Defining the 21st Century Democratic Party

[Unagi]

So much for the youth vote:

Perhaps it's for the best that the youth feels some ownership of the disaster that will likely be their future.

I'll say it takes a tiny bit of the weight off my shoulders.

I mean, if someone is gonna shit the bed - may as well be the person who needs to sleep in it.

[Punisher]

6. Rebuild community spirit with college credit/money toward college for community service in your local area or peace corps service.

I don't know how much community spirit this would build, but getting people into public service - building empathy - would be a great thing.

I've been discussing this with my son (32).
I became a volunteer EMT in 1989. Many of my friends did the same.
We always had plenty of members in the squad.
Fast forward to now and many volunteer squads have been shutting down and towns have had to go paid.
My son says it's because nobody wants to do it for free because they need to work to pay bills. I explained that I had a wife and kid, a full time job and a part time job and I and my friends still made time to volunteer. His answer was that people/kids nowadays don't do that.
So this is a practical 1st hand view of how public service has changed over time.
O find it very sad.

[Punisher]

Two losses against a candidate such as DJT tell me something is seriously wrong.

Yes, but the problem is with the patient. The problem in this election wasn't Harris or Democratic messaging. The problem is the electorate. The problem is a media that whitewashed Trump's insanity. You can't fix that with a different candidate, or campaign messaging. No one's listening.

You are trying to find the right recipe for your bushel of apples, without realizing that too many of the apples are rotten. You can't unrotten them.

The GOP ran the worst candidate in US history. The GOP ran a mediocre campaign. They didn't win because of a flaw in Harris, or a flaw in Dem messaging. They won because of a flaw in us.

Depending on what happens in the next 4 years it may be the worst candidate in world history.

[Punisher]

But Americans have guns so they can fight back that type of government, right?

I'm not sure if serious.

There is zero chance any number of armed Americans could do anything against the American military -or- our militarized police departments.

American guns will be used against other Americans, full stop.

I would argue that it's not that cut and dried.
It depends on where for one. Someplace like Texas would have a better ability to fight the government than say NJ just because of the difference in gun laws.
It also depends on which side the various police and military take. If they side partially with the public than they may need additional civilian help of a sort.
Additionally, assuming that nukes, carpet bombing, etc.. are off the table then the civilian population could conceivably fight back.
Too many factors to truly say one way or the other.

[Anonymous Bosch]

The Shattering of the Democratic Coalition

The Shattering of the Democratic Coalition
It’s time to face the facts.

RUY TEIXEIRA
Nov 07, 2024



The Republican Party, according to Democrats, has given rein to some of the darker impulses in the national psyche, has shown flagrant disregard for democratic norms and offers little to the American people in terms of effective policy. There is considerable truth to this indictment and Democrats have not been shy about making their case in uninhibited language, including the obligatory comparison of their opponents to “fascists” and “Nazis.”

Yet Democrats cannot decisively beat their opponents as this election has shown once again. The party is uncompetitive among white working-class voters and among voters in exurban, small town, and rural America. This puts them at a massive structural disadvantage given an American electoral system that gives disproportionate weight to these voters, especially in Senate and presidential elections. To add to the problem, Democrats are now hemorrhaging nonwhite working-class voters across the country.

The facts must be faced. The Democratic coalition today is not fit for purpose. It cannot beat Republicans consistently in enough areas of the country to achieve dominance and implement its agenda at scale. The Democratic Party may be the party of blue America, especially deep blue metro America, but its bid to be the party of the ordinary American, the common man and woman, is falling short.

There is a simple—and painful—reason for this. The Democrats really are no longer the party of the common man and woman. The priorities and values that dominate the party today are instead those of educated, liberal America which only partially overlap—and sometimes not at all—with those of ordinary Americans.

This election has made this problem manifest in the starkest possible terms, as the Democratic coalition shattered into pieces. Trump not only won, he won fairly easily, carrying all seven swing states and, much to Democrats’ shock, the national popular vote. Below I review the demographic trends driving this shattering.

Recall that before the election, there was much debate, bordering on denialism, about whether and to what extent demographic trends revealed by most polling data would actually undercut the Democratic coalition in the election. Now we have results and it is clear those trends were real and that they did massively weaken the Democratic coalition.

