Dem
47
GOP
53
Thomas Edsall has (another) good column about the Democrats' problem. Turns out it is the Democrats. They are deeply unpopular.
A Democratic PAC analyzed dozens of case studies since 2012 and found that since 2012, highly educated staffers, donors, advocacy groups, pundits, and elected officials have reshaped the Party in their vision, which is not the voters' vision. For example, they found that from 2012 to 2024, the word frequency of "hate" increased 1,323%, "white/Black/Latino/Latina" increased by 1,137%, "LGBT" and variants by 1,044, and "equity" by 766%. In contrast, "responsibility" fell by 83%, "middle class" fell by 79%, "veteran" fell by 31%, and "crime/criminal" fell by 30%. This is not where the voters are.
Working-class voters see the Democrats as "woke, weak, and out of touch." Six in 10 have a negative view of the Party. This is not Donald Trump's fault. If a majority of a major group of voters see a Party as "out of touch," winning elections is tough, as Democrats have discovered. During FDR's administration, no working-class person in his or her right mind would vote for Republicans. Such is not the case now.
The placing of groups ahead of individuals sends the wrong message to many voters. When Joe Biden preannounced that he would include only Black women in his search for a new Supreme Court justice, that was absolutely the wrong message. It basically said that qualified white men would not even be considered. Is it surprising that white men don't see the Democrats as "their" party? He could have said he would consider all candidates and then picked a Black woman, saying she was the best candidate. That sends a different message. This is the Democrats' problem in a nutshell.
Earlier this month, Noah Smith published a detailed and biting critique of "liberalism" entitled "Where Does a Liberal Go from Here?" It contain this passage: "I watched with concern as the quest to end discrimination against Black Americans evolved into a desire to institutionalize discrimination against white Americans in universities, nonprofits, government agencies and many corporations—something the liberals of the 1990s swore they would never countenance." He also noted that support for gay rights, which was reasonably popular with many voters, to a trans rights movement that is out of step with what the voters believe and want.
Edsall notes that many Democratic officeholders now have stands that alienate large numbers of voters, especially working-class and middle-class voters. In contrast, Lanae Erickson of the Third Way, a centrist Democratic think tank, notes that Trump's declining support gives the Democrats an opening, but they have to grab it and offer the voters something they want. She suggests freedom of thought, equality of opportunity, and the Golden Rule, treating others as you would like to be treated.
Edsall goes on for a while, but concludes with: "The 2026 election is very likely to pose a problem for the Democrats. The better the party does in the midterm elections, the incentive to reform in preparation for the 2028 presidential contest will lose force—a win-lose proposition." In a way, this is similar to the Searchlight item above: If the goal is winning elections, how about figuring out what the voters want, promising that, and if elected, actually making it happen. The Democrats need to become a political party—with a laser focus on winning elections,—not an ideological movement that wants to make a point, elections be damned. (V)