Democrats lost the 2024 Presidential Election. By all margins, they lost support, and by all standards, Trump performed better than he did in 2016, where he lost the popular vote by 2.8 million. In 2024, he won the overall tally by 2.3 million with significant gains in major Democratic strongholds. His victory is by no means a landslide, but it shows that he gained consistent support among Americans.
The Democratic Party is facing a reckoning that has been years in the making, arguably beginning with the party’s first loss to Trump in 2016. Trump’s win came despite a popular vote loss and alleged Russian election interference. This reality, along with Trump’s inflammatory speech, helped rally progressives against his administration and allowed the Democratic Party to paint Trump as an accidental anomaly. Perhaps that perspective was reasonable eight years ago, but now there is no evading the truth that the American electorate favors Donald Trump’s platform over a usual Democratic ticket. So what are the Democrats going to do now?
Upend the System
Since arriving at the American political scene in 2015, Trump has promised to upend the status quo. He has spoken about draining the swamp and putting officials in charge who care about the American people. This populist rhetoric worked and attracted a new base of disgruntled working-class Americans who were unwilling to put up with an untenable status quo for any longer. This culminated in the 2024 election when, for the first time ever, Democrats received a higher share of votes from high- compared to low-income Americans. Indeed, Kamala Harris saw her only gains in the election compared to 2020 from college-educated white voters.
Voters yearning for change are attracted to Trump because Democrats are not ambitious or aggressive enough with their agenda. Harris was the underdog candidate coming into the election. Instead of adopting a risky strategy to potentially increase her chances, which is what game theory suggests, her campaign played it safe, relying on issues that Democrats had an edge on, including abortion and democracy, while downplaying pocketbook issues and affirming that the economy was good because of low unemployment, wage growth, and a booming stock market. However, there were limited discussions of how Harris planned to improve the average American’s life.
Harris could not escape inflation or Americans' inability to feed their families. She was too tied to Biden, and instead of presenting a bold, progressive plan that was noticeably different from her president, she mainly stayed on course with him, allowing her to be deemed the candidate for the bad economy, which is always a losing strategy.
Democrats bet that catering to moderate, college-educated voters would win more support than it would lose in working-class desertions. Time and time again, this gamble has backfired, and Democrats need to change their strategy to become the party of bold, progressive ideas that truly appeal to the working class. In order to achieve widespread, consistent electoral success, the Democrats must become the party willing to upend a system not working for the vast majority of Americans instead of allowing Trump and Republicans to claim that label.
Party Elite
The 2016 election of Trump shifted the Democratic Party away from its Obama working-class roots to a party headed by a highly educated elite. These leaders brought with them arrogance, disregard for voter grievances, and confusion about the Democrats’ key policy points. In 2020, Biden was able to avoid these failures by using his working-class roots and folksy speaking to secure the presidency. However, Harris failed to replicate these results.
Democrats must move away from their elite, high-class leaders and return to the party’s working-class roots. The party needs to drop the culture wars and issues that mainly college-educated people care about. Instead, they must reinvigorate their mass appeal to the American people, understanding that discussing specific issues less does not mean they plan to do nothing about them. You can forgive student loans without making that a central campaign issue. The party has to look at polls and focus on what is popular, such as lowering medical costs, rent caps, or reforming the Supreme Court. If they continue to focus on high-class issues while putting the economy on the back burner, it will be no surprise when they lose elections.
Anti-Trump Party
For almost a decade, the Democratic Party has been defined by its defiance of anything that Donald Trump supports. This is not a healthy way to build a party identity and cement a base based on core issues. By defining themselves as the anti-Trump Party, the Democrats have made it difficult for Americans to see what they truly stand for, and the original reasons for opposing the Trump administration have long been lost.
The 2024 election loss presents the party with an opportunity to redefine itself based on its stances on issues and reintroduce itself to the American people. They have four long years to decide how they wish to do so, but making the mistake of basing their entire platform on the other party’s candidate has not been a winning strategy.
Looking Forward
The Democratic Party must redefine itself on its own terms. They must appeal to the American people by promising to upend a system that is not working for the average American, changing up party leadership to reflect the needs of the working class better, and taking back the party’s identity instead of letting Trump and the GOP decide who they are. If the party wants any chance of removing the Republican trifecta in 2026 and taking back the White House in 2028, then they must follow these steps and figure out what they really stand for.
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