I‘ve made this poll because after every considerable defeat a party and their aligned pundits and analysts try to turn inwards and interpret the loss in a way that best suits their preferences. So a progressive Washington Post columnists or Bernie Sanders are naturally inclined to argue that the Democratic platform wasn’t economically left-leaning enough while more moderate voices will criticize how Democrats have steadily moved to the left on economics and social issues after Al Gore lost in 2000.
I fall into the latter camp. I have no doubt that America would choose Donald Trump over Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren every time. America is a center-right country. A center-right candidate could’ve won an actual landslide in this cycle, Trump, however, won by meagre 2% of the popular vote.
People voted for him not because they thought Harris was economically too moderate, they voted for Trump who‘s agenda was built around comprehensive tax cuts, deregulation, endorsed and funded by prominent and popular billionaires such as Elon Musk and Trump, in fact, ran on reducing the size of the government (except for the DoD budget) so the cuts will automatically affect the level of social spending. He ran on repealing Biden‘s climate legislation and he certainly didn’t promise more public spending on welfare or a higher minimum wage.
Americans still opted for him. They approved of his ideas and disapproved of the Democratic alternative.
It‘s time to realize that the Democratic Party should return to the successful triangulation of the 1990s under Bill Clinton, reclaim the center and restore their credentials for sound economic management in the eyes of the public.
