If you think congressional Democrats are screaming into the air about Donald Trump and doing nothing else, you’d be right. It might be cathartic for Hill Democrats, but voters don’t care. And if they want to be taken seriously on corruption, once again, they’re behind the curve of Trump and the Republicans.
The party is about to experience some brutal focus group data, where voters view Democrats as weak, and their attacks are falling flat. In other words, liberals need a new playbook, and it doesn’t seem like they have the brain trust to pull it off for numerous reasons (via Axios):
A jarring message is coming for congressional Democrats this week: It may feel good to focus on President Trump's alleged corruption. But its effectiveness has its limits.
Why it matters: Swing voters aren't biting at language that worked like a charm in prior elections, according to Impact Research focus groups in battleground states.
Swing voters are "more difficult to convince" on Trump corruption messages, said Tiffany Muller, the president of End Citizens United, an anti-corruption organization. "They've heard 'drain the swamp' before," she told us.
They agree "threats to democracy" are bad news. But they disagree over what that means, watering down its effectiveness.
Zoom in: Trump isn't making it easy with his family's multibillion-dollar crypto deals or thanking Qatar today for offering to give him an Air Force One replacement.
But he still has some "inoculation" on corruption messaging thanks to DOGE and his longstanding anti-D.C. rhetoric, according to an Impact Research memo shared with us.
The intrigue: Generic politicians are far more vulnerable to the corruption critiques than Trump or Elon Musk specifically, the focus groups suggest.
But that's only if Democrats can put on a muscular anti-corruption demonstration. The focus group participants view Democrats as weak.
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Among Democrats, the guidance comes as the party's traditional split between progressives and centrists is giving way to a divide between young and old, fighters and compromisers, those who understand the urgency of the moment and those who appear unaware.
The main issue that Democrats have is their base: rich, white college kids aren’t a recipe for national success. It also doesn’t help that this slice takes everything to eleven, even on issues that mostly impact non-white Democrats more. The exclusionary, illiberal, and outright insane demeanor of Democratic base voters has driven white working-class, Hispanics, and non-white working-class voters into the GOP fold. They talk down to people—you can’t pen a new playbook when everyone comes off as a D-bag. Also, single, college-educated women—the cat people—will torpedo any new ways to reach voters.
So, good luck, Democrats—I hope you fail.
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