# Do you think the democrats can ever build a coalition of ~80-85 million voters in presidential elections **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 5, 2026, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-the-democrats-can-ever-build-a-coalition-of-80-85-million-voters-in-presidential-elections/1031442 "2026-07-05T22:01:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2026, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-the-democrats-can-ever-build-a-coalition-of-80-85-million-voters-in-presidential-elections/1031442/1 "2026-07-05T22:01:30Z")
And about ~55-60 million votes in midterm elections? Those are roughly the numbers the democrats need to win federal elections (the numbers needed to win state and local elections are much lower, and its important to vote in those too). Biden got 81 million votes in 2020, Harris got 75 million votes in 2024. However, Harris lost at least 4 million votes in solidly blue states like CA, IL, NY, MA, WA, NJ compared to Biden. Likely due to protests against the war in Gaza. however even if those people voted, the election outcome would be the same since those states went blue anyway. Harris lost 2 million votes in California alone, getting 9 million in 2024 vs 11 million for Biden in 2020. But again, those votes didn’t matter since CA went blue anyway and its EVs went to Harris anyway. Is there anything that can realistically be done to get the democrats to win an additional 5+ million votes? I’m sure if there was, someone would be doing it. It feels like in presidential elections, both parties have a basement of 75 million votes. Its just whoever gets enough extra votes to get to 80 million who wins. I don’t know what can realistically be done. I feel like theres about 90 million non-voters, and maybe 10-20 million swing voters and they determine the outcomes. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2026, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-the-democrats-can-ever-build-a-coalition-of-80-85-million-voters-in-presidential-elections/1031442/2 "2026-07-05T22:05:09Z")
Absolutely they can. IMHO, the USA is a nation desperately thirsting for Bernie/AOC/Yang-type economic leftist populism, but is a slightly socially conservative nation. Unfortunately, the Democrats have actually often given voters the opposite; candidates who are socially liberal but economically conservative (continuing to let health insurance companies like UnitedHealthCare be rapaciously greedy, for instance, letting minimum wage stagnate, and not taxing the rich much.) The moment the Ds nominate someone who is like Bernie, but holds centrist-conservative social views, they will dominate coast to coast. I’d even describe 80-85 million votes as being too low a floor in that scenario. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2026, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-the-democrats-can-ever-build-a-coalition-of-80-85-million-voters-in-presidential-elections/1031442/3 "2026-07-05T22:27:23Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Biden got 81 million votes in 2020, Since they already did- and the demographics are moving their way, sure. No problem. > [@Velocity](#): > > IMHO, the USA is a nation desperately thirsting for Bernie/AOC/Yang-type economic leftist populism, Only in solid blue districts. > [@Velocity](#): > > Unfortunately, the Democrats have actually often given voters the opposite; The _Democrats_ do nothing of the sort- the _Democrats_ dont pick candidates- the voters do. > [@Velocity](#): > > letting minimum wage stagnate, and not taxing the rich much.) The Democratic representatives are constantly getting increases in the Minimum wages - **California** : $16.90 (+ more in some cases), **New York** : $17.00, and so forth. In fact quite a few red states have increased the Minimum wage- **Florida** : $14.00 and increasing to $15.00 soon. The issue is a GOP majority House, the Democrats cant overrule that majority- look at the _The Raise the Wage Act of 2025_ Introduced by House Democrats- but nixed by the GOP. As to Taxes- Democratic Senators in 2026 introduced plans to increase the top income tax rates to as much as 49%, and also the > **[Build Back Better Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Build_Back_Better_Act)** > > The Build Back Better Act was a bill introduced in the 117th Congress to fulfill aspects of President Joe Biden's Build Back Better Plan. It was spun off from the American Jobs Plan, alongside the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, as a $3.5 trillion Democratic reconciliation package that included provisions related to climate change and social policy. Following negotiations, the price was lowered to approximately $2.2 trillion. The bill was passed 220–213 by the House of Representatives o... And there have been Wealth tax proposals recently- all nixed by the GOP. So, yes the Democratic House and Senate want to increase the Minimum wage and increase the top marginal tax rate. _But they cant do so, as they are a minority._ ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2026, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-the-democrats-can-ever-build-a-coalition-of-80-85-million-voters-in-presidential-elections/1031442/4 "2026-07-06T21:49:24Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Absolutely they can. IMHO, the USA is a nation desperately thirsting for Bernie/AOC/Yang-type… I agree with this, partly. I left off the last part because, to me, it’s much less about their politics and more about their personalities - Bernie and AOC specifically. They speak well. They are sincere. They are authentic. They are likeable and relatable. All the things. With that said, maybe those types of politics and those personalities just go hand in hand. Regardless, I think the margins / outside your base, will be driven by personalities and can get you to 80M +. I’d feel much safer with that than someone less personable who checks some “necessary” political boxes. