Except the Democrats either literally never run on any of that, or it was popular. They ran on the opposite of most of that.
- They offered a draconianly vicious border bill that would have made the Bush administration blush (but which qualifies as centrist these days)
- They harshly rejected defunding the police and *increased* funding for them, and cheerfully backed police crackdowns on student antiwar protestors.
- The DEI policies were basically a nothing-burger. It mattered to Trump voters who were never going to vote Democrat anyway and had almost no splash otherwise. The Democratic Party downplayed them pretty heavily and definitely never ran on them, and there is no polling evidence that this was an issue which drove voters away.
- Trans rights is an issue with majority popular support nationwide, super majority support among independents, and almost total support among Democratic voters. Which is probably which is didn't help when Harris threw them under the bus.
None of what you stated is factually accurate and can be clearly shown in post-election polling. Example: Gallup (June 2023) 69% of Americans believe transgender athletes should only compete on teams that align with their birth gender, up from 62% in 2021. Pew Research Center (February 2025): 66% of U.S. adults support laws requiring transgender athletes to compete based on their sex assigned at birth. And why is the party even talking about a divisive issue that affects such a small minority of the population??
Elections are about economy, jobs, crime/public safety. These are centrist issues that resonate. Biden/Harris did this too late in her campaign and not effectively
Hey so remember what I mentioned right in the top comment? About how we should care about the opinions of not-Trump voters when trying to construct political policy that appeals to not-Trump voters?
Well even that, the single most negative trans policy issue, is still majority support among everyone but Trump voters. You know, the kind of policy which Biden only reluctantly supported in 2020 - a race the Democrats won. And again, there's super-majority support for trans friendly politicians in general among independents and near universal support among Democrats. So just saying, maybe taking the *majority support position* among non-Trump voters as part of policy of being consistent on a *super-majority support position* is a good platform.
You know, a platform Harris walked away from in 2024. The election the Democrats lost.
> Elections are about economy, jobs, crime/public safety. These are centrist issues that resonate. Biden/Harris did this too late in her campaign and not effectively
At what point, *ever*, since 2020 has this not been the centrist position Biden and Harris were hammering home?
Edit: And I'm not suggesting Democrats don't run on economy, jobs, and public safety. But you know who the only left-of-fascism politicians are who can turn out substantial crowds about those issues these days? Bernie Sanders, AOC, and the rest of the squad. With very not-centrist positions on the matter ... positions with super-majority support among non Trump voters.
That's *literally* fake news from conservative opposition. She never actually tried to run on defunding the police at any point. She, at *most*, made an incredibly qualified comment that explicitly avoided ever siding with "defund the police" and which praised the police six ways to Sunday, coupled with *incredibly* centrist policing policies.
Edit: I know the United States doesn't actually have a left-wing party, but sweet mercy, you do actually know what progressive policies look like, right? This stuff you're talking about is all ranging from milque-toast center to right-wing.
Now I believe you are intentionally spreading misinformation to fit your narrative. Regarding the trans girls issue in sports, today the majority of Trump voters oppose trans girls in girl sports. The majority of Harris voters oppose trans girls in girl sports. The majority of Independents oppose trans girls in girl sports. The polling is clear and it is not even close. Example: 2025 New York Times/Ipsos poll found that 67% of Democrats or those leaning Democratic believe transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete in women's sports. The same poll reported that 64% of independents oppose allowing transgender athletes to compete in women's sports
Her flipping the issue was correctly seen by the electorate as politically expedient.
The Biden/Harris campaigns did not effectively campaign on jobs, economy and crime issues until too late and I'd argue they never got there effectively. Crime was up during Biden's term, but they spent too much time trying to convince the electorate it was coming down (it wasn't, at least from 2020-2023). Biden doesn't get enough credit for how well he ran the economy but inflation was a real issue. Telling the electorate they are safer and/or wealthier from a macro level when people know they are not is a losing strategy
To win back the roughly 20% of 2020 Biden voters that voted Trump in 2024, the focus has to be on the economy, job growth, stricter on public safety. Focus on social justice signalling issues will just hand the country to Vance in 2028
The problem is that Democrat politicians do not control the issues that voters care about, they only control the frame of their responses, which they can use to shape public opinion.
There are three things to keep in mind:
1. Politicians and especially their aligned media can change public opinion. Dems can convince Americans to be more pro-immigration and the time to do that is right now, when there is no immediate election. This article is talking about that. If Dems fail to do that, then the GOP will just use immigration over and over again.
2. Democrats ignoring issues is ineffective, because Republicans and the mainstream media can pick and choose their issues. For example, the trans issue was not something Harris campaigned on, but it was something Republicans used, whether it was effective or not I don't know, because Republicans have used this issue in elections they won and in elections they lost.
