The American electorate soundly rejected the presidency of Donald Trump by over 6 million votes, yet the predicted Blue Wave did not follow Joe Biden’s coat tails. The reasons behind both results are vastly important if one wants to better understand the American people.
Yes, we remain a deeply divided nation, one angrily split between the tribal identities of two political parties. Nevertheless, the overall results of the election paint a clear picture, one that everyone should recognize. A clear majority of voters, rather than the typical plurality, rejected the chaos, the illiberalism, the lies and the continual rejection of American political norms represented by the Trump presidency. And the voters rejected extremism, with the exception of a few congressional races. Those exceptions include the election to Congress of at least two supporters of the incomprehensible QAnon theories. But the single most important result to take away from the election is that the American people sought a return to centrist politics. That is why they elected Joe Biden and also so many down-ballot Republicans.
Democrats are to blame for not capitalizing. Voters bought into the fears of “radical socialism” taking control of the party. It did not matter that it was never going to happen. The party, believing the nation’s antipathy toward Donald Trump was sufficient for down-ballot victories, never bothered to point out that the far left had no control in the party. Democratic primary voters clearly rejected the policies of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. The GOP effectively attacked Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her far-left stances. It did not matter that neither she nor Sanders hold any control of their party. In fact, AOC has made it clear she is uncertain about pursuing a third term because she is frustrated with the refusal of her party to join the bandwagon and move away from its centrist positions.
The GOP has always been a better marketing force than the Democratic Party. Being a more homogenous political entity makes it easier to create labels that the entire party can attach to Democrats. The Democratic party generally does a poor job of battling those labels, regardless of how inaccurate they may be.
Democratic candidates unwisely allowed Republicans to attack them over the so-called “defund the police” issue. The reality is that few seek an actual defunding or dismantling of our law enforcement. Rather, the vast majority want to reform it, spend less on militarizing it, and more on alternative solutions to crime. Yet not one Democratic candidate ever took the time to clarify the reality of the issue.
Millions of voters feared that Democratic candidates were unconcerned about job losses due to policies fighting climate change. Democrats failed to point out the great potential for job creation from such efforts. They failed to point out, for example, that while the fossil fuel industry wields great power in Texas politics, there are actually far more clean energy jobs in that state than fossil fuel ones.
Democratic candidates assumed that their health care policies would impact the election as it did in 2018. That did not happen, probably because the continued failure of elected Republicans to eliminate the Affordable Care Act dampened voters’ concerns.
Mislabeling Biden failed, but mislabeling the rest of the Democratic ticket frequently worked, and that is why no Blue Wave materialized. However, if and when Democrats ever learn how to better communicate with the public, when and if they do a better job tackling the mislabeling, the possibilities of increasing their majority may follow.
Michael Adkins is formerly was chairman of the Hancock County Democratic Party. Send comments to [email protected].
