Wrestling With Why

There is a column entitled "The Psychology of Party Decline" that several sources have linked to. It deals with the Democrats' indifference toward evidence - manifest before the 2024 election - that their party policy planks were unpopular with blue-collar Americans.

Author John Halpin notes working class voters were not sold on the agenda the party had adopted.

Democrats’ support for trade deals that led to factory closings in many small towns and midsize cities in states that were once Democratic strongholds. 

Democrats’ support for spending bills that the working and middle classes paid for but that were primarily of benefit to poor Americans, many of whom were minorities. 

Democrats’ enthusiasm for immigration of unskilled workers and the party’s opposition to measures that might reduce illegal immigration. 

Democrats’ support for strict gun control. 

Democrats’ insistence on eliminating fossil fuels. 

Democrats’ use of the courts and regulations to enforce their moral and cultural agenda, whether on the sale of wedding cakes or the use of public men’s and women’s bathrooms.

Halpin wisecracks "[The working class] have no idea what most of the initials in LGBTQIA+ stand for." He puzzles over why the party's leadership ignored these signs the party was on the wrong track. I ask myself that question and my outsider's answer follows.

The leaders of the Democrat Party may have been at least dimly aware of the items listed above, and a possible need to change. But they faced this question: "If we made those changes, would this still be a party to which I could make a full commitment?" They discovered their answer was "No." At that point neither major party would spark in them any enthusiasm or represent their preferred policy direction. 

Ask yourself, if you did politics for a living and, in order to win your party had to become something which no longer represented your views, would you support the change, or have the party keep a platform you liked and hope for the best? 

The Bush, Cheney, Ryan, Romney cabal faced that dilemma, sat tight as Trump stole their party, made the needed changes, and left them impotent and adrift. Don't be surprised if something similar happens to the Dems in the next decade.

First afterthought: If Democrats cleaned up the issues bullet pointed above, wouldn't their program essentially be MAGA-lite?

Second afterthought: It is a social class thing. MAGA is better at “reading the room” than the Dems., who push luxury beliefs not as widely held.