This Chart Puts the Left-Right Culture Wars Into Perspective
Bubba
12 Nov
Democrats are doing a lot of soul-searching about the role unpopular progressive positions on cultural issues played in Kamala Harris’ presidential defeat. (Kevin Drum)
Chart: Kevin Drum
A new analysis by left-leaning journalist Kevin Drum: A variety of recent polls examined by Drum showed the progressive stance enjoys positive net support from Americans on just two issues — abortion (+27%) and guns (+13%).
When it comes to the war in Gaza, a strong majority favor Israel over Hamas.
On immigration, large majorities see it as a serious problem and think we should reduce the number of people entering the country.
Most of the public is against letting transgender athletes compete in girls’ sports and puberty blockers for teens.
The they/them ad: One of the best-performing Trump campaign ads of the cycle took aim at Harris for supporting taxpayer-funded surgeries for transgender inmates, framing her as “dangerously liberal” with the tagline, “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”
The "they/them" ad shifted the race by 2.7 points in Trump’s favor after viewers watched it, according to an analysis by Future Forward, Harris’s super PAC.
A New York Times/Siena poll released shortly before the election found 47% of voters said Harris was “too progressive,” compared to 32% who thought Trump was “too conservative.”
Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y.:
We have to stop pandering to the base and we have to start listening to the people ... People are sick of extremism.
The exception that proves the rule: Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat who just won reelection in a deeply red rural district, has found success by focusing on tangible, common sense concerns that directly impact her constituents.
Case in point: Perez introduced a bill aimed at tackling onerous regulations that bar daycare workers from peeling bananas packed in a child’s lunch.
Perez on elitism: “The fundamental mistake people make is condescension. A lot of elected officials get calloused to the ways that they’re disrespecting people,” Perez recently told The New York Times.
Perez on meeting the vice president:
I’ve had one interaction with Harris, at her Naval Observatory Christmas party.
I’m not super comfortable at that kind of thing. I’d had a couple of beers, and I noticed that almost all of the garlands were plastic. My district grows a hell of a lot of Christmas trees. I was strong-armed into taking a picture. I said, “Madam Vice President, we grow those where I live.” She just walked away from me. There was kind of an eye roll, maybe. My thinking was, it does matter to people where I live. It’s the respect, the cultural regard for farmers. I didn’t feel like she understood what I was trying to say.
Bubba’s Two Cents
It’s true Kamala Harris ran a relatively centrist campaign. But how genuine was it? Democrats stopped talking about trans issues so much and memory-holed their support for unpopular left-wing policies like cutting police funding, but Americans clearly didn’t forget the progressive fever that took hold of the party just a few short years ago.
Connecting the dots: Of course, the Dems going all-in on fringe cultural issues in the very recent past only exacerbated voters’ feelings that they were out of touch on kitchen-table topics, like the economy.