Democrats need to understand being relatable is more important than being right

When you look at the breadth of President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, it’s impossible to pin Democratic losses on just one or two things. This is not a situation where the outcome would have been different if President Biden had done X or Vice President Kamala Harris had done Y.

In fact, had both Biden and Harris done everything “right,” Trump likely still would have won. The culprit for the Democratic Party’s sweeping losses is bigger than any one particular candidate.

In 2016, I left the Republican Party and became a Democrat. In many ways, I feel as if the GOP left me rather than the other way around.

But over the eight years since, I’ve often observed that Democrats approach elections — and communicating with voters — through a lens of how they think the world should be, rather than meeting them in the world as it actually is.

The majority of the electorate doesn’t exist in the bubble world of big city, progressive politics. The majority of voters have more in common with the WWE universe than they do the Democratic Party. The majority of parents have watched more episodes of “Bluey” than segments on cable news. More young voters have watched a Mr. Beast video than a political ad.

You have to meet people where they are.

The voters that the Democrats lost this cycle are more likely to be found at a Morgan Wallen or Luke Combs concert than at a political rally. The voters we need to come back are listening to Joe Rogan, not to “Pod Save America.” They are watching “Yellowstone,” not “Succession.” They are more concerned with making it to carpool pick-up in time than they are with fighting for the “soul of our nation.”

You have to put yourselves in the footsteps of the voters, what their day-to-day life experience is actually like.

Imagine a typical parent’s day. Wake up at 6 a.m., get the kids up, get them fed and ready for school so they’re out the door at 7:15 a.m. and at carpool drop-off by 7:30 a.m. Then your day begins — maybe it’s work, maybe it’s a grocery store run because they kids have eaten all the snacks in two days, then it’s a run to Michaels to get the materials for the bird project that’s due on Thursday, time for lunch, get some work in, plan the holiday travel or the birthday party, set up a play date for the kids, and then it’s time to pick up the kids from school, get them home, get them a snack, get them started doing homework, get dinner started, play with them, clean up dinner, get them bathed, get bedtimes going ... and then it starts all over again.

Now imagine living through that and, at some point in your day, being lectured about how “democracy is on the line,” so you need to vote Democrat. Do you really think that message resonates in any way with a parent who just went through that routine?

When people say they think Democrats are out of touch with Americans, this is what they’re really talking about. It’s less about a specific policy debate than it is about relating to their lived experiences.

Of the Democrats who worked on the 2024 election cycle, how many of them spent time in an ecosystem that was outside of their own comfort zone? How many of them went to a country music concert or a WWE live event? How many of them know who Mr. Beast and Bluey are? How many of them know what it’s like to raise young kids in the social media era?

Elections are about two things: Getting your side out to vote and convincing enough people who might disagree with you to see things your way, this one time. The only way to do that successfully is to step outside of yourself, outside your own bubble and see the world through other people’s lenses.

To have a hope of changing anyone’s mind, you cannot judge them, you cannot blame them, you cannot attack them, you cannot present yourself as superior to them.

Some Democrats will read this and think every word is wrong — that the problem isn’t them, that it’s the voters, the media, bad actors and misinformation. That our policies are right and that the American people voted against their own best-interests.

Here’s the thing — all of that could be right, but it doesn’t actually matter. That’s what the powers-that-be in the Democratic Party need to understand. Being relatable is far more powerful than being right.

Kurt Bardella is a NewsNation political contributor.