Here are some demographic comparisons using the AP VoteCast data—which I consider to be far superior to the exits. These are national comparisons using 2024 and 2020 VoteCast data. Comparisons of state level demographic patterns between the two elections generally follow the national pattern.

The gender gap: Contrary to much pre-election discussion, Harris’s margin among women was actually less than Biden’s in 2020, 7 points for Harris vs. 12 points for Biden. And the Trump margin was better among men, 10 points vs. 5 points in 2020. The overall gender gap went from 17 points in 2020 to….17 points in 2024. How about that. The Democrats invested so much hope in the women’s vote, especially the idea that the abortion issue would spike their margin among women, and it just did not pan out.

Even more startling, Democrats believed with an almost religious fervor that young women would move sharply in their direction given liberal trends among this demographic and, again, the salience of the abortion issue. And, again, it did not happen. Women under 30 supported Biden by 32 points in 2020 but supported Harris by just 18 points in this election, a 14-point shift toward Trump. Among young men, the swing was even harder: these voters supported Biden by 15 points in 2020 but supported Trump by 14 points in 2024. That’s a 29-point pro-Republican swing. As a result, the gender gap did widen among young voters, but it was because young men moved more sharply toward Trump than young women did. That’s not exactly what Democrats had in mind.


Source: Wall Street Journal, VoteCast data

The nonwhite vote: As predicted by the polls, we saw declines across the board in Democratic margins among nonwhite voters. Among all nonwhites: Harris carried them by 35 points compared to Biden’s 48-point margin in 2020. Among black voters, Harris’s margin was 67 points compared to 83 points for Biden in 2020; Trump got 16 percent of the black vote and 24 percent among black men. Among Latinos, the Democratic margin was cut in half, plunging to 14 points compared to 28 points for Biden in 2020. Trump got 42 percent of the Hispanic vote and 47 percent among Hispanic men.

The working-class (non-college) vote: Among all working-class voters, Trump dramatically widened his advantage, tripling his margin from 4 points in 2020 to 12 points in this election. That included moving from 25 to 29 points among white working-class voters and radically compressing his deficit among nonwhite working-class voters from 48 points in 2020 to 33 points this election. Compare that margin to what Obama had in 2012: according to Catalist, he carried the nonwhite working class by 67 points in that election. That indicates that Democrats have had their margin among this core constituency more than cut in half over the last 12 years. Ouch. So much for the “rising American electorate.”

And it’s time to face the fact that the GOP has become the party of America’s working class. Democrats hate to admit that and mutter that they represent the “interests” of the working class. But the numerical pattern is now too powerful to be denied. Instead of denying the obvious—or, worse, blaming the dumb workers for not knowing their own interests—Democrats would be well-advised to accept this new reality and seek to change it.

Unless they’re content to be primarily the party of America’s well-off. Harris lost voters under $50,000 in household income as well as voters from $50,000 to $100,000 in income. But she did carry voters with over $100,000 in household by 8 points, one place where Harris did improve over Biden in 2020. This is not, as they say, your father’s Democratic Party. Not even close.

The youth vote: The idea that the youth vote might bail out on the Democrats this election was strenuously resisted in Democratic-friendly quarters but happen it did. Democrat support among voters under 30 collapsed from a 25-point advantage in 2020 to a mere 6 points in this election.

This should be especially disturbing for Democrats since this is the first presidential election where this age group is overwhelmingly composed on Gen Z voters. This does not augur well for the future. Nor does their performance among voters 30-44, now dominated by the Millennials, where Harris’s advantage over Trump was only 4 points. The great generational replacement theory of future Democratic dominance is another theory Democrats would be well-advised to discard.

There is much more to be said about shifting voting patterns in this election (and it will be said!) But for now, these data do indicate that a lot of the trends the polls were picking up on the compression of Democratic margins among key groups was real. And that should be food for thought for Democrats as they sift through the wreckage of their shattered coalition.

As they do so, here’s an idea to start with: have every Democrat ostentatiously say they subscribe to the following principles. These principles would signal to normie voters, particularly working-class voters of all races, that Democrats’ values and priorities are not so different from theirs. That’s a prerequisite for getting these voters to listen to Democrats’ pitch and take it seriously.

