Democrats Have an Image Problem

Democrats seem to have the advantage on the issues. But Republicans have the advantage on messaging. Let's consider Missouri. Voters there voted like Democrats on the issues. But they voted for Republicans for office. They passed some pretty liberal Constitutional amendments while voting by a 19% margin for Donald Trump for President, and by a 14% margin for Josh Hawley for Senate.

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The "Missouri Independent" examines this paradox.

Missourians voted Tuesday night to protect abortion rights, raise the minimum wage and guarantee paid sick leave for workers.

They also voted by wide margins to send Republicans to Jefferson City who vehemently oppose those proposals and may try to roll them back.

It’s become a familiar pattern in Missouri — progressive ballot measures like Medicaid expansion and marijuana legalization finding success in a state where Republicans have dominated for more than a decade.

Exactly why this seems to play out cycle after cycle is a matter of debate.

Source: Missouri Independent.

One explanation is the influence of money. Winning votes had significantly more money behind them. No doubt money is the name of the game in politics.

But I favor another explanation. Democratic positions are popular, but Democratic messaging is not. I don't know what Josh Hawley's TV commercials were like in Missouri, but I do know what Ted Cruz's commercials were like in Texas. They were a constant drumbeat on two issues: the border (Cruz said Colin Allred was for "open borders"), and transgender rights. Over and over again, Ted Cruz was heard saying, “Boys in girls sports, that’s not right.” Cruz coasted to re-election by 9%.

It doesn't matter whether Cruz's charges are true or not. There's an old saying in politics, that while you're explaining, you're losing. Cruz himself has faced farcical attacks himself, to devastating effect. Remember how in 2016 Donald Trump linked Ted Cruz's father to the Kennedy assassination? It was enough to sink Cruz's run for President against Trump.

There's not a single, easy answer for how Democrats can repair their brand. A glib suggestion would be to lie even more outrageously about Republicans, but I feel that Democrats are congenitally incapable of doing that. Instead, I feel that it starts with listening to voters in red states, then trying to craft policies that address their concerns. Telling them why they are wrong isn't going to cut it. But I fear that Democrats haven't gotten beyond that stage. They are still stuck with talking down to people instead of trying to relate to their very real problems. Until that changes, Democrats will need to rely on waiting for Republicans to overreach and drive the country into a ditch. That would be disaster for us all.