Blame the voters. While no votes have yet been cast in the Democrat primary, that’s essentially the message from DNC Chairman Tom Perez when asked why no Democrats “of color” will be on stage at Tuesday’s presidential debate in Des Moines. Who made the cut? Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Tom Steyer, and Elizabeth “Not a Cherokee” Warren. They’re so white that, put together, they don’t even make half a Native American.

“If you want to make sure that a candidate of color makes the debate stage, when a pollster calls you, make sure you make that preference felt,” Perez said. “Because that is how you move the polling needle and, again, the voters are the ones who are making these decisions.”

He’s got half a point. While the polls clearly don’t reflect a swell of support for candidates like Andrew Yang — or former candidates like Cory Booker (who dropped out this morning) and Kamala Harris — those candidates might enjoy more support if they weren’t terrible. Now, you might be saying, “But the leading candidates are terrible, too.” And you’d be right. Nonetheless, they’re the nationally recognized terrible candidates who have a respectable shot at defeating “President Hitler,” known to normal people as Donald Trump. Biden continues to enjoy the most support among blacks.

The bigger story is how Democrats have so blatantly taken black voters for granted. Trump enjoys more support from minorities than virtually any other Republican in the last 50 years, which is a sign that more minorities see what Democrats are doing … and what Trump has done for them. That isn’t to say the Democrat won’t still win roughly 90% of the black vote, but there are cracks in the armor.

(Updated.)