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Gordon\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_G)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2026, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-the-democrats-can-ever-build-a-coalition-of-80-85-million-voters-in-presidential-elections/1031442/5 "2026-07-27T03:53:09Z")
“The Inside Story of How Democrats Lost the Working Class” How could working-class Americans desert the Party that supports them and vote for MAGA Republicans? This is a hotly debated topic, and a mystery that needs to be solved if American democracy is to recover. (I’m sure there are several threads on this topic, but among the top 20 or so most recently bumped threads here, this one seems most appropriate.) I just read an opinion piece by Evan Barker that points to an answer [The Inside Story of How Democrats Lost the Working Class](https://www.thefp.com/p/why-i-left-the-left) (You may need to make a free account to read the piece.It’s based on her recent book _Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative_.) Her answer to “How did Democrats Lose the Working Class” is the same answer that many of us have been giving, but perhaps Ms. Barker’s eloquence and detailed story will finally get through to the super-woke do-gooders who have led liberal thinking to perdition, and thereby turned America over to the right-wing kakistocracy. > [@Evan Barker](#): > > The night Barack Obama won his first presidential race was one of the happiest moments of my life. > > I was a campaign intern. I hadn’t finished high school, but I canvassed outside concerts, inside laundromats, in gas stations, and on college campuses, working more than 40 hours a week. > > [she continued for years as a top fund-raiser for progressive candidates] > > [but she was disappointed to see the Warren and Sanders wings attack each other.] > > In the midterms, these factions essentially supported the same things. Now, in the lead-up to a presidential election, they were at war. Bernie was supported more by activist, ragtag progressives and young men, whereas Warren appealed to college-educated women and “normie” Democrats. > > [Progressive agenda were misfocused:] > > A politician reprimanded me for questioning why his website said “pregnant people” instead of “pregnant women.” I told him men don’t have uteruses, and he snapped: “My brother had a baby!” Math became racist. Everyone suddenly had pronouns in their email taglines. On a Zoom call with a black woman candidate and a donor, the candidate said to the donor: “We can talk later, in a black space, a safe space.” My face turned bright red. My presence made the Zoom call “unsafe”? For personal reasons, healthcare – not pronouns – was the issue of greatest concern to her. Eventually in 2024 in disgust she "voted for Donald Trump. It felt like the biggest middle finger I’ve ever raised to the party I’d supported for most of my adult life. When he won, I was utterly euphoric.” If Democrats want to win the White House back they should listen to her story. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2026, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-the-democrats-can-ever-build-a-coalition-of-80-85-million-voters-in-presidential-elections/1031442/6 "2026-07-27T04:27:04Z")
> [@Gordon\_G](#): > > If Democrats want to win the White House back they should listen to her story. …you burried the lede. > [@from the article](#): > > _ **On Tuesday, I voted for Donald Trump. It felt like the biggest middle finger I’ve ever raised to the party I’d supported for most of my adult life. When he won, I was utterly euphoric.”** _ Anyone who is “utterly euphoric” that a racist misogynist conman criminal liar got elected President is NOT someone anyone should be listening to for advice on how to get people to vote for the opposite of that. She’s chosen her side. You don’t get published in the “Free Press” if you _actually_ care about the working class. > [@from the article](#): > > A politician reprimanded me for questioning why his website said “pregnant people” instead of “pregnant women.” I told him men don’t have uteruses, and he snapped: “My brother had a baby!” Math became racist. Everyone suddenly had pronouns in their email taglines. On a Zoom call with a black woman candidate and a donor, the candidate said to the donor: “We can talk later, in a black space, a safe space.” My face turned bright red. My presence made the Zoom call “unsafe”? LOL. This is a parody article, right? (and I couldn’t even read most of it, its paywalled) ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2026, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-the-democrats-can-ever-build-a-coalition-of-80-85-million-voters-in-presidential-elections/1031442/7 "2026-07-27T13:09:36Z")