• Equality of opportunity is a fundamental American principle; equality of outcome is not.

• America is not perfect but it is good to be patriotic and proud of the country.

• Discrimination and racism are bad but they are not the cause of all disparities in American society.

• Racial achievement gaps are bad and we should seek to close them. However, they are not due just to racism and standards of high achievement should be maintained for people of all races.

• No one is completely without bias but calling all white people racists who benefit from white privilege and American society a white supremacist society is not right or fair.

• America benefits from the presence of immigrants and no immigrant, even if illegal, should be mistreated. But border security is hugely important, as is an enforceable system that fairly decides who can enter the country.

• Police misconduct and brutality against people of any race is wrong and we need to reform police conduct and recruitment. However, more and better policing is needed to get criminals off the streets and secure public safety. That cannot be provided by “defunding the police”.

• There are underlying differences between men and women that should not all be attributed to sexism. However, discrimination on the basis of gender is wrong and should always be opposed.

• People who want to live as a gender different from their biological sex should have that right. However, biological sex is real and spaces limited to biological women in areas like sports and prisons should be preserved. Medical treatments like drugs and surgery are serious interventions that should not be available on demand, especially for children.

• Language policing has gone too far; by and large, people should be able to express their views without fear of sanction by employer, school, institution or government. Free speech is a fundamental American value that should be safeguarded everywhere.

• Climate change is a serious problem but it won’t be solved overnight. As we move toward a clean energy economy with an “all of the above” strategy, energy must continue to be cheap, reliable and abundant. That means fossil fuels, especially natural gas, will continue to be an important part of the mix.

• We must make America more equal, but we also must make it richer. There is no contradiction between the two. A richer country will make it easier to promote equality.

• Degrowth is the worst idea on the left since Communism. Ordinary voters want abundance: more stuff, more opportunity, cheaper prices, nicer, more comfortable lives. The only way to provide this is with more growth, not less.

• We need to make it much easier to build things, from housing to transmission lines to nuclear reactors. That cannot happen without serious regulatory and permitting reform.

• America needs a robust industrial policy that goes far beyond climate policy. We are in direct competition with nations like China, a competition we cannot win without building on cutting edge scientific research in all fields.

• National economic development should prioritize the “left-behind” areas of the country. The New Deal under Franklin Roosevelt did this and we can do it today. “Trickle-down” economics from rich metropolitan areas is not working.

A Democratic Party united around these principles would be a far more appealing party to those millions of voters who are leaving the Democratic Party behind. It’s time to start calling them back.

[GreenGoo]

Come on man, this is nothing but an agenda cherry picking to support it.

Half the country elected a demagogue with no policies except vague feelings of ill-will towards "others", which included the other half of the country.

Somehow this is a failing of the Democratic party and their policies? L.O.L.?

Fuck. You. Author. Twice.

The facts that need to be faced is that America's education system is failing them and free speech has lead to systematic propaganda and disinformation on the order of 1984 from within and without. Of which this article is a part.

Thanks for contributing, AB.

edit: And lets not forget a True Faith zealotry that is following in the middle east's footsteps. Rule of law has nothing on being told what's right and wrong by God, even if God changes his mind as often as necessary to keep people in line.

[Zarathud]

No one voted for Trump based on policy. It was image, hateful feelings, misinformation and inflation.

Democrats do need to communicate to everyone. Like it or not, appearing on FOX and Joe Rogan is a necessity.

[LordMortis]

The majority of points didn't sound bad to me. However, that doesn't excuse the American people, as the opening is off. TFG isn't "the obligatory" being compared to fascist. He's been called out as being a fascist. Full stop, I've not heard one person say "Oh, he's just like Mussolini." Nope. We have been flat out repeating him saying he wants to be act as an ultranationalist far right authoritarian and we the people are apparently OK with that. Fuck that noise. I'm actually a bit surprised I read on after than, actually.

[Smoove_B]

On the one hand, I do think it's important to try and figure out what happened.

That said, I'm strongly of the mind that anyone trying to pivot to how to change the message for midterms or the 2028 election isn't really considering what's about to happen.

[LawBeefaroni]

Come on man, this is nothing but an agenda cherry picking to support it.

