Dems must revamp message to better connect with voters

How important do Democrats think it is to beat President Donald Trump in 2020?

Obviously, most Democrats would say it’s vitally important. Four more years of the Trump presidency could allow him to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. It would worsen the climate crisis. It could cement his paranoid racism and scorn for democracy as the new American normal.

Given these consequences, you would think that Democrats would be approaching the 2020 campaign with a ruthless sense of purpose. But they’re not, at least not yet. They are not focusing on issues that expose Trump’s many vulnerabilities. They have instead devoted substantial time to wonky subjects that excite some progressive activists — and alienate most American voters. Recent polls suggest that the Democrats really are increasing the chances Trump will win reelection.

The good news is the campaign is still just getting started. Many Americans haven’t yet paid much attention. The next phase starts Thursday, with a debate in Houston featuring the 10 leading candidates.

It’s a chance for Democrats to start treating the 2020 campaign with the urgency it deserves.

By now, you’ve probably heard claims that Democrats are hurtling toward socialism and instead must return to the triangulation of the Bill Clinton years. The evidence doesn’t support that view.

Over the past two decades, incomes for most Americans have barely grown. Median wealth has declined. Americans are frustrated, and a majority supports a populist agenda: higher taxes on corporations and the rich, expanded government health care and financial aid, a higher minimum wage, even a Green New Deal.

The Democrats are on solid ground, by pushing all of these issues. They should be casting Trump as a plutocrat in populist’s clothes, who has used the presidency to enrich himself and other wealthy insiders at the expense of hardworking middle-class families. It’s a caricature that has the benefit of truth.

The mistake that Democratic candidates have made is thinking that just because they should activate their progressive id on some issues, they should do so on all issues.

There are two main examples. The first is the idea of decriminalizing border crossings. Most top Democratic candidates support the idea. If illegal entry weren’t a crime, they say, Trump couldn’t lock people in cages.

Supporters make arguments about how decriminalization won’t make the border less secure. But most voters tune out. In an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll, 67% of registered voters called decriminalization “a bad idea.”

The second example is a proposal to eliminate private health insurance and require people to have Medicare. Sanders and Warren back it. Again, supporters offer complex arguments about why Americans will love this idea — and, again, most Americans say no thanks. They’re dealing with enough economic anxiety, without having their health insurance taken away and replaced by something uncertain.

The shame is that both health care and immigration should be Democratic advantages. Most voters recoil at Trump’s racist immigrant-bashing, and most want the option to join Medicare. And if Democrats want to reverse Trump’s policies, they need to beat him, not offer policies, like decriminalization, that would hypothetically constrain him.