> [@Gordon\_G](#): > > If Democrats want to win the White House back they should listen to her story. Her story reads like a GOP charicature. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2026, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-the-democrats-can-ever-build-a-coalition-of-80-85-million-voters-in-presidential-elections/1031442/8 "2026-07-27T15:51:32Z")
> [@Gordon\_G](#): > > How could working-class Americans desert the Party that supports them and vote for MAGA Republicans? This is a hotly debated topic, and a mystery that needs to be solved if American democracy is to recover. (I’m sure there are several threads on this topic, but among the top 20 or so most recently bumped threads here, this one seems most appropriate.) My understanding is the democrats have lost the high school educated white working class. They haven’t lost the working class in general. POC who are working class still vote democratic. Black women are the most working class demographic and they vote 96% democratic. College educated white people who are economically working class still support the democratic party. Not only that, but even when you control for income, there is a 40 point gap between white college educated and white non-college educated people. Whites with a college degree who make 100k+ a year are about 40 points to the left of whites with a high school diploma who make 100k+ a year. The same applies to whites making under 30k, or 30-60k, 60-100k, etc. The reason is because whites with a college degree have less bigotry and authoritarianism than whites whose educations ended in high school. When you control for bigotry and authoritarianism, the education gap among whites disappears. Its entirely plausible that Evan Barker has a point, and progressives constantly trying to out-purify each other by punching down is alienating a lot of voters. I wouldn’t be surprised. But the end result is democrats didn’t lose the working class, they lost whites who score high on authoritarianism and prejudice irrelevant of income. The real political shift in the last 20 years is that whites (and white adjacent POC) who score high on authoritarianism are becoming republicans, while whites and white adjacent POC who score low on authoritarianism are becoming democrats. FWIW, what does work to bring high school educated whites back into the democratic party is labor union membership. Whites whose highest level of education is high school or some college who are members of a labor union vote democrat about 20-30 points more than white high school graduates who are not in a labor union. But because the democrats work for the rich just like the republicans, they will never pass meaningful labor reform. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Gordon\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_G)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2026, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-the-democrats-can-ever-build-a-coalition-of-80-85-million-voters-in-presidential-elections/1031442/9 "2026-07-27T18:07:04Z")
Labor unions and the working class more generally were once a dominant force in the Democratic Party. As millions cannot afford healthcare or sink into poverty, the Democratic _should_ – but doesn’t – benefit, as the Party that supports the working class. But The Democratic Party is now dominated by elites. > [@Even Barker](#): > > Democrats now win 65 percent of Americans making over $500,000 a year. Democrats are also twice as likely to obtain four-year degrees as Republican voters. Twenty years ago, this was not the case. When Democrats turned their backs on the white working class, they turned their backs on the _entire_ working class: Many black and Latino voters have more in common with my Trump-loving family in Missouri than they do with young, white progressives in Brooklyn. We want our politicians to focus on the economy and healthcare, not which race or ethnic group or gender is suffering the most. Ms. Barker worked to elect Bernie Sanders and Jasmine Crockett. Was it stupid for her to become a MAGA nut just to say “F U”? Sure. _ **But 12% of Sanders voters in 2016 voted for Trump in the general election** _ and many more stayed home on Election Day. Do NOT just dismiss these voters as stupid: _Win them back!_ ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2026, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-the-democrats-can-ever-build-a-coalition-of-80-85-million-voters-in-presidential-elections/1031442/10 "2026-07-27T18:38:27Z")
The problem is that figuring out how to win back stupid people gets you chasing your tail. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2026, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-the-democrats-can-ever-build-a-coalition-of-80-85-million-voters-in-presidential-elections/1031442/11 "2026-07-27T19:55:44Z")
