As the midterm elections loom, Democrats are finding it hard to keep the party intact, as different factions of the party find it difficult to come up with common narratives regarding many issues of public interest.
In retaliation for the emergence of the far-right narrative under Donald Trump, an equally vocal far-left narrative bubbled up in the democratic party. And now mainstream democrats are finding ways to distance themselves from this far-left narrative.
This messaging war has made even Joe Biden claim that he is not a supporter of defunding the police narrative, a message which resonated well with far-left ideology after the murder of George Floyd.
This is concerning for the democratic party as subsequent polls have suggested that an average voter is not a big fan of such far-left ideas.
For this reason, the tensions for the party are mounting at a time when Republicans were already doing well in polls regarding the results of midterm elections.
Republicans can campaign against the far-left narrative of some democrats
Some far-left ideologies have made room for Republicans to malign the reputation of the democratic party. Recently BLM activists formally associated with the organization tried to kill a Democratic mayoral candidate from Kentucky. However, within a couple of days, the organization collected $100,000 to release him on bail.
This has prompted Republicans to claim that Democrats are supporting such an organization that is promoting violence in the country.
The donors of the BLM have also come into headlines for supporting the organizations, an event which can be quoted widely in the Republicans 2022 midterm elections campaign.
Mainstream Democrats, even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, recently disowned the police narrative, suggesting that it is not an official position of the party.
Although some of the Democrats in the same House which she leads have distanced themselves from Pelosi over the said matter, even some progressives are now accepting that they must not embrace the police defunding movement if they really want to stay relevant in the party.
Moderate Democrats are most worried about rising far left
Moderate Democrats are currently the most vulnerable in their reelections in the 2022 cycle.
This has made them compulsive to oppose such far-left ideological beliefs. They are facing a double-edged sword at the moment.
Democratic voters dislike them because they failed to keep up their promise that they would vote for a social spending bill after getting the infrastructure bill passed.
Similarly, as most of them belong to conservative states where even swing voters lean towards the right, supporting the movements like police defunding is out of the equation for them.
Voters are not ready to buy far-left Democratic narrative at the moment
Even the voters of left-leaning cities like Minneapolis and Austin were reluctant to buy the narrative of police defunding.
Voters in these cities embraced rather conservative policies in public polls regarding police and homelessness, shocking many democrats who were planning to build their campaign across these lines.
In another left-leaning city, San Francisco voters voted out three school board members who tried to walk a far left path.
These school members suggested renaming the school named after Abraham Lincoln, as they deemed it flawed. Similarly, the members wanted to end merit-based systems to incorporate Asian Americans by introducing quotas in schools.
Voters are not currently ready to buy this sort of narrative. While this message may start resonating with voters in the new future, as the younger generation continues making up a bigger chunk of voters, currently, Democrats need to walk along voter perception to make their elections count.
Final Thoughts
There is a starking division even within progressives. Not all of them want to walk the same path.
More progressives are realizing this truth and are moving away from a far-left narrative that may seem ideal in theory but hold little significance in the real world. Far-left ideologies talk about revamping the system completely, hence putting a lot at stake, which could create a sense of insecurity among voters.
This the mainstream democrats have understood quite well, which has helped them in realizing the truth before other factions. The sooner the Democrats realize this, the better for her political career.
Thus it is time for the powerhouse of democrats to step forward and course-correct before it’s too late.
Eli is a Political Data Scientist with over thirty years of experience in Data Engineering, Analytics, and Digital Marketing. Eli uses his expertise to give the latest information and distinctive analysis on US Political News, US Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, and Racial Justice equipping readers with the inequivalent knowledge.