also skeptical that the DEI conversation will do anything to move white women voters.
“The majority made their choice to throw their lot in with white nationalism. I’m not saying that they’re a lost cause, but I would say that in terms of prioritizing message, they should be lower on the priority list,” she told theGrio. “[Democrats] should certainly not water down the messaging to try to appeal to these mythical disillusioned white women … looking for a home in the Democratic Party and like they’re orphaned by Republican Party.”
Seawright, the Democratic strategist, said it’s important for the party to “gather folks who are already frustrated by the actions of this administration and trying to find higher ground where we may not always have common ground.”
Whether or not that frustration can be activated by the issue of DEI, he said economic issues (a top priority for all voters in the 2024 election) could also have an impact — especially as a record number of billionaires in Trump’s administration have influence in shaping policy, particularly Elon Musk.
“It sets a precedent going forward that you have to be wealthy and have political connections in order to be able to move the needle of progress in this country,” said Seawright.
Setmayer similarly told theGrio, “Trump’s economic policies and his decision to, frankly, decapitate a lot of our federal government and structures” — like threats of tariffs and attempts to gut federal funding already approved by Congress — will impact broad swaths of the American public, including farmers, labor workers, and small business owners.
“I think that you may see that the more that the billionaire tech bro class is empowered and they’re making decisions that are favorable to them with no regard to how the average American is impacted by them will be a huge wake-up call for a lot of people,” she cautioned.
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