> [@Gordon\_G](#): > > Ms. Barker worked to elect Bernie Sanders and Jasmine Crockett. Was it stupid for her to become a MAGA nut just to say “F U”? Sure. _ **But 12% of Sanders voters in 2016 voted for Trump in the general election** _ and many more stayed home on Election Day. Do NOT just dismiss these voters as stupid: _Win them back!_ This article has a lot of good info about Sanders-Trump voters in 2016. [https://www.npr.org/2017/08/24/545812242/1-in-10-sanders-primary-voters-ended-up-supporting-trump-survey-finds](https://www.npr.org/2017/08/24/545812242/1-in-10-sanders-primary-voters-ended-up-supporting-trump-survey-finds) TL;DR - about half of Sanders-Trump voters were secretly republicans, about half felt whites do not have special advantages, and only 20% of them approved of Obama. Basically, they were never democrats, they were racially resentful republicans who crossed over and voted for Sanders in the 2016 primary. And who knows how many of them voted Sanders just to be anti-Hillary Clinton, not pro-Sanders. In 2018 in CA, Diane Feinstein ran against Kevin de Leon for senate. De Leon did better than Feinstein in the rural, republican areas. But his positions were to the left of Feinstein. Republicans didn’t vote for De Leon because they liked his positions, they just didn’t like Feinstein. I’m sure something similar happened in 2016 among Bernie-Trump voters who were voting against Hillary. > **[2018 United States Senate election in California](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_United_States_Senate_election_in_California)** > > Dianne Feinstein > Democratic Dianne Feinstein > Democratic Meanwhile the Sanders voters who voted for Clinton, the vast majority of them identify as democrats, the vast majority recognize racial injustice, and the vast majority approved of Obama. Keep in mind that only 13 million people voted for Sanders in the 2016 primary, so 10% of them is 1.3 million people. of those 1.3 million people, half or more are actually closeted republicans who hold white racial resentment. Appealing to them is not going to win the democrats any nationwide races. Democrats need to do ‘something’ to build a coalition of 80-85 million. But appealing to a small sliver of racially resentful whites isn’t going to achieve it. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2026, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-the-democrats-can-ever-build-a-coalition-of-80-85-million-voters-in-presidential-elections/1031442/12 "2026-07-27T23:33:37Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Her story reads like a GOP charicature. > **[Obama saved my life — then I voted for Trump](https://www.thetimes.com/us/american-politics/article/evan-barker-democrats-republicans-trump-nothing-left-h66mxl9rs)** > > Evan Barker raised $50m for the Democrats before abandoning them in 2024. Now she’s written a book damning the party that lost middle America > She [Evan Barker from the article posted by **Gordon\_G**] remembers standing in a line for a handshake with “public enemy number one”, the man “I’d spent eight years working against”. She recalls feeling guilty for even being there, “knowing how long I had despised everything he stood for”, while Trump supporters would have given anything to swap places with her. > > “My experience with the president was quick; a photo op in the lineup,” she writes in her book. “But when he met my son, his face lit up. ‘That’s a beautiful boy!’ he exclaimed.” > > Later, as she joined the crowd for Trump’s speech, she says she enjoyed chanting “USA! USA!” with the audience. “It felt good. On the other side, I never felt allowed to love my country,” she says. So she thinks Trump is safe to have around her children. Then she started chanting MAGA chants, claiming she was never allowed to love her country as a democrat. In the article she talks about how horrible health insurance was for her and her family before the ACA, before talking about how she voted for Trump despite Trump trying repeatedly to destroy the ACA. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-the-democrats-can-ever-build-a-coalition-of-80-85-million-voters-in-presidential-elections/1031442/13 "2026-07-28T00:06:09Z")
I’d also add something else, which is that Democrats put way too much emphasis on someone’s race/skin color in assuming they will vote (D). Many Democrats make it all about white vs nonwhite, not realizing that a **whole lot** of **non** -white folks are comfortable with, and supportive of, MAGA-style tyranny, cult of personality, an authoritarian regime, etc.- as much so as any Proud Boy or KKK. Nonwhite conservatives hate liberals a _whole lot more_ than they fear white folks. I once had the misfortune of attending a MAGA-type event in Corpus Christi. (Technically, it was an evangelical Christian conference but it was a de facto MAGA rally.) The crowd was maybe 60-70% Hispanic, Asian and black. The main speakers were Hispanic. It may have been the most racially diverse crowd I’d ever been in. And a whole lot of folks there were totally fine with Trumpy authoritarianism and squelching of freedoms. Not for one moment was that Corpus Christi rally about “whites stepping on brown folk,” it was about “Let’s stomp on those liberals _together, MAGA folk_!” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-the-democrats-can-ever-build-a-coalition-of-80-85-million-voters-in-presidential-elections/1031442/14 "2026-07-28T00:30:51Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Not for one moment was that Corpus Christi rally about “whites stepping on brown folk,” it was about “Let’s stomp on those liberals _together, MAGA folk_!” Colorblind meritocracy! