Further bolstering the post-election
argument that U.S. working-class voters have ditched the Democratic Party because they feel abandoned by Democrats, a Tuesday analysis details why Vice President Kamala Harris lost to Republican President-elect Donald Trump.
The report by Data for Progress, a left-leaning think tank, uses dozens of national surveys of likely voters conducted throughout 2024 to back up assertions that the party needs to improve its messaging and policies targeting working people if Democrats want to win future U.S. elections, after losing the White House and both chambers of Congress last month.
Data for Progress found that before Democratic President Joe Biden passed the torch to Harris this summer following a disastrous debate performance against Trump, "voters were highly concerned about his age, and swing voters overwhelmingly cited it as the main reason they wouldn't vote for Biden."
"Voters were also deeply unsatisfied with Biden's economy," the 40-page report states. "A strong majority perceived the economy as getting worse for people like them, with more than 3 in 4 consistently reporting they were paying more for groceries. Voters blamed Biden more than any other person or group for U.S. economic conditions."
"While voters across party lines strongly supported Biden's populist economic policies, many were not aware that his administration had enacted them," the document details. "When Harris entered the race, her favorability surged, along with Democrats' and Independents' enthusiasm for voting in the election."
However, "on the economy—voters' top issue—Harris struggled to escape Biden's legacy. Half of voters said that Harris would mostly continue the same policies as Biden, leading swing state voters to prefer Trump on handling inflation," Data for Progress explained. This, despite
warnings from economic justice advocates and Nobel Prize-winning economists that Harris' plan for the economy was "vastly superior" to the Trump agenda.
"Harris was effective at communicating to voters that she supported increasing taxes on billionaires, but struggled to break through with other aspects of her popular economic agenda," the think tank noted. "Most voters heard only 'a little' or 'nothing at all' about her plans to crack down on corporate price gouging, protect Social Security and Medicare, and lower the price of groceries, prescription drugs, and childcare."
The report on "why Trump beat Harris" also highlights that "beyond the economy, Democrats struggled mightily on immigration and foreign policy, with a surge of border crossings at the end of 2023 and major international conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine damaging trust in Biden and Harris on these issues."
"While Democrats had some success breaking through on their stronger issues—abortion and democracy—they struggled with these issues being less important to voters, and with the fact that many voters were unsure of Trump's support for Project 2025," the document adds, referencing the Heritage Foundation-led playbook crafted for the next Republican president.
Although billionaire-backed Trump is a well-documented liar expected to now implement a series of right-wing Project 2025 policies, the former reality television star has demonstrated an ability to capture attention via traditional press and newer media, launching his Truth Social platform, appearing on various podcasts, and reportedly taking advice from his 18-year-old son about reaching young people.
Data for Progress observed that "while Harris held an advantage with voters who regularly consume political news, those who consume little or no political news—a group that disproportionately consumes content on social media—supported Harris at much lower rates."
As the think tank concluded:
Broadly, these findings indicate that the Democratic Party needs to do far more work to break through to voters—particularly those who are politically disengaged—on the economy. Democrats' economically populist agenda is overwhelmingly popular, but they need to more clearly communicate it to voters and engage in more robust communications. Earlier this year, President Biden declined the traditional pre-Super Bowl interview for the second year in a row, when 123 million Americans tuned in—the most-watched Super Bowl in history. In fact, Biden will leave office having done the fewest number of press conferences among recent presidents. Even when Harris took over the top of the ticket in July, she waited weeks before doing her first major broadcast interview in late August. Democrats need to do the basics of actively communicating their agenda to the American people, including through non-traditional media to reach disengaged voters. Voters crave authenticity and engagement, which they found in Trump.
Democrats also need to more actively demonstrate to voters that they are the party of change. They need to show voters that they are capable of fixing our country's immigration system and foreign conflicts by taking a serious but humane approach to border security and supporting popular solutions to conflicts abroad.
"By branding itself as an active party of economic populism that fights for needed changes for the working class," the group stressed, "the Democratic Party can put itself in a position to regain the support of the voters it lost in 2024."
Echoing that conclusion in a Tuesday statement, Data for Progress executive director Danielle Deiseroth declared that "this report should serve as a clarion call to Democrats who let a billionaire con man outflank them on cost-of-living issues."
"Voters are tired of the status quo, one in which the ultrarich and largest corporations rake in record profits while working families struggle to afford groceries," she said. "If Democrats want to take back Congress, they need to recruit candidates who can buck the unpopular establishment and authentically communicate to the communities they seek to represent."
Progressives in Congress—such as Sen.
Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020; "Squad" members like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.); and Congressional Progressive Caucus leaders, including outgoing Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and incoming Chair Greg Casar (D-Texas)—have long made that same point, but they have been particularly vocal about it after the devastating federal electoral losses in November.
On Tuesday, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) narrowly
defeated Ocasio-Cortez to lead Democrats on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee in the next congressional session—a contest that was widely seen as a proxy fight between the party's younger, more progressive faction and the establishment that couldn't win over voters last month.