Half the country elected a demagogue with no policies except vague feelings of ill-will towards "others", which included the other half of the country.

Somehow this is a failing of the Democratic party and their policies? L.O.L.?

Fuck. You. Author. Twice.

The facts that need to be faced is that America's education system is failing them and free speech has lead to systematic propaganda and disinformation on the order of 1984 from within and without. Of which this article is a part.

Thanks for contributing, AB.

edit: And lets not forget a True Faith zealotry that is following in the middle east's footsteps. Rule of law has nothing on being told what's right and wrong by God, even if God changes his mind as often as necessary to keep people in line.

The party's job is to win elections. That's it. They failed. And they failed against the worst human to every run for the job. Twice. Yes, they won once, but that's almost more damning because it shows it can be done and it's not simply a failing of the education system or whatever else we want to pin it on.

Is it solely the failure of the Democratic Party? No, they faced headwinds for sure. But again, that's their one job. If they can't do it it's fair to say they failed.

Honestly, seeing it happen, it seemed like the party go high on its own supply, buying into the hype. $1B in donations, big uptick when Harris was announced...it wasn't complacency exactly but it seemed like the primary strategy was hope and good feelings.

[El Guapo]

The majority of points didn't sound bad to me. However, that doesn't excuse the American people, as the opening is off. TFG isn't "the obligatory" being compared to fascist. He's been called out as being a fascist. Full stop, I've not heard one person say "Oh, he's just like Mussolini." Nope. We have been flat out repeating him saying he wants to be act as an ultranationalist far right authoritarian and we the people are apparently OK with that. Fuck that noise. I'm actually a bit surprised I read on after than, actually.

The points aren't bad, exactly, but it's more operating off of a caricature of the Democrats' platform. To begin with, outside of the farthest of the far left no one thinks that all white men are racist, nor that racism is the cause of all disparities in American society.

[GreenGoo]

The party's job is to win elections. That's it. They failed. And they failed against the worst human to every run for the job. Twice. Yes, they won once, but that's almost more damning because it shows it can be done and it's not simply a failing of the education system or whatever else we want to pin it on.

What I'm hearing is that it's a policy failure, as outlined in the article. Facts to be faced.

Got it.

Yet those same policies won in 2020. So weird that the facts didn't need to be faced then.

Winning at all costs is what brought you Drumpf in the first place. Imagine having 2 Demagogue parties. Sounds like a viable solution.

[RunningMn9]

The party's job is to win elections. That's it. They failed. And they failed against the worst human to every run for the job. Twice. Yes, they won once, but that's almost more damning because it shows it can be done and it's not simply a failing of the education system or whatever else we want to pin it on.

What if 2020 didn't show that it could be done? What if 2020 was just a stupid electorate accidentally doing something that you agreed with? I absolutely believe that we cannot fix this until we understand WHY it happened.

But I'm telling you that it didn't happen because Harris is a bad candidate, or that the party had bad messaging, or that that she ran a bad campaign. I get that you can say "yes she/they did" to all of those things - considering that she lost. I just don't believe that it's true. I don't think there is anything the Democrats could have done to win this election. None of this matters with an apathetic and ignorant voting public that actively seeks out and consumes propaganda, and then believes it uncritically.

There is no candidate you can pick to overcome that. There is no messaging you can go with that will overcome that (they aren't listening). Your ground game doesn't matter. Your money doesn't matter. The Democratic Party will win elections again, but when they do, it will be on accident, not because of anything they did to achieve it.

Pretty much everything that we've been taught about the American Experience is wrong. I don't know whether it's always been wrong, but it's clearly wrong now. This was always the outcome of allowing an uninformed public select its leaders. Worse now that you have propaganda machines dedicated to convincing them that they are actually informed. There's no way out of that without catastrophe.

[LordMortis]

The points aren't bad, exactly, but it's more operating off of a caricature of the Democrats' platform. To begin with, outside of the farthest of the far left no one thinks that all white men are racist, nor that racism is the cause of all disparities in American society.

And just repeating what shouldn't be a problem isn't a problem for me. It's not a recognition that Democrats believed that all white men are racists until this sage "liberal patriot" spelled out the problem. Maybe that's just my reading. I don't think the points will fix the party or win elections though. Because I think the opening recognizes the problem and then trivializes it. The American people, if they were listening, even an little, would have heard TFG declare his desire to be a fascist as president and ran on that and this is where we're at.

