Since the 2024 election, three distinct explanations have been given for why Democrats lost the White House and both houses of Congress, and why they remain unpopular with voters.
Moderates say the party went woke on migration, race, and LGBT issues. A Democratic pollster called the party’s orthodoxy “noticeably out of step with what was electorally optimal or viable.” His firm found undecided voters broke for Trump 52 to 38, with five of their top eight stated reasons involving immigration.
Progressives say the party failed to deliver a populist economic message. A Sanders-aligned autopsy found that the Kamala Harris campaign courted suburban Republicans while ignoring working-class voters, and that strong populist economic messages outperformed democracy-threat messages among Pennsylvania blue-collar voters, 57% to 45%.
