"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts."
Abraham Lincoln
Perhaps the greatest problem facing the Democrats is that they have not be able to connect voters in such a way as to be able "to bring them the real truth".
Like or not, the conservative Republicans, and in particular, lately, the Tea Party, are extremely effective in their ability to deliver messages that resonate with their core group of supporters and those supporters consistently vote. They liken themselves to the group who fought and won independence from England. But their rhetoric is much closer to the political leaders in the Southern States in the years leading up to the Civil War.
Those men, primarily slave-holding plantation owners looking to not just maintain the "status-quo", but increase their own personal wealth at the direct expense of others, were able to convince poor white non-slaveholders that fighting for and maintaining slavery was beneficial for all whites, even thought that was certainly not true. They were also able to convince their fellow citizens that the Federal Government was intent upon not only usurping States' rights, but individual right as well.
Now, conservative Republicans and the Tea Party have convinced their supporters that any programs put forth by this President and/or the Democrats will do more harm than good, will take away State and individual rights. Sadly, some of their most ardent supporters are not the wealthiest nor in the upper classes. The very programs they have been told to oppose are the very programs which they might find themselves needing one day.
We must, like Lincoln, reach out to all people, regardless of political beliefs and find the way "to bring them the real facts."