"when I listen to Democratic voters, they’re not asking for ideological recalibration or even policy specifics. ... Instead, the Democratic voters I’m listening to are almost universally asking a different question: Why aren’t you fighting harder?"
Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries and Neera Tanden are three leading figures of the Democratic establishment. Detailed studies of the party's base shows that they are completely out of synch with the way Democrats think and what they expect of their leadership. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
What @sarahlongwell25.bsky.social learned from 400 focus groups...
Democratic voters have a clear message for their party: Fight harder.
(If you haven't gotten a copy of How to Eat an Elephant, it's out today so you can change that!)
“Democrats don’t want Trump’s politics or even necessarily his all-out norm breaking. But they want his energy. They’re sick of a Democratic Party that does the functional equivalent of sending a strongly worded letter while democracy burns down around us.+
Sarah Longwell has conducted more than 400 focus groups with thousands of Americans across the political spectrum. Democratic voters have a clear message for their party, she writes:
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
"Democratic voters recognize that the old rules don’t apply anymore. It’s not clear that their leaders have caught up to that reality." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Is Democrat leadership, or hopeful new Dems, even listening?
We are tired of the groveling, sniveling, whining about how GOP violates rules, laws, & norms - meanwhile current leadership cries foul and claims powerlessness as a defense against attacking and exposing the corrupt GOP for what it is!
Democratic voters have watched their party lose battles that they thought were already settled—abortion rights, voting rights, basic democratic norms—and they’re done with the old approach.
— Sarah Longwell
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Longwell provides excellent voter perspective. It's not progressive vs moderate. Not even specific policies. It's people who will urgently fight to win back, "play by the rules, work hard, you'll be good". Dem fighters must be intimate with voters, and genuine.
"When I listen to Democratic voters, they’re not asking for ideological recalibration or even policy specifics.... Instead, the Democratic voters I’m listening to are almost universally asking a different question: Why aren’t you fighting harder?” Too right. Will the democrats listen though?
@sarahlongwell25.bsky.social has a new piece in the Atlantic: Democratic voters "respond to authenticity, to energy, to the sense that a leader gives a damn."
If you read one thing today, make it this, and then pass it on.
"If Democrats want to win back power, they’re going to need to learn how to better relate to the American people, as people." "People are wild. They are full of contradictions"
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Excellent article - especially for people like me that overdo policy discussions.
It’s people… (just like Soylent Green)
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
@schumer.senate.gov & @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social won’t see this or if they do, heed it. Why I left the Dem Party. @chrismurphyct.bsky.social @blumenthal.senate.gov @delauro.house.gov
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
@democrats.senate.gov @housedemocrats.bsky.social
You all better read this and step up! No more strongly worded love notes to the Republicans
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
"Remember Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator? 'If it bleeds, we can kill it,' he said. MAGA might have all of the power right now, but it’s bleeding." Great piece from Sarah Longwell in the Atlantic.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
“They’re sick of a Democratic Party that does the functional equivalent of sending a strongly worded letter while democracy burns down around us.
That tension…is the defining mood among Democratic voters right now. They don’t want to become what they hate. But they are tired of losing to it.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/09/democrats-voters-focus-groups/688519/?gift=XPfnPsIJYU4sjgFUASyQNXYvZlCcEf0Gv7E3rSbNZY8&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
So glad to see a prescription for the Dems that says nothing about throwing trans people under the bus!
Voters are "sick of a Democratic Party that does the functional equivalent of sending a strongly worded letter while democracy burns down around us."
From Sarah Longwell's new book, How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time.
Worth a read👇
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Excellent article by Sarah Longwell.
She posits: Today's sucessfull Dem candidates understand "...that these times demand wartime generals, not peacetime diplomats: leaders who recognize that American democracy is in a fight for its survival and are willing to act like it.
