DECADE'S END." — from the Introduction

At the end of the 1960s, Kevin Phillips, battling conventional wisdom, correctly foretold the dawn of a new conservative era. His book The Emerging Republican Majority became an indispensable guide for conservatives through the 1970s and 1980s — and, indeed, for all those attempting to understand political change at the time. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, with the presidency and the House in Republican hands, political experts John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira convincingly use hard data — demographic, geographic, economic, and political — to forecast the dawn of a new progressive era. Their book, The Emerging Democratic Majority, is the indispensable guide to this era.

In five well-researched chapters, the authors show how the most dynamic areas of the country are trending Democratic. Once the party of the Rust Belt, Democrats are now the party of Silicon Valley and of North Carolina's Research Triangle. Once the party of Archie Bunker and Ralph Kramden, the Democrats are now also the party of professionals, working women, blacks, Asian-Americans, and Hispanics.

These new Democratic voters embrace what the authors call "Progressive centrism." They take umbrage at Republican calls to privatize social security, ban abortion, and cut back environmental regulations. They are leery of subjecting science and the family to fundamentalist religious precepts. They welcome the free market as a spur to growth and initiative, but they don't want companies to be free to pollute the environment, mistreat their workers, or defraud their stockholders.

As the GOP continues to be captive to the religious right and K Street business lobbies, The Emerging Democratic Majority is an essential volume for all those discontented with their narrow agenda — and a clarion call for a new political order.

senior policy adviser to Vice President Al Gore

Every Democrat who is dispirited after the razor-thin loss of the presidency in 2000 should read this book.

author of Bobos in Paradise

John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira are two of the most intelligent, and most honest, political observers in America today. Whether you are Democrat or Republican, this book will sharpen your thinking about the future of our country.

secretary, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 1993-1997

At a time when many Americans are anxious about our changing demographic profile, Judis and Teixeira show how the optimism and energy of our nation's diverse population can be constructively channeled into a new political majority.

founder and CEO, Democratic Leadership Council

Judis and Teixeira have painted a vivid and accurate picture of the rapidly changing twenty-first-century electorate. If Democrats can reach this electorate with a forward-looking message, then the book's prophecy will come true.

Introduction: The Politics of Postindustrial America

1. The Rise and Fall of the Conservative Republican Majority

2. George McGovern's Revenge: Who's in the Emerging Democratic Majority

3. The Geography of the New Majority

4. The Politics of the Emerging Democratic Majority

5. The Tenuous Case for a Republican Majority

Conclusion: The Progressive Center

Appendix: Data Sources

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index