Since the election last year, we’ve witnessed fight after internal fight about what liberals and the Democratic Party should do next. It seems like the one topic where everyone seems to have an opinion. This is a good thing because it means people are involved and engaged.
I’ve written before that many people who voted for Trump voted for him because they thought he was going to fight for the little guy.
I’ll take this fight with a billionaire any day.
Recent polling confirms this view and provides some suggestions about what fights to pick and what doesn’t work.
Before diving into the data, I want to emphasize that any conversations you have depend on your audience. You can have very different conversations with liberals than you can with conservatives than you can with independents.
There isn’t a single magic message that is going to win everything for the Democratic Party. This is not how politics tends to work, but it’s a common misconception: All we need to do is just find that perfect message (or policy platform).
What’s more important is to convince people that you have a vision of better, and that you’re going to fight for them.
This said, polling data can help prioritize fights, especially if you can confirm with the people you know. The results from this poll fit with my recent conversations across the political spectrum.
Attacks that don’t work outside the liberalsphere
Temperament. Attacking Trump for his volatility and or temper tend not to work outside of our liberal bubble. Many people interpret his anger as a sign that he’s going to fight for them.
Lack of experience. Many people outside of the liberalsphere like that Trump lacks experience. This makes him an outsider. People I’ve talked to often cite his business experience as a benefit and they’re willing to give him a chance on the economy.
Calling out lies. People outside of the liberalsphere tend to think that all politicians lie. This just tends to turn into an unproductive conversation about who lies most: Republicans or Democrats.
Conservatives and many independents brush off the above as “attacks.” As pollster Celinda Lake said, “People do think he’s bringing about change, so it’s hard to say he hasn’t kept his promises.”
This fits with the conversations I’ve had with conservatives and independents. It can seem frustrating though, because things that I value aren’t seen as valid by some of the audiences I talk with.
The trick is: Know your audience. Uphold your values and beliefs but when you talk to people who may not be where you are, you may have to demonstrate your values and beliefs differently.
Issues that work with the liberal base (but don’t tend to elsewhere)
Free college tuition. This is great to talk about with millennials and our own base because we believe in the value of a college education and we also tend to understand the insane costs for average families. Outside of the base, it doesn’t work so well. Politico explains it this way:
The call for free college tuition fosters both resentment at ivory tower elitism and regret from people who have degrees but are now buried under debt. Many voters see “free” as a lie — either they’ll end up paying for tuition some other way, or worse, they’ll be paying the tuition of someone else who’ll be getting a degree for free.
When conservatives say “big government” what they often mean is this idea of government run by college elites. Free college tuition is not an issue that resonates well outside our base.
Multiculturalism. Again, when we want to fire up our base, great conversation. It should come as no surprise, however, that outside of our base, people tend to hate these issues. If you’re talking to conservatives, you’re probably never going to convince them to fight with you against racism or misogyny or homophobia. We want to have these fights but remember your audience. If you don’t know your audience, push a little to see what interests them.
Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. This resonates with our base. Outside of our base many people see this number as too high. Polling suggest that talking with people about a living wage is a better idea. Personally, I often say it should be $25 an hour (closer to where it would be if wages had risen with productivity) and then dial it back.
All of these issues tend to resonate with the liberal base (so they’re good topics for this audience). Keep in mind your audience, however, in any conversations.
What works
Health care is a bright spot for Democrats. Obamacare is more popular now that Obama is not president. Polling data also shows that voters trust Democrats more by double digits on the issue.
Polling also shows that Democrats are ahead by 17 points on the question of who “fights for people like me.”
For these reasons, I’d keep picking the fight on health care. One, we win on health care. Two, Republicans hate talking about health care because their only solution is to take it away from some people so that it costs less for others (all of their solutions are geared towards the top 20 percent of America, not any of the working-class people who voted for Trump). And three, people want to vote for politicians who will fight for them.
One note of caution: We have a tendency to get caught up in policy details and fight among ourselves.
For example, people attack Bernie and his fight for single payer as unrealistic, Jonathan Chait being the most notable recent example. While he makes a good point that policy is important, Chait is missing the forest for the trees.
Politics is about emotion. What’s important is that people see Bernie and Democrats as fighting for them. As someone posted in response to Chait’s article:
Bernie's job is to get out there in the country and establish that universal access to health care is what people really want, not to hash out all the mechanics of a single-payer system. Charting the details is for the experts. The leader of a movement is not the Wonk in Chief.
Policy discussions are fine so long as we don’t lose sight of the fact that we’re all on the same side pushing for better healthcare solutions. Republicans aren’t.
If you want to build a big movement, pick a big fight.
— Derek Cressman, author When Money Talks: The High Price of “Free” Speech and the Selling of Democracy
What’s important is that we pick a fight and that we show we’re fighting for everyone. Health care is an easy way to show that Democrats fight for everyone.
Kudos to all who who have fought and continue to fight the healthcare fight.
David Akadjian is the author of The Little Book of Revolution: A Distributive Strategy for Democracy (ebook now available).