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-the-democrats-can-ever-build-a-coalition-of-80-85-million-voters-in-presidential-elections/1031442/15 "2026-07-28T01:02:20Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Kevin de Leon for senate. De Leon did better than Feinstein in the rural, republican areas. But his positions were to the left of Feinstein. Except the racism- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin\_de\_León#2022\_racism\_scandal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_de_Le%C3%B3n#2022_racism_scandal) In October 2022, an audio recording of a private 2021 meeting attended by de León, fellow Council member [Gil Cedillo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Cedillo "Gil Cedillo"), [Los Angeles County Federation of Labor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_County_Federation_of_Labor "Los Angeles County Federation of Labor") President [Ron Herrera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Herrera "Ron Herrera"), and Council president [Nury Martinez](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nury_Martinez "Nury Martinez") came to light in which Martinez made racist remarks about the adopted black son of their white City Council colleague [Mike Bonin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Bonin "Mike Bonin"), comparing Bonin’s treatment of his son to the way one handles a handbag. They also used slurs against indigenous [Oaxacan people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_people_of_Oaxaca "Indigenous people of Oaxaca") who live in [Koreatown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koreatown,_Los_Angeles "Koreatown, Los Angeles"), and discussed redistricting in order to break up black voting districts, turning them into Latino ones through the process of [gerrymandering](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering "Gerrymandering"). He apologized for taking part in the conversation, but refused to resign.[[46]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_de_Le%C3%B3n#cite_note-46) ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-the-democrats-can-ever-build-a-coalition-of-80-85-million-voters-in-presidential-elections/1031442/16 "2026-07-28T03:45:58Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > The problem is that figuring out how to win back stupid people gets you chasing your tail. If these people can’t be bothered to prevent a convicted felon, an adjudicated rapist, and a bald faced liar, a bad liar at that, from becoming president then I certainly don’t know how to win them back. > [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > So she thinks Trump is safe to have around her children. Then she started chanting MAGA chants, claiming she was never allowed to love her country as a democrat. Trump makes her feel good. For a lot of his supporters, I think that’s a big part of his appeal. ---
**Author:** ![ZosterSandstorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e0b2c6/32.png) [@ZosterSandstorm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZosterSandstorm)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-the-democrats-can-ever-build-a-coalition-of-80-85-million-voters-in-presidential-elections/1031442/17 "2026-07-28T07:51:00Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > The problem is that figuring out how to win back stupid people gets you chasing your tail. A good example of trying to win stupid people is as follows: -During the first two years of COVID, short-term inflation spiked due to an idiotic “print trillions of dollars in money during a supply shock” strategy, as every economist could have predicted would happen (and did). -This policy was begun _under, and by,_ _Donald Trump_ in 2020 during his first term, and can essentially be laid at his feet. -Despite the inflation happening in 2020 and 2021, by 2024 the Biden administration and the Fed had returned inflation to under 2% per year, without interrupting the return to pre-pandemic levels of unemployment. Managing inflation without causing an unemployment spike is very hard, and the Biden-era government pulled it off. -Instead of campaigning on this tangible and remarkable achievement of the administration she was a part of, Kamala Harris accepted the false narrative of “runaway inflation” in 2024, and proposed solving it by instituting federal price caps on grocery stores, a policy that is both economically illiterate and totally beyond the power of the federal government to do without some sort of supermajority that was never going to happen. The main driver of this decision was the belief that making a simple argument involving one or two numbers, such as the actual rate of inflation or unemployment, would inevitably be too complex for voters to understand. The problem isn’t just “immediately write off anyone who has any problems with the Democratic platform as irredeemably stupid and racist and stop trying to win their votes” (though that is a huge problem). There are lots of second-order consequences of the “let’s assume all the voters are morons” premise, including reasoning yourself out of campaigning on