[Blackhawk]

The fact that it said the Democrats should stop with 'Defund the Police' was telling. That hasn't been a thing in years, and never was a real talking point or part of the platform. While a few people embraced it, the Democratic Party itself recognized it as absurd the day it was uttered.

[GreenGoo]

There is no catastrophe that can alter this course. Literally anything good is the result of conservative values and republicans, and anything bad is the result of liberal values and democrats. ANYTHING. Because Fox says so. Tariffs tank the economy? Democrats fault (because of semi-reasonable sounding made up reasons not based in fact). Republican convicted? Witch hunt. Democrat convicted? Systemic corruption.

It really is a fact devoid world now. And people will be decrying liberals for the autocracy they put in place. It's...I'm actually looking to retire off North America. Because the American people have shown that they can be made to believe anything. And America has the biggest military spending with the most nukes in the world. Not. Great.

[GreenGoo]

The fact that it said the Democrats should stop with 'Defund the Police' was telling. That hasn't been a thing in years, and never was a real talking point or part of the platform. While a few people embraced it, the Democratic Party itself recognized it as absurd the day it was uttered.

We've been over this. Kurth believes otherwise. If I recall from the last attempt to discuss this, viewpoints existed and facts were viewed through those lens. Facts were agreed to but meaning of those facts was not. Anyway.

My point is not about the specifics of the article, it's that the article is by an attempt to exploit a loss to push an agenda, that really has nothing to do with the loss. It's opportunistic and disingenuous. Just like most political discourse today.

[Blackhawk]

It really is a fact devoid world now. And people will be decrying liberals for the autocracy they put in place. It's...I'm actually looking to retire off North America. Because the American people have shown that they can be made to believe anything.

I agree completely. One of my first comments, post-election, was that this was primarily brought about because, collectively, Americans for various reasons (power, safety, social media, size, decadence, intentional interference) have become too uneducated, uninformed, and unable to think critically. Almost every single other 'reason' that Trump won comes down to us not being able to tell fact from fantasy, and choosing the fantasy.

By the time the frogs realize they've turned on the burner, they'll be on the dinner plate.

[LawBeefaroni]

The party's job is to win elections. That's it. They failed. And they failed against the worst human to every run for the job. Twice. Yes, they won once, but that's almost more damning because it shows it can be done and it's not simply a failing of the education system or whatever else we want to pin it on.

What if 2020 didn't show that it could be done? What if 2020 was just a stupid electorate accidentally doing something that you agreed with? I absolutely believe that we cannot fix this until we understand WHY it happened.

But I'm telling you that it didn't happen because Harris is a bad candidate, or that the party had bad messaging, or that that she ran a bad campaign. I get that you can say "yes she/they did" to all of those things - considering that she lost. I just don't believe that it's true. I don't think there is anything the Democrats could have done to win this election. None of this matters with an apathetic and ignorant voting public that actively seeks out and consumes propaganda, and then believes it uncritically.

There is no candidate you can pick to overcome that. There is no messaging you can go with that will overcome that (they aren't listening). Your ground game doesn't matter. Your money doesn't matter. The Democratic Party will win elections again, but when they do, it will be on accident, not because of anything they did to achieve it.

Pretty much everything that we've been taught about the American Experience is wrong. I don't know whether it's always been wrong, but it's clearly wrong now. This was always the outcome of allowing an uninformed public select its leaders. Worse now that you have propaganda machines dedicated to convincing them that they are actually informed. There's no way out of that without catastrophe.

It's nothing the Harris campaign did wrong, but the party still failed.

I absolutely hate to say this, but I absolutely think it is true: What we can learn from 2016, 2020, and 2024 is that if you're facing a straight, white, male candidate, running anything but a straight, white, male candidate risks losing votes at the margins. The further you deviate from the script, the more votes it will cost you.

Yes, everything else matters too but this is the simplest way to gain/lose votes. Gambling on that now, when this may be the last "normal" election we have, was not wise. Especially considering that this was Trump's last chance.