Absolutely spot on. 👍
"These voters didn’t speak in terms of wanting the party to be more to the left or more to the center. They all just wanted Democrats to be more aggressive." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
This is the best article (and, presumably, book) I’ve seen wrt recognizing the Trump threat to democracy; but, more importantly how to defeat it.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Democrats in Congress. Your voters do not want you "reach across the aisle" to make nice-nice with Ted Cruz on the PCSA.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
cc @chrismurphyct.bsky.social to spread the word.
This is my concern with someone like Chris Pappas of NH. He seems like a very nice person -- but almost too nice given the opposition. He's trying to portray himself as a tough fighter in his ads, but it just doesn't seem genuine.
He's establishment D, ugh.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Democrat Leaders - READ THIS
The Atlantic points out the obvious -we FUCKING HATE TRUMP and WE don't like "leaders" who kiss his ass - Schumer, Jefferies, Pelosi. There is NO MIDDLE GROUND when people who want you destroyed. Words don't work on ASSHOLES
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Everyone knows that Republicans don't even acknowledge the real problems. Repubs are only interested in fake issues, culture war issues, and in wielding power. They won't solve any problem that affects our lives.
We want to see problems addressed fiercely. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
"Instead, the Democratic voters I’m listening to are almost universally asking a different question: Why aren’t you fighting harder?" www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
“Americans are underreacting to the acute threat of Trump and Trumpism: If Democrats want to win back power, they’re going to need to learn how to better relate to the American people, as people”
Amen to that 🙏🏽👍🏽
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
“Democrats…They’re sick of a Democratic Party that does the functional equivalent of sending a strongly worded letter while democracy burns down around us.”
Siding with the US-50 under THIS government was a strategic error.
The recovering Transatlanticists need to grow a spine , just like US-50 Democrats
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...: Find this Article in the ATLANTIC -they nailed it for the Dems -it shows a lot of Democrats in certain parts of the country need a serious education on how our Government works - the minority has NO POWER WE MUST WIN BIG THIS NOV. OR LOSE OUR FREEDOM VOTE 🗳️ BLUE
According to someone who talks to focus groups for a living, both moderate and progressive Democratic voters want the same thing. Their comments are nearly identical, regardless of ideology.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
“Democrats don’t want Trump’s politics or even necessarily his all-out norm breaking. But they want his energy. They’re sick of a Democratic Party that does the functional equivalent of sending a strongly worded letter while democracy burns down around us.” Yes!!
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
---
Has to be heeded; since personal self interest and simple greed have overruled data facts since 1992 for all the corporate bribed neolibs
“…rarely do politicians and campaigns take the time to talk in-depth about why people feel the way they do.
The reality is, the closer you get to institutional politics, the further you are from the people whom politics and government are supposed to serve.”
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
"Whoever runs on the Democratic side in 2028 will have to be culturally omnipresent too [...] They’ll need a direct relationship with the voters that bypasses what’s left of media gatekeepers" www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0... via @theatlantic.com
After conducting focus groups with both moderate and progressive Democrats, the key takeaway was this: “These voters didn’t speak in terms of wanting the party to be more to the left or more to the center. They all just wanted Democrats to be more aggressive.”
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
"These times demand wartime generals, not peacetime diplomats: leaders who recognize that American democracy is in a fight for its survival and are willing to act like it.
The voters are ready. The question is whether the Democratic Party will listen."
And Olan from Georgia, YES, accepting a jet from a foreign government Is Illegal!
“I’m not saying, ‘Hey, you’re not supposed to make money,’ but I thought we’re supposed to be helping the middle class here.”
Holy shit @sarahlongwell25.bsky.social. 🤦🏾♀️
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
🎁
"Democratic voters recognize that the old rules don’t apply anymore. It’s not clear that their leaders have caught up to that reality."
Yup, #true.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
They’re sick of a Democratic Party that does the functional equivalent of sending a strongly worded letter while democracy burns down around us. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/09/democrats-voters-focus-groups/688519/
"They’re sick of a Democratic Party that does the functional equivalent of sending a strongly worded letter while democracy burns down around us.”
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...