Any political party that wants to thrive should have a vigorous internal debate about its philosophy and policy. But the closing weeks of a potentially transformative election may not be the best time for that. The ideal time is soon after the votes have been counted. In her article, “Democratic Hand-Wringing About the Party’s ‘Brand’ Is Misplaced” at The Contrarian, Jennifer Rubin shares her views about the focus Dems need to win the midterm elections:
You’ve heard it over and over again from establishment, hand-wringing Democrats: ‘The Democratic brand stinks.’ What follows is often a rant about how the left is making life difficult for centrists to win, which is a tip the “analysis” about the party’s reputation might be tainted by sectarian self-interest. That is actually just wrong — and politically dumb.
For starters, it’s a mindset trapped in 2024 when, let’s face it, Vice President Kamala Harris (or the Biden presidency, if you prefer) was a drag on the party around the country across multiple demographic groups, resulting in a Republican trifecta victory. (When you see how far above that floor that Democrats are now running, you can see the magnitude of the 2024 campaign’s failure.) But that was almost two years ago. Democrats’ “brand” is not where it was then.
“When asked which political party they think is more in touch with the concerns of most people in the United States, 46 percent of voters think the Democratic Party, 35 percent think the Republican Party, and 13 percent volunteer that there is no difference,” Quinnipiac pollsters found.
Meanwhile, party identification has soared, rising to a 10-point advantage. “As recently as 2024, Republicans and Independents who lean toward the Republican Party held a slight edge over Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents,” the New York Times reported. However, Democrats now are situated similarly to where they were in “the final quarter of the 2018 midterm cycle, when nearly 49 percent of Americans identified as Democrats. That year, the Democratic Party gained more than 40 seats in the House.” Don’t expect that many House seat pickups, thanks to MAGA re-redistricting, but the shifts in Democrats’ favor have nevertheless been enormous, especially among Hispanics and young voters. In contrast to 2024, when Republicans had a 1-point advantage with young voters, Democrats now lead by 16 points, while Democrats’ edge with Hispanics “has increased by nine percentage points over the same period.”
For a supposedly cruddy “brand,” Democrats are doing fairly well. Since 2024, Democrats have actually surged, overperforming in state races, special elections, and primary turnout. And the midterm map continues to expand for Democrats.
The brand grousers will come back and say: Yeah, but Democrats have to keep defending themselves against accusations that they are communists, obsessed with transgender Americans, or are weak on border security. Really?! Waiting for Republicans to stop making baseless accusations or for legacy media to stop parroting those claims is a fool’s errand. Politics in an era of a Republican Party unbound by truth or decency necessitates confronting daily the propaganda and hysteria generated by a MAGA cult for whom demonization, dehumanization, and distortion are second nature. The best campaigners (e.g., Pete Buttigieg, Texas Senate nominee James Talarico, or Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff) dispense with specious arguments and strategically pivot to attack Republicans as corrupt puppets of foreign actors and proponents of crony capitalism, not free markets — among other assaults on our democracy…expecting voters to express undiluted confidence in their party is unrealistic, to put it mildly
Arguing that Democrats should know how they want to govern as a party only after being elected has got to be the most illogical thing one can think of.
We have been down this road before too many times.
Democrats boycotting Bill Clinton and failing to pass healthcare reform after 2 years of debate.
Democrats boycotting Bill Clinton and barely passing half the healthcare reforms needed and then only at the cost of a delayed implementation schedule and also after 2 years of debate.
Democrats boycotting Joe Biden and failing to pass 90% of the plans they spent almost two years debating.
The public may not pay attention to legislative procedure, but the bad headlines from congressional deadlock (even when Democrats have had congressional supermajorities) is incredibly damaging.
Even regarding midterm elections, it makes sense for Democrats at least some least common denominator ideas of what they would push for (and against) in the House and Senate.
Having presidential primaries be the only forum where Democrats have ideological debates is probably harmful to the party.
Late debates with high stakes contribute to the internal polarization inside the party.
They may also create opening for third party candidates/parties and justify abstention by sorry losers.
It is not surprising that this kind of short term thinking comes not from a commited Democrat, but from a Stop Trump Republican.
Anyone committed to restore some sort of “Permanent Democratic Majority” should refrain from following advice from someone who is nowhere near to be aligned ideologically with the party.
The Stop Trump Republicans have failed inside both parties. Voters consistently reject the notion that “restoring” democracy is what the country needs.
Voters are tired of platitudes.
Yes, Senate, House, state and local candidates should spend less effort addressing the problems with candidates in other jurisdictions, but this just means they should be clear of what they want the party to govern like and how they want to contribute to that.
Sometimes creating the distinction with candidates (and pundits) far away is the easiest and most efficient to clarify things, specially what one is against.
The notion that other candidates should be off limits is incredibly contradictory. It is the kind of thinking that has sustained Trump lackeys and enablers even as his actions continue crossing ethical boundaries.