Five days after a disastrous election, Democrats on Sunday were still grappling with their increasing disconnection from working-class Americans.
“The reason we didn’t win, ultimately, is we didn’t listen enough to people on the ground,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
Like Phillips, he noted that the Democratic Party needs to be more inclusive of outside perspectives.
Among voters who never attended college, Trump won, 59 percent to 40 percent, according to AP Votecast.
“When progressives like Bernie aggressively go after the elites that hold people down, they are shunned as dangerous populists,” Murphy wrote on X.
Democrats were still struggling on Sunday with their growing alienation from working-class Americans, five days after a resounding election.
In addition to dismissing issues like the economy and border security, the few Democrats who decided to go on the Sunday show circuit provided some answers, citing identity politics and an anti-Donald Trump message as ineffectual.
“We ultimately lost because we didn’t pay enough attention to those on the ground,” Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif. D. stated on Sunday’s episode of CBS’s “Face the Nation.”. Individuals enjoy [Reps. The D-Pa, Chris Deluzio. Pat Ryan, [D-N. Yep. “Talk about the economy, talk about people’s economic struggles, and persuade people that you have better policies and a better vision,” they were saying. ‘”.
Those with a track record of intra-party criticism, such as Khanna, who joined Congress by unseating a longtime incumbent from his Silicon Valley seat, were conspicuously absent from the Sunday morning shows.
Rep. Phillips, Dean (D-Minn. said on Sunday that Democrats erred in concentrating their entire argument on defeating Trump. He is one of the few Democrats to challenge President Joe Biden in the Democratic primary.
In a Fox News Sunday interview, Phillips stated, “If that becomes our main focus, we’re going to lose forever because that’s exactly, I think, what we’ve done wrong.”. We have contrasted invitations to Donald Trump supporters with denunciations of Trump. No political or professional sector that I’m aware of uses a condemnation strategy more effectively than an invitation. “”.
Sen also happens to be around the same time as the Sunday shows. D-Conn. Chris Murphy. became one of the first Democratic senators to share his thoughts on what went wrong, writing on X, “We don’t listen enough; we tell people what’s good for them.”. He agreed with Phillips that the Democratic Party should be more open to outside viewpoints.
Murphy stated in the post, “Our tentpole should be real economic populism.”. But here’s the thing: you have to allow those who don’t agree with us on all social and cultural issues, including those involving guns and the climate, to enter the tent. “.”.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt. ), who frequently criticizes the party from outside but is not a Democrat, wrote an opinion piece in the Boston Globe on Sunday stating that Democrats must choose between the working class and the elites.
Sanders stated in the opinion piece, “I believe the Democrats lost this election because they became the defenders of a rigged political and economic system and ignored the legitimate ire of working class America.”.
In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning, Sanders reaffirmed the assertion, pointing out that many members of the working class no longer believe that Democrats are standing up for them.
“As a working-class individual, do you truly believe that the Democratic Party is going to the extreme, battling for you against strong special interests?” Sanders asked in the interview. “I believe the overwhelming response is no. “”.
Voter surveys and exit polls indicate that among voters with lower incomes and educational attainment, Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris. AP Votecast reports that Trump won by a margin of 59 percent to 40 percent among voters who had never attended college. By a vote of 56 percent to 42 percent, college graduates supported Harris.
Similarly, voters who make $100,000 or more annually, who comprise approximately one-third of the electorate, favored Harris by an 8-point margin, while those who earn less tended to lean slightly in favor of Trump.
Murphy offered his thoughts on how Democrats should listen to more people, but he also pointed out that the party’s current coalition may be the source of a deeper problem given the way Sanders’ criticisms were dismissed.
Murphy wrote on X, “Progressives like Bernie are viewed as dangerous populists when they aggressively target the elites that keep people down.”. “Maybe because our high-income base suffers from true economic populism. “.”.