3. Politics is about moral vision. Dem voters want Dem politicians to win because they are aligned in a particular moral worldview, not because they are on a sports team. Compromise is necessary, but this has to be seen as an step towards gaining power in order to implement one's moral vision.
Want to move the Country to a more moral worldview? Join a think tank and educate on the agendas (conservative versions of YAF, Federalist Society). Want to win elections? You must meet the electorate where they are. Which is centrist and currently/always focused on jobs economy, public safety, stricter border control first
Alright. Then the new polling says this specific narrow issue is unpopular. Good thing the Democrats literally never ran on it then? But their continued abandonment of trans people in general *is* unpopular among their voters.
You clearly didn't read the "Defund the Police" you cited because it does not ever show Harris actually backing defund the police. It shows her making carefully couched statements supporting centrist policing policies while never actually supporting defund the police.
But you are right, she did flip and turn further center and right on that. And it didn't go well for her. We agree on that.
But alright. What actual "good and centrist" economic policies are you imagining which they didn't already run on? As opposed to the wildly popular progressive policies just sitting right there, waiting for anyone to actually run on them.
Biden's literal first day in office, he issues an EO permitted trans girls in girl sports. It took him 3 years to issue on on border security. He never issued one on inflation. Yet Dems didn't campaign on the issue, ok Fox New Thomas
(Fact: Both Biden and Harris had the issue in their campaign platforms. And they campaign on it)
Harris did try and move to the center when it was clear that's where the electorate was. It just was too late and I'd argue they did it ineffectively. Example: Telling people crime was down when it really wasn't is a losing strategy, people knew there was a disconnect. Supporting Defund movement, which she most definitely did (I was at one of rallies) and then flipping to the center confirmed her lack of gravitas to the majority of the electorate. I think Harris ran a good campaign overall, she just had a tremendous amount of headwinds. But the issue wasn't the centrist policies, which typically win. And winning back the WH won't be on well-intentioned but nonsensical left wing progressive policies which only primarily interest a small minority
Except the Democrats either literally never run on any of that, or it was popular. They ran on the opposite of most of that.
- They offered a draconianly vicious border bill that would have made the Bush administration blush (but which qualifies as centrist these days)
- They harshly rejected defunding the police and *increased* funding for them, and cheerfully backed police crackdowns on student antiwar protestors.
- The DEI policies were basically a nothing-burger. It mattered to Trump voters who were never going to vote Democrat anyway and had almost no splash otherwise. The Democratic Party downplayed them pretty heavily and definitely never ran on them, and there is no polling evidence that this was an issue which drove voters away.
- Trans rights is an issue with majority popular support nationwide, super majority support among independents, and almost total support among Democratic voters. Which is probably which is didn't help when Harris threw them under the bus.
https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2024/10/23/voters-prefer-candidates-who-are-supportive-of-transgender-rights-think-recent-political-ads-have-gotten-mean-spirited-and-out-of-hand
What "centrist" policies are you imagining they run on anyway, that they *didn't* run on this last election cycle?
None of what you stated is factually accurate and can be clearly shown in post-election polling. Example: Gallup (June 2023) 69% of Americans believe transgender athletes should only compete on teams that align with their birth gender, up from 62% in 2021. Pew Research Center (February 2025): 66% of U.S. adults support laws requiring transgender athletes to compete based on their sex assigned at birth. And why is the party even talking about a divisive issue that affects such a small minority of the population??
Elections are about economy, jobs, crime/public safety. These are centrist issues that resonate. Biden/Harris did this too late in her campaign and not effectively
Hey so remember what I mentioned right in the top comment? About how we should care about the opinions of not-Trump voters when trying to construct political policy that appeals to not-Trump voters?
Well even that, the single most negative trans policy issue, is still majority support among everyone but Trump voters. You know, the kind of policy which Biden only reluctantly supported in 2020 - a race the Democrats won. And again, there's super-majority support for trans friendly politicians in general among independents and near universal support among Democrats. So just saying, maybe taking the *majority support position* among non-Trump voters as part of policy of being consistent on a *super-majority support position* is a good platform.
You know, a platform Harris walked away from in 2024. The election the Democrats lost.
> Elections are about economy, jobs, crime/public safety. These are centrist issues that resonate. Biden/Harris did this too late in her campaign and not effectively
At what point, *ever*, since 2020 has this not been the centrist position Biden and Harris were hammering home?
Edit: And I'm not suggesting Democrats don't run on economy, jobs, and public safety. But you know who the only left-of-fascism politicians are who can turn out substantial crowds about those issues these days? Bernie Sanders, AOC, and the rest of the squad. With very not-centrist positions on the matter ... positions with super-majority support among non Trump voters.
