Thread by @simon_bazelon

It's time to renew the Democratic Party.

Introducing DECIDING TO WIN: the most comprehensive account yet of where Democrats went wrong, and what we need to do to win again.

With a year of research and tons of new data, by @laurenhpope, @liamkerr, and me.

Link and 🧵 below.

You can read DECIDING TO WIN at . We've surveyed 500,000+ people since the 2024 election, so the report covers a lot of ground. But it's about two main ideas: Prioritizing and Positioning. (2/14) deciding-to-win.org

Prioritization: To win again, our party needs to relentlessly focus on economic issues.

The problem: Since 2012, we've become dramatically more focused on issues like climate, democracy, abortion, and identity – and less focused on the economy/middle class.

Data below. (3/14)

This shift is a huge mistake for our party. Per our polling, voters *overwhelmingly* want Democrats to focus on concrete economic issues, like:
- Lowering everyday costs
- Protecting Social Security/Medicare
- Making health care more affordable
- Creating jobs

(4/14)

But voters don’t think Democrats care *nearly* enough about these economic issues – or about securing the border/reducing crime.

Instead, our polling shows that voters think we care too much about cultural concerns that they don’t see as priorities. (5/14)

Our party’s shift in priorities has had huge consequences for how voters perceive us.

As we have stopped focusing on voters' top concerns, the share of voters who think the Democratic Party is “out of touch” has skyrocketed. (6/14)

But we haven't just shifted priorities. We’ve also shifted our positions—to the left.

In 2024, half of congressional Dems sponsored M4A (up from 24% in 2014).

88% sponsored an assault weapons ban (up from 41% in 2014).

57% sponsored a reparations study bill (up from 1%).

(7/14)

Just as voters have noticed our party's shift away from prioritizing economic issues, they’ve noticed our shift left – and they don't like it.

Since 2012, the share of voters who think the Democratic Party is "too liberal" has gone up by ~10%, and is now at 55% (!). (8/14)

Democrats’ shift left has had major electoral costs for our party. In 2024, Kamala Harris actually did slightly *better* among self-identified liberal voters than Obama did in 2012.

She lost because of cratering support for Democrats among moderates/conservatives. (9/14)

Why have Democrats moved left?

Which parts of the Democratic agenda are actually popular?

Who is the most electable candidate in 2028?

How have progressives misled us about political reality?

Much more at . (10/14)deciding-to-win.org

Thanks to all the brilliant people who provided feedback on earlier drafts of Deciding to Win! (11/14)

More thanks to @JamesCarville @CheriBustos @schultzohio @lxeagle17 @j_kalla @lara_putnam @jon_m_rob @aaronstrauss @alapp212 and even @PatrickRuffini for their kind words about the project! (12/14)

To read more about Deciding to Win, see @daveweigel’s piece in Semafor today. (13/14)

semafor.com/article/10/27/…

@daveweigel Last but not least: You can get a print copy of Deciding to Win!

And we’ll mail a free copy to any Democratic candidate who wants one. (14/14)

amazon.com/Deciding-Win-T…