economic achievements that people care about, and the nonstop, currently ongoing game of “how do we find someone with a good hairline to swindle voters into voting for policies they don’t like.” Fundamentally, Democratic strategists believe that elections are about something called “charisma” or about finding their version of the Trumpian “cult of personality.” They cannot accept that most voters are making rational decisions as to who to vote for based on which candidates reflect their policy preferences, and the only information gap is in communicating when candidates do not actually do that. E.g., people voting for Trump because they think “immigrants are taking my job” are voting for a chain of policy preferences, and if your position is that “actually immigration boosts the economy and doesn’t crowd out your job” you need to _say that and convince people of it_, not assume they aren’t actually voting that way and decree you need Gavin Newsom to tweet the word “fuck” every 15 minutes because you’ve decided that’s what Republicans actually like about Trump and if a Democrat just does it they would switch to him ---
**Author:** ![Hawkeyeop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/958977/32.png) [@Hawkeyeop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hawkeyeop)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-the-democrats-can-ever-build-a-coalition-of-80-85-million-voters-in-presidential-elections/1031442/18 "2026-07-28T15:20:26Z")
The way I would look at it is that the Democrats are so unpopular that they lost to a convicted felon, an adjudicated rapist, and a bald faced liar. Given the low bar of the other candidates, I actually it is pretty simple problem. Become more popular as a party (or at least not actively detested by much of the country) and you will elections comfortably. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Gordon\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_G)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-the-democrats-can-ever-build-a-coalition-of-80-85-million-voters-in-presidential-elections/1031442/19 "2026-07-28T15:50:51Z")
“Become more popular.” Yes that’s (tautologically) what’s needed; but it’s easier said than done. Many voters get their news almost exclusively from the Trump-Putin Bullshit Machine. The emphasis MUST be placed on free healthcare and jobs, and NOT “wokeism”. Ridiculing DEI is a favorite pastime of MAGA; folks embracing it will vote Democratic no matter what. Do the Democrats even have a candidate ready to win in 2028? I liked Tim Walz. Any better choices? ---
**Author:** ![ZosterSandstorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e0b2c6/32.png) [@ZosterSandstorm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZosterSandstorm)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-the-democrats-can-ever-build-a-coalition-of-80-85-million-voters-in-presidential-elections/1031442/20 "2026-07-28T17:13:48Z")
> [@Gordon\_G](#): > > The emphasis MUST be placed on free healthcare and jobs, and NOT “wokeism”. Ridiculing DEI is a favorite pastime of MAGA; folks embracing it will vote Democratic no matter what. There’s aspects of “DEI” broadly defined that matter, and aspects that don’t. A lot of people really, really hate the “stolen land”/general America-bashing type bullshit. It is a huge problem with getting votes from immigrant groups. Trump is virulently anti-immigrant to the point of jailing and killing them; that is a group that should be voting 100% Democratic. But instead, 51% of naturalized citizen voters went for Trump in 2024, as did around 40% of second-generation-plus Hispanics. Why? Because 1. Democrats are pathologically incapable of getting on a lectern and saying “we love the American dream, we are here to support people who legally immigrate and want to start a business or earn a living” without adding “you’re doing it on stolen land and capitalism is wrong!” 2. Many people are not identity politics voters, and even if they _do_ prefer the Democratic approach to immigration and racial tolerance, will still vote Republican because their bigger concerns are tax rates, small business regulation, crime, etc. Biden was pushing the PRO Act, which is basically a “put ten million people out of work now” bill that would make things like working as a contractor for Uber or Doordash illegal as well as eliminate similar 1099 jobs such as writers and artists. Do you think “eliminating gig work” might impact nonwhite/immigrant communities? Apparently Kamala Harris did not take her thought process that far. The almost total hiring freeze on white males in professional positions since 2020, which is deeply tied to certain Democratic politicians, is going to be probably _the_ biggest barrier to making headway with that demographic group. Like the pro-crime DAs in Chicago, Minneapolis, and Philadelphia, the sort of nonsense that California gets up to is too easily ignored as “those are always going to be blue places anyway,” as if voters in the rest of the country don’t see it and go “let’s make sure that never happens here.” Again, a consequence of assuming everyone is stupid. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-the-democrats-can-ever-build-a-coalition-of-80-85-million-voters-in-presidential-elections/1031442.md?page=2)