I mean Harris campaigned on Defund the Police in California. What are you talking about here?
https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/10/09/fact-check-does-kamala-harris-support-police-defunding/42738997/
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2024-09-05/kamala-harris-defund-police-record-on-historic-issue
That's *literally* fake news from conservative opposition. She never actually tried to run on defunding the police at any point. She, at *most*, made an incredibly qualified comment that explicitly avoided ever siding with "defund the police" and which praised the police six ways to Sunday, coupled with *incredibly* centrist policing policies.
Edit: I know the United States doesn't actually have a left-wing party, but sweet mercy, you do actually know what progressive policies look like, right? This stuff you're talking about is all ranging from milque-toast center to right-wing.
Now I believe you are intentionally spreading misinformation to fit your narrative. Regarding the trans girls issue in sports, today the majority of Trump voters oppose trans girls in girl sports. The majority of Harris voters oppose trans girls in girl sports. The majority of Independents oppose trans girls in girl sports. The polling is clear and it is not even close. Example: 2025 New York Times/Ipsos poll found that 67% of Democrats or those leaning Democratic believe transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete in women's sports. The same poll reported that 64% of independents oppose allowing transgender athletes to compete in women's sports
Harris clearly demonstrated support for Defund movement, your article doesn't show otherwise. Example: https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/26/politics/kfile-kamala-harris-praised-defund-the-police-movement-in-june-2020
Her flipping the issue was correctly seen by the electorate as politically expedient.
The Biden/Harris campaigns did not effectively campaign on jobs, economy and crime issues until too late and I'd argue they never got there effectively. Crime was up during Biden's term, but they spent too much time trying to convince the electorate it was coming down (it wasn't, at least from 2020-2023). Biden doesn't get enough credit for how well he ran the economy but inflation was a real issue. Telling the electorate they are safer and/or wealthier from a macro level when people know they are not is a losing strategy
To win back the roughly 20% of 2020 Biden voters that voted Trump in 2024, the focus has to be on the economy, job growth, stricter on public safety. Focus on social justice signalling issues will just hand the country to Vance in 2028
The problem is that Democrat politicians do not control the issues that voters care about, they only control the frame of their responses, which they can use to shape public opinion.
There are three things to keep in mind:
1. Politicians and especially their aligned media can change public opinion. Dems can convince Americans to be more pro-immigration and the time to do that is right now, when there is no immediate election. This article is talking about that. If Dems fail to do that, then the GOP will just use immigration over and over again.
2. Democrats ignoring issues is ineffective, because Republicans and the mainstream media can pick and choose their issues. For example, the trans issue was not something Harris campaigned on, but it was something Republicans used, whether it was effective or not I don't know, because Republicans have used this issue in elections they won and in elections they lost.
3. Politics is about moral vision. Dem voters want Dem politicians to win because they are aligned in a particular moral worldview, not because they are on a sports team. Compromise is necessary, but this has to be seen as an step towards gaining power in order to implement one's moral vision.
Want to move the Country to a more moral worldview? Join a think tank and educate on the agendas (conservative versions of YAF, Federalist Society). Want to win elections? You must meet the electorate where they are. Which is centrist and currently/always focused on jobs economy, public safety, stricter border control first
Alright. Then the new polling says this specific narrow issue is unpopular. Good thing the Democrats literally never ran on it then? But their continued abandonment of trans people in general *is* unpopular among their voters.
You clearly didn't read the "Defund the Police" you cited because it does not ever show Harris actually backing defund the police. It shows her making carefully couched statements supporting centrist policing policies while never actually supporting defund the police.
But you are right, she did flip and turn further center and right on that. And it didn't go well for her. We agree on that.
But alright. What actual "good and centrist" economic policies are you imagining which they didn't already run on? As opposed to the wildly popular progressive policies just sitting right there, waiting for anyone to actually run on them.
Biden's literal first day in office, he issues an EO permitted trans girls in girl sports. It took him 3 years to issue on on border security. He never issued one on inflation. Yet Dems didn't campaign on the issue, ok Fox New Thomas
(Fact: Both Biden and Harris had the issue in their campaign platforms. And they campaign on it)
Harris did try and move to the center when it was clear that's where the electorate was. It just was too late and I'd argue they did it ineffectively. Example: Telling people crime was down when it really wasn't is a losing strategy, people knew there was a disconnect. Supporting Defund movement, which she most definitely did (I was at one of rallies) and then flipping to the center confirmed her lack of gravitas to the majority of the electorate. I think Harris ran a good campaign overall, she just had a tremendous amount of headwinds. But the issue wasn't the centrist policies, which typically win. And winning back the WH won't be on well-intentioned but nonsensical left wing progressive policies which only primarily interest a small minority