Clarification

To the Editors:

In my “The Rules of the Game” [NYR, July 18], I wrote that the 15 percent of Democrats who identified as conservative “were probably mostly older, white union men who vote Republican for president as often as not, and a smattering of older Latino men as well.” But according to Kathleen Frankovic, a consultant to The Economist/YouGov poll, what mostly sets them apart is that they are more religious than other Democrats. Fifty-seven percent say religion is very important in their lives, as opposed to 33 percent of all Democrats. Conservative Democrats also include slightly fewer women than Democrats overall, and slightly more African-Americans. Half of conservative Democrats didn’t vote in 2016, and those who did supported Clinton over Trump by 37 to 13 percent, but that 13 percent is three times the percentage of all Democrats who voted for Trump.

Michael Tomasky
Rockville, Maryland