And Stephen J. Farnsworth, a political scientist at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia, argued that in the most pressing state contests, November’s election in Virginia for governor and other state offices, it’s not at all clear that the left loses by fighting over the statue of Lee and other monuments.
“The groups most likely to vote in presidential elections in Virginia and not show up the next year are younger voters and African-American voters,” he said. “Both of those groups have been highly charged by the incident in Charlottesville. That’s going to work to the Democrats’ advantage.”