Saving a democracy that has delivered diminishing returns for 50 years—and is widely seen as rigged on behalf of the 1 percent—is not as compelling as the political class thinks.
Democratic Party officials, activists, and donors have finally decided to start paying attention to the voters they’ve lost. It’s about time. With a 27 percent approval rating, Democrats are about as popular as a vegan hot dog at a rodeo cookout.
The disaffected include Latinos, blacks, Native Americans, Asian Americans, the non-college-educated, young and old, urban and rural, all of whom are either long lost to Democrats or more recently have been trending away. On Pod Save America, Dan Pfeiffer prognosticated that if the current staggering loss of Latino voters continues, “there is no path to Democrats winning elections.” Texas Representative Greg Casar, chair of the Progressive Caucus, called the loss of working-class voters an “existential issue.” They’re right, and that’s why paying attention to rural Americans, 70 percent of whom don’t have college degrees, is not optional.
A mere 3 percent shift in the rural vote would be game-changing for Democrats. But if they want to win the reality show that American politics has become, they need to make to at least five changes in how they communicate:
- Listen to the voters, not the consultants
Democrats have a bad habit of ignoring what voters tell them—listening instead to party insiders, billionaire donors, and professional consultants. Voters told them Joe Biden was too old. They said they saw Democrats as “obsessed with LGBT transgender issues” and “lacking a real economic plan.” They complained that middle-class taxes were too high, that corporations were screwing them, and that they had to work multiple jobs to make ends meet. They said they were more worried about the end of the month than the end of democracy. But the powers that be insisted that one more reminder that “Trump is very very very bad” would finally do the trick.
Democrats can call it fascism or authoritarianism all they want, and they won’t get an argument from half the country. But voters have made it clear that they want Democrats to Make America Affordable Again, not go after the “mad king” for the umpteenth time. Saving a democracy that has delivered diminishing returns for the past 50 years—and is widely seen as rigged by both parties on behalf of the 1 percent—is not as compelling as the Democratic political class presumes it to be.
Current Issue
Democrats need to start taking advice from people who spend most of their time hanging out with ordinary Americans. Polls and focus groups are useful but no substitute for people who live and breathe un-rarefied air every day of the week.
The need for messaging professionals could be minimized if the party recruited depolarizing, down-to-earth candidates who speak to everyday concerns and can communicate just fine without having to poll-test every word out of their mouths. People like Nebraska independent Dan “paycheck populist” Osborne, former Alaska congresswoman Mary “to hell with politics” Peltola, and Senator Raphael Warnock, whose humble-servant authenticity is seldom seen in the vipers’ den.
These candidates performed, respectively, eight, seven and three percentage points better than Harris in 2024, and working-class voters, including Republicans are drawn to them. They appreciate that these politicians and others, like Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Gretchen (“fix the damn roads”) Whitmer, are genuinely “for” something and do not reflexively attack all things Trump.
- Talk more about working people and less about MAGA
The way most folks see it, they’ve worked hard and played by the rules—but are still falling further and further behind. Calling Trump a fascist is just a jousting game for elites and a distraction from what really matters.
What really matters? The right to repair farm equipment, the subsidization of corporations instead of small farms and businesses, the soaring cost of health insurance and housing.
Most Americans are exhausted by partisan mudslinging and Chicken Little proclamations that the end is nigh. This “exhausted majority” constitutes 67 percent of the population. They resent politicians who seem more interested in scoring political points than making life better for people like them
- Talk like a neighbor
Politicians and activists lecture, use 10-dollar words like “oligarchy” (sorry, Bernie!), and repeat partisan-coded slogans like “MAGA murder budget.” Neighbors are plainspoken, fluent in local issues, and sparing with hyperbole and insults, even toward the super-rich.
Lukewarm Trump supporters often say, “Give him a chance, let’s wait and see.” That may sound nuts to diehard Democrats, but it’s common sense to less partisan types. Honor that attitude by saying something like this: “Trump came in with a lot of big ideas for fixing a broken system and a lot of us here took a ‘wait and see’ approach. Now that he’s half a year in, what I’m seeing is that a lot of those same folks who gave him a fair shot are doing worse off. The billionaires, they’re doing better than ever but, for people living paycheck to paycheck, hard work doesn’t pay off the way it should. Trump had his chance, but I’m ready to move on.”
This is what it means to meet voters where they’re at (uncertain) instead of where we wish they were at (tuned in to The Nation Podcast).
- Make it clear that the big tent has room for white guys
Politics isn’t just about which candidate you like; it’s about which candidate likes you. Nearly nine years after Hillary Clinton blew up her campaign by deploring half of all Trump supporters, I’m still seeing endless flogging of whiteness, maleness, and rural rage. The trafficking in categorical condemnation has become so irksome that I can’t get through my inbox without groaning so despairingly my husband rushes in to make sure I’m okay. Like this Democratic political consultant with the laziest and most antagonizing hot take imaginable:
Popular
“swipe left below to view more authors”Swipe →
This vice is perpetrated mostly by progressive influencers, not Democratic politicians, but Democrats pay a sanctimony penalty for the broader liberal left’s contempt for disfavored groups.
- Refresh, reuse, and recycle the New Deal.
Populism is popular, and when Democrats shrink from it, they cede it to JD Vance and Josh Hawley. Writer Freddie DeBoer dredged up some populist messaging and policy ideas from the New Deal era. With a little freshening up, they are exactly what rural and working folks are looking for: the promise of a government that looks out for all ordinary people.
Another populist essential is calling out the racial scapegoating divide-and-conquer playbook. In a 2018 rural survey, three-quarters agreed with this statement: “Instead of delivering for working people, politicians hand kickbacks to their donors who send jobs overseas. Then they turn around and blame new immigrants or people of color, to divide and distract us from the real source of our problems.”
Defusing the divide-and-conquer dynamic also requires that liberals quit issuing reflexive broadsides against whites, males, and “rednecks.” As the protest chant goes, “The people, united, will never be defeated.” But the people, divided by social media influencers who traffic in divisive blather, are sitting ducks for MAGA 3.0.
More from
Erica Etelson
Taking away healthcare coverage isn’t just “morally wrong and politically suicidal,” in Senator Josh Hawley’s apt phrase. It’s also putting pressure on rural members of Congress.
Erica Etelson
Taking away healthcare coverage isn’t just “morally wrong and politically suicidal,” in Senator Josh Hawley’s apt phrase. It’s also putting pressure on rural members of Congress.
Erica Etelson
The greater Bozeman, Montana, region has become ground zero for rampant luxury development that is taking the “public” out of public lands.
Erica Etelson
As recent events bear out, when Thomas Frank lamented, “We’ll have to drag the Democrats kicking and screaming to victory” in 2017, if anything he was understating the challenge.
Column
/
Erica Etelson
Working- and middle-class Americans take pride in their work. If Democrats want to win their votes, they need to acknowledge and appeal to that pride, not dismiss or patronize it….
Column
/
Erica Etelson
What tone-deaf liberals can’t hear in Rich Men North of Richmond.
Erica Etelson