[Grifman]

The majority of points didn't sound bad to me. However, that doesn't excuse the American people, as the opening is off. TFG isn't "the obligatory" being compared to fascist. He's been called out as being a fascist. Full stop, I've not heard one person say "Oh, he's just like Mussolini." Nope. We have been flat out repeating him saying he wants to be act as an ultranationalist far right authoritarian and we the people are apparently OK with that. Fuck that noise. I'm actually a bit surprised I read on after than, actually.

The points aren't bad, exactly, but it's more operating off of a caricature of the Democrats' platform. To begin with, outside of the farthest of the far left no one thinks that all white men are racist, nor that racism is the cause of all disparities in American society.

But that’s what many people think Democrats believe. To a certain extent, it doesn’t matter when you believe as it is what people think you believe. This is an attempt to push back against some of the negative perceptions that many in the working class have about Democrats, accurate or not.

[Grifman]

[Skinypupy]

I swear, if I hear “Democrats ignored the working class” one more time…

Harris’ platform was built almost entirely around policy that would directly help the working class. Trump’s policies will - barring some sort of miracle - make things worse for them.

The fact the working class and the media decided to completely ignore policy entirely and instead focus on whatever nonsense spewed out of Trump’s pie hole that day because it generates more clicks is the larger problem.

We have now (collectively) proven that we will gladly pull the lever for someone who spews comforting lies that reinforce whatever tribal beliefs are already in place than take an objective look at anything else.

I’ve come around to the belief that it truly doesn’t matter who the Dem nominee was, America wanted Trump and what he offered. That’s not to say there aren’t things Harris could have done better, but I don’t know that it would have made any difference.

This is who we are now.

[El Guapo]

The majority of points didn't sound bad to me. However, that doesn't excuse the American people, as the opening is off. TFG isn't "the obligatory" being compared to fascist. He's been called out as being a fascist. Full stop, I've not heard one person say "Oh, he's just like Mussolini." Nope. We have been flat out repeating him saying he wants to be act as an ultranationalist far right authoritarian and we the people are apparently OK with that. Fuck that noise. I'm actually a bit surprised I read on after than, actually.

The points aren't bad, exactly, but it's more operating off of a caricature of the Democrats' platform. To begin with, outside of the farthest of the far left no one thinks that all white men are racist, nor that racism is the cause of all disparities in American society.

But that’s what many people think Democrats believe. To a certain extent, it doesn’t matter when you believe as it is what people think you believe. This is an attempt to push back against some of the negative perceptions that many in the working class have about Democrats, accurate or not.

The article presents them as policy points. If we're talking about marketing and presentation, that's a different issue.

[Blackhawk]

Democrats didn't ignore the working class.

Democrats failed to effectively communicate with the working class.

[Smoove_B]

I’ve come around to the belief that it truly doesn’t matter who the Dem nominee was, America wanted Trump and what he offered. That’s not to say there aren’t things Harris could have done better, but I don’t know that it would have made any difference.

This is who we are now.

Yes - though I am coming around to "this is who we've always been".

[LordMortis]

Democrats didn't ignore the working class.

Democrats failed to effectively communicate with the working class.

Agreed. Remembering communication requires a sender and receiver. How you get the the receiver to even receive is one question. The other big one is finding a way to cut through "the noise." The answers I thought were on the right track have long been shown to be wrong wrong wrong. At this point I'm not sure I wouldn't be blind to any correctish direction. I didn't even give up right.

Yes - though I am coming around to "this is who we've always been".

Trying to get to that acceptance. I am nowhere near where I need to be.

[Smoove_B]

Agreed. Remembering communication requires a sender and receiver. How you get the the receiver to even receive is one question. The other big one is finding a way to cut through "the noise."

I see you're also a student of Claude Shannon and a man of culture.

[LordMortis]

As someone who watches too much anime since the rot of my nation started to take shape to my vision, I'm not sure if I should distrust your "man of culture" reference.

[Blackhawk]

Democrats had answers for the working class that were factual and had meaning - to people with the background to recognize how economics works, to consider long-term impacts, to recognize that changes have trade offs and take time. Answers that would actually work.

Trump had straightforward answers -"More jobs!", "Lower prices!", "Fewer people taking what you earned!" He backed that up with scapegoats (immigrants, libruls) that fired emotional outrage. He didn't have facts, and most of it won't work. But it was straight to the point and could be grasped immediately.

