The Democratic Party is not dead yet

On Saturday, Feb. 1, the Democratic Nation Committee chose a new party chairperson, Minnesota’s Ken Martin. Martin, the longtime head of the state's Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, promised to be an aggressive national leader.

“This is a new DNC,” he said. “We’re taking the gloves off. I’ve always viewed my role as a chair of the Democratic Party to take the low road, so my candidates and elected officials can take the high road, meaning, I’m going to throw a punch.”

But throwing a punch may not be enough for a party many people think has lost its way.

President Trump’s narrow but decisive victory in the November election, along with the Republican victory in both the House and Senate, have caused a serious crisis of confidence in the Democratic Party. Recent polling only makes matters worse. But neither they nor the November election results spell doom for the Democrats. Rather, they point to the need for a serious internal assessment and some alterations in the party’s message.

A recent Quinnipiac poll found voters evenly divided as to the Republican Party (43 percent favorable versus 45 percent unfavorable), but astoundingly negative in their views about the Democrats. Only 31 percent have a favorable view of the Democrats, versus 57 percent unfavorable.”

A CNN poll found a similarly dismal favorable rating for Democrats at just 33 percent, their lowest rating since 1992. Meanwhile, 58 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said that "the Democratic Party needs major changes."

Adding to the tale of gloom for Democrats, a New York Times-Ipsos poll has found that Democrats place "too much emphasis on social issues that they consider less urgent” and turn a blind eye to economic issues crucial to voters.

So bad are these results that Professor James K. Galbraith concludes that the Democratic Party has “committed suicide.”

Before buying into Galbraith’s gloom-and-doom diagnosis, Democratic leaders should recall that pronouncements of the death of one of our major parties have been a recurring feature of modern politics. Sometimes, those pronouncements come from within a party that has lost a national election; sometimes, they come from journalists or even winning party members.

Going back more than 40 years to Ronald Reagan’s crushing defeat of Jimmy Carter, political scientist Philip A. Klinkner writes: “The 1980 presidential election traumatized the Democratic party. Its candidate, Jimmy Carter, was the first elected incumbent president to be defeated since Herbert Hoover in 1932. … In addition to losing the White House, the party also lost the Senate for the first time since 1952 and saw its margin in the House substantially reduced.”

In 2008, it was the Republican Party that seemed to be in dire straits. That year, Democrat Sidney Blumenthal published “The Strange Death of Republican America: Chronicles of a Collapsing Party.” He described “underlying political shifts that are demonstrably weakening the once-strong foundations of Republican philosophy and governance … (and portend its) incipient demise.”

Four years later, following Mitt Romney’s loss to Barack Obama, the critique came from within the Republican Party itself, when the GOP undertook a "comprehensive post-election review" of their party’s standing.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said that the review showed, "Our message was weak; our ground game was insufficient; we weren't inclusive; we were behind in both data and digital; our primary and debate process needed improvement." At the same time, Sally Bradshaw, one of the review committee co-chairs, criticized the party for “continually marginalizing itself” and predicted that “unless changes are made, it will be increasingly difficult for Republicans to win another presidential election in the near future."

"Public perception of our party,” she warned, “is at record lows." That sounds a lot like what polls are now finding out about the Democratic Party.

But recall that four years after Bradshaw’s observation, Donald Trump took the Republican Party back to the White House.

In the immediate aftermath of the 2024 election, people like consumer advocate Ralph Nader claimed that Trump’s re-election marked the “collapse of the Democratic Party.” In Nader’s view, the last election was an occasion for millions of people to say, “We’re sick of not having the government return the benefits of massive taxation to us. We’re sick of — all we hear about is empire abroad. All we hear about is more military budgets … eating the public budgets that should be providing public services and public infrastructure in communities all over the country, creating key jobs.”

At the same time, others believe that 2024 was a decisive rebuke to Nader’s view of the world.

Political scientist Sean Westwood is one of them. The Democratic Party, he says, needs “to shift from coddling white progressive voters to a policy platform that … cultivate(s) economic centrists and marginalize(s) culture warriors.”

In truth, no one really knows why the Democrats lost in 2024 and what it means for the party’s future. A different candidate. No October 7 attack on Israel. An earlier withdrawal from the 2024 race by Joe Biden — any of them could have produced a different result and obviated the need for a post-mortem.

But we are where we are, and the first order for Democrats is to figure out how to be an effective opposition party. That is still a work in progress. Democrats also need message discipline and coordination and to figure out how to navigate the current media landscape.

Beyond that, the Democrats can’t ignore the Americans’ disillusionment with our political institutions. They need to offer a plausible and persuasive message of change.

Finally, the party will have to rehabilitate the reputation of liberalism. That will require a better kitchen table message, a way of highlighting the dangers of America’s emerging oligarchy, and a program to offer hope to people now in despair.

None of that will happen quickly, and a new party chair is not an elixir for what ails the Democrats. But as they lean into the task of retooling, reports of the Democratic Party's death may be exaggerated.

Austin Sarat is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College. His views do not necessarily reflect those of Amherst College.

Topics

Poll analysis: Increasing numbers of Democrats want their party to oppose Trump

Democrats express mixed confidence in Democratic congressional leaders' ability to oppose Trump.
CBS News - 1h
Strongest earthquake yet hits Santorini amid seismic crisis

Three more quakes above 4.0 magnitude are registered on Monday near the Greek tourist hotspot.
BBC News - 2h
Dua Lipa's all-night party at Glastonbury 2024

The star pop singer caught up with 60 Minutes in her RV the morning after her headline performance and an all-night celebration.
CBS News - 1d
Democratic senator says his party is ready to shut down government over Trump's actions

Democratic Sen. Andy Kim (N.J.) said he and his fellow Democrats are ready to shut down the federal government over President Trump’s recent actions. “I cannot support efforts that will continue ...
The Hill - 1d
No Welsh budget deal yet, says Lib Dem leader

Labour needs to reach an agreement with another party as they have only half the Senedd seats.
BBC News - 1d
Sam Nujoma of Namibia Dead at 95

As the self-exiled leader of the South-West Africa People’s Organization, he directed a guerrilla army in a 24-year war for independence from South African rule.
The New York Times - 1d
Democratic governors step forward to set the party's agenda

As President Donald Trump’s second administration takes shape in Washington, Democratic governors across the country are laying out their own plans for the year, with some using high-profile ...
NBC News - 2d