Report Warns Democrats: Forget Biden, Remember Obama

A new report from a center-left group warns the Democratic Party is alienating voters with its left-wing rhetoric and policies, losing ground with nearly every group except "white liberals." The group, Welcome PAC, spent six months consulting hundreds of thousands of voters and found that 70% see the party as "out of touch." Many believe Democrats focus too much on issues like climate change and LGBTQ rights and not enough on concerns such as crime or border security, per Semafor. The nearly 60-page report—inspired by the influential 1989 paper "The Politics of Evasion," which preceded the party's move to the center—urges Democrats to ditch some of the progressive language about race, abortion, and LGBTQ+ issues that took hold after 2012.

The report "largely echoes what moderate Democrats have been saying loudly for months—that the party should be running to the center and focusing on kitchen table issues," per Politico. It suggests running more candidates who are open to siding with Republicans on conservative bills related to crime and immigration. "A lot of what we're arguing for is a return to Obama-era positioning on issues like immigration and crime, and prioritization of the economy over cultural issues," principal author Simon Bazelon tells Semafor. "The Democratic Party had better listen—for the good of our nation," warns former Illinois Rep. Cheri Bustos in an endorsement.

The report doesn't call for an abandonment of all progressive policies, noting that expanding access to public health care, taxes on the wealthy, and raising the minimum wage are all popular. But it does criticize the party's growing reliance on "highly educated and affluent voters," which, it argues, has pushed the party further left. Meanwhile, the party has lost significant ground with nonwhite voters, regardless of education, and some ground with non-college-educated white voters, too. The report suggests Democrats could do better by focusing less on transgender issues and by distancing themselves from the Biden administration, while critiquing its "approach to border security and the cost of living," per Politico.