Again, Americans are no longer educated enough to work through the hard answers. The GOP took advantage of that, while the Democrats were oblivious.

[Smoove_B]

As someone who watches too much anime since the rot of my nation started to take shape to my vision, I'm not sure if I should distrust your "man of culture" reference.

It's not in a meme so you know I'm genuine!

[Zarathud]

Democrats didn't ignore the working class.

Democrats failed to effectively communicate with the working class.

This.

But working class is identity politics. That’s so last century. Trump expanded his audience with Social Media — that’s the bet Elon Musk made with Twitter/X. And why Trump stayed in on Truth. Capture the algorithm, capture the voter.

Democrats can’t afford to rely on radio, TV and cable news.

[LawBeefaroni]

In 2004, Peter Thiel created a NASCAR magazine called American Thunder specifically to propagandize the working class American. He staffed it with conservative intellectuals, not NASCAR people, to influence working class culture. While it only lasted a year, this is the kind of stuff the right was working on. Infiltrating lifestyle and hammering home the conservative message.

And it's important to remember that he got his start when he was hired to be a writer and pundit, along with David Sacks, for Heritage Foundation folk. Their 1998 effort:



Where we are today is decades in the making. We can disagree whether the Democratic Party or the American people failed in 2024. But it's pretty undeniable that losing the long game is 100% on the party.

[WYBaugh]

Was good with reading about the data and graph. If they are accurate, then that's great. Start writing up what the party needs to do based on this person's opinion is some bs.

[waitingtoconnect]

The Shattering of the Democratic Coalition

The Shattering of the Democratic Coalition
It’s time to face the facts.

RUY TEIXEIRA
Nov 07, 2024



Snip

Most of these comments they made were falsely attributed to senior democrats by Maga through lies. And reading this exposes the hypocritically of a lot of liberals that makes people reject them. They obviously want trump policies as well or think the same way he does - they just want to put a politically correct veneer over it.

Take trans rights as commented by the author. Yes they all have rights and yes they do have feelings but because some people are scared of them for no reason they should be told very nicely that they can’t have any rights. Is that much better than trump and maga and will it inspire the population to vote liberal forever? And mass surgical intervention on children is provably not happening and no doctors will do it except where medically necessary. Just like there are no fourth trimester terminations.

Take the fossil fuels comment. Do the author not know the policies the democrats took to the election were exactly what they were saying? That Biden and Harris have approved fossil fuel projects.

Is it possible Liberals lost because of hypocrisy? It’s the small r racism that says minorities can’t be conservative (white savior complex), the small s sexism that says women can’t be conservative (and can’t think for themselves) and the small h homophobia that drives people away.

Liberals got 49% of the vote. The coalition didn’t break at all. It was no major repudiation. Yeah losing hurts but this wasn’t a 1984 style defeat.

Liberals lose most often when they run solely on “we are the least worse option”. Well for a lot of the voters they will happily vote for Evil over Evil junior when you do that.

[waitingtoconnect]

I swear, if I hear “Democrats ignored the working class” one more time…

Harris’ platform was built almost entirely around policy that would directly help the working class. Trump’s policies will - barring some sort of miracle - make things worse for them.

The fact the working class and the media decided to completely ignore policy entirely and instead focus on whatever nonsense spewed out of Trump’s pie hole that day because it generates more clicks is the larger problem.

We have now (collectively) proven that we will gladly pull the lever for someone who spews comforting lies that reinforce whatever tribal beliefs are already in place than take an objective look at anything else.

I’ve come around to the belief that it truly doesn’t matter who the Dem nominee was, America wanted Trump and what he offered. That’s not to say there aren’t things Harris could have done better, but I don’t know that it would have made any difference.

This is who we are now.

We have always been this way… the simpsons voted for a felon too - and the real joke against liberals in this cartoon is that at the post election hq everyone who’s surprised sideshow bob won and is disappointed he won, voted for bob.

[Blackhawk]

Note: I'm going with 'educated' rather than 'intelligent' for a reason, as this is more about education, and I'm not looking to denigrate. And by 'educated', I mean good quality teaching in secondary and/or post-secondary education (roughly grades 7-12 and college.) By 'uneducated' I mean those lacking both quality secondary education and college. 'Uneducated' is not intended as an insult, just as a difference in thought processes.

