Recently I wrote a story here criticizing Markos that, among other things, noted that Bernie Sanders is not only the most popular politician in America but his support is strongest among women and people of color, and those who claim otherwise are fomenting more divisiveness with their absurd demagoguery. Now the latest Washington Post/ABC poll shows that more people believe the Democrats are out of touch with the what concerns Americans than either President Trump or the Republican party.
Only 1 in 10 of those who voted for Trump in November think he’s out of touch — but 90 percent of Hillary Clinton voters do. Partisan views are slightly more moderate, with 20 percent of Republicans and 87 percent of Democrats holding that position.
When it comes to the Republican Party, the numbers are a bit worse. Sixty-two percent of Americans, and 30 percent of Republicans themselves, think that the GOP is out of touch with the concerns of most people in the United States. [...]
But none of this means that Democrats are seen as echoing the concerns of the common man. In fact, the Democratic Party is viewed as more out of touch than either Trump or the party’s political opponents. Two-thirds of Americans think the Democrats are out of touch — including nearly half of Democrats themselves.
Trump came in at 58% out of touch, the GOP at 62% and the Democrats 67 percent. That should be troubling all Democrats. Here’s how it breaks down based on demographics (graphic from the Washington Post):
Considering that 75% of Independents consider Democrats out of touch (only 68% of Indies rate the GOP as out of touch), a higher number than third party voters, and that 44% of Democrats agree believe their party is out of touch with the concerns of Americans (much higher than the number of Republicans who think their party is off the rails — 30 percent) should disturb anyone who claims they want to advance progressive policies and positions. Or you know, elect more and better Democrats.
Blaming Sanders, independents, third party voters, racism, sexism, Russia, etc. for the Democratic Party’s failure to win elections is sheer delusional thinking. It certainly hasn’t resonated with the American public. Maybe those who believe the Democratic Party is just fine as it is need to pull their heads out of the sand. When Democratic leaders and mouthpieces in the media (and I include Markos and many of the prominent front pagers here at DKOS here) attack Sanders, who a large majority of Americans view as the most popular politician in the country they are behaving badly, and being disingenuous, divisive and counter-productive. The country wants the policies, such as single payer health care and a higher minimum wage Sanders promotes by large margins.
If the Democrats believe they can simply take back the Senate of the House in 2018 merely by relying upon their standard lesser of two evils approach to selecting candidates, they will fail miserably. Because as this poll reveals most Americans don’t trust Democrats, or at least the status quo Democrats the party keeps running as candidates for Congress. Democrats either can learn from history or they can fool themselves because denial is easier than accepting the truth.
And the truth is that most of America is just not that into the current status quo Democratic party, its agenda, and its failures to adopt and advocate strongly for the policies that the majority of Americans want rather than just pay lip service to them. Policies that progressives who supported Sanders, not because of his innate charismatic personality but because he has a long history of advocating avidly for a progressive agenda, want to see more Democrats run on.
Bashing Sanders, Gabbard, and other progressive voices is not working people. Its alienating potential voters among all demographics and making them less enthusiastic to vote for the “same old, same old” that the Democrats have been offering since the DLC and its follow on organizations (including “liberal think tanks”) assumed control of the party, its electoral strategies and the policies it supports (as opposed to claiming to support). Democrats can either change or die. Until the party realizes it needs to change by abandoning their corporate donors and embracing a true grass roots progressive strategy to win elections, it will continue it long accelerating decline into irrelevance.