People tend to explain things the way think about, and understand them. People who are educated have always had a problem with this - when they explain something, they explain it as an educated person, using the thought patterns and terminology that an educated mind uses, and typically don't consider the level of background knowledge that their explanations assume and build on.

For the uneducated, this often comes across completely opaque, because they haven't learned to think that way. The explanations end up making no sense, and they feel like they're being talked over. When the educated try to take that into account and adjust, they often misjudge that adjustment and come across as condescending and insulting.

Those who vote Democrat are, generally speaking, more educated. The general population of the United States generally is less educated.

Democrats trying to speak to the common man (the working class) tend to fall deeply into this trap. They give facts, and assume that the listener will come to the logical conclusion, not realizing that they may not. Or else they talk down to them, alienating them, and setting themselves up as 'elitists.' So while they may have the better message, they fail to convey it, and their attempts are often counterproductive.

And is it any wonder that the US is experiencing a rise of anti-intellectualism? Highly intelligent, educated people are either incomprehensible and have to fall back on 'just trust us to know best', or they're insulting.

My point is, like I said before, that the Democrats didn't ignore the worker, they just failed to communicate with the worker.

Trump, on the other hand, came in with straightforward solutions and promises that sound like he was just rephrasing the workers' concerns as they would have expressed them. That led to a sense of 'he understand me, she insults me.' It's not the only factor, but it's a big one, and it's at the heart of a lot of the other factors (misinformation, irrational solutions, emotional appeals, etc.) The GOP's war on education over the last couple of decades wasn't (at a strategic level) about social issues or religion, it was to create this situation - a working class deprived of the tools to 'know better.'

[Grifman]

It’s kind of hard to beat this:

[Holman]

In the end, I think this election all came down to two things:

1) Inflation, while finally tamed, had accelerated prices over the past four years to a degree that everybody noticed;

and

2) I cannot find an executive/presidential-level administration in a Western democracy that has won re-election by more than a fingernail since Covid, and most have been bounced out decisively.

The bittersweet takeaway here is that I don't believe America actually wants fascism or authoritarianism. They're just pissed and flailing.

Of course those are the conditions that actually produce fascism, so...

[Zarathud]

The manner you communicate is often more important than the message, as my uneducated but smart mom reminds me. Trump communicates little — but talks in marketing speak: I’m the best, they’re the worst. That takes little thought to analyze and accept, despite it being contradictory bullshit.

Wendy’s has an advertising campaign for $1 Coke and other soda. It’s still overpriced sugar water, but the message is ”it’s a deal.” The burger is likely still expensive, but it appeals as a discount. Marketing. That’s what Trump achieved, not any policy success or real mandate.

JD Vance is unlikely to be as successful shilling it in 4 years, but MAGA has plenty of shady opportunists to help him if Democrats don’t change tactics and talk differently.

[Kraken]

In the end, I think this election all came down to two things:

1) Inflation, while finally tamed, had accelerated prices over the past four years to a degree that everybody noticed;

and

2) I cannot find an executive/presidential-level administration in a Western democracy that has won re-election by more than a fingernail since Covid, and most have been bounced out decisively.

The bittersweet takeaway here is that I don't believe America actually wants fascism or authoritarianism. They're just pissed and flailing.

Of course those are the conditions that actually produce fascism, so...

I was about to post your point #1: Prices in general rose 20% in three years, and housing shortages plus high mortgage rates have taken homeownership off the table in most of the country. Voters simply punished the party in power for that. You say the whole world experienced the same inflation and the US came out of it faster and stronger than anyone else? Americans don't care about the rest of the world. Voters vote their feelings.

My #2 would be the Israeli genocide in Palestine and Biden's inability to rein in Netanyahu, plus the perpetually losing war in Ukraine. The world feels dangerous and Americans want a strongman.

#3 is trump's ineffable Svengali character, to which there is no counter. If Americans simply decide they want the Bad Boy, as too many did, a good girl won't change their minds. Democrats will recover just fine when trump is gone and the GOP starts running normal politicians again.