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| House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries |
The Democratic Party’s favorability rating among Americans stands at a record low, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, fueled in part by dimming views from its own frustrated supporters.
Among the American public overall, the Democratic Party’s favorability rating stands at just 29%—a record low in CNN’s polling dating back to 1992 and a drop of 20 points since January 2021.
Although I am not surprised that they have lost some support,
I am surprised it’s that low. The influences dominating American culture are
clearly in the liberal camp. The more liberal someone is, the more likely
they are to be a Democrat.
People in the entertainment industry lead the pack in terms
of liberal influence. Popular celebrities have an outsized platform to
pontificate their liberal point of view. Most of the time, they identify as
Democrats. That should not come as a surprise to anyone who followed the last
election. A variety of different celebrities from all segments of the
entertainment industry came out in full force supporting the Democratic ticket.
They were all over the place at the DNC convention. There were no celebrities
at the RNC convention.
For young people, it is the recording industry that
influences them the most. So when Drake, Eminem, Beyoncé, or Taylor Swift
supports the Democratic ticket and ridicules Republicans, you better believe
that has a tremendous influence on their fans.
The same thing is true for late-night talk show hosts.
Whether it’s Jimmy Kimmel or Stephen Colbert, their liberal political
perspective is all over their comedy monologues. To say nothing of SNL - by
far the most liberal of all. All of them surely voted Democrat and not so subtly
influenced their fans to do the same.
Then there is the news media, both print and electronic.
Although they pretend to be even-handed, all of the mainstream versions of them
are in the liberal/Democratic camp.
With all that influence, how did Democrats arrive at such a
dismal favorability rating? Democratic pundits will say they were not liberal
enough. Or that they don’t stand up to the Republicans in Congress enough. Or
that they have no leadership. All of which may very well be true. Especially
their lack of leadership. I don’t see any Democrat standing out as a possible
candidate for president in the next election.
But I don’t think that’s it.
I believe the decline in the popularity of the Democratic
Party is far more fundamental. It is a reaction to what has come to be known as
the culture war. A decision has been made by the American people about what
side of the culture war they want to be on. And it is not the side that the
Democratic Party has chosen. No matter how much the above-mentioned liberal influences
have tried to convince the American people to hop on board with them.
The last election tells the story. The American people voted for a man who was labeled a subversive criminal by his opposition. A man they were told would end democracy as we know it. A man with a reputation for vindictiveness against his political enemies. A man who got Roe v Wade overturned. A man they said would overturn decades of civil rights granted to minorities. A man who promised to pardon all people found guilty of insurrection on January 6th (and kept his promise!)
A man who refused to include the racism of our Founding
Fathers into our educational system. A man who rejected the race-based
favoritism that DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programs represent. A
man who favored the rights of religious people instead of prioritizing the
rights of LGBTQ people. A man that would end gender affirming hormone treatment
of minors without parental consent.
A man who saw treating illegal immigrants with kid gloves as
harmful to the country. A man who rejected the disruptive tactics of pro-Hamas
protesters on college campuses and actually did something about it. A man who
is widely supported by law enforcement. An institution that has been given a bum
rap by much of the liberal/Democratic establishment in recent years.
Liberal pundits (like CNN) will retort that it wasn’t the Democratic position on the
culture war that lost them their popularity. That it is the electorate’s belief
that Trump and the Republican party would improve the economy that got them elected. While that is a
large part of the reason the majority of the electorate voted for them, that is not why support for Democrats has sunken to such low numbers - well after the election. Even as
Trump has disappointed much of his electorate with respect to their economic expectations.
Nope.
I really think that Trump’s slogan of Making America Great Again actually resonated with them - even as they might despise the actual MAGA logo itself. They looked back to a time before the culture war was being won by the liberal/left where the values they cherished were discarded. Values that did indeed make this country great. I believe that the majority of the American electorate wants most of those values to be restored.
I, for one, am glad to see this happen. If Democrats want a chance to regain the White House in the next presidential election, they need to do some soul-searching about which side of the culture war they want to be on. If they are smart, they will side with the people who voted Republican in the last election. Not the celebrities and mainstream media personalities whose liberal values are hardwired into their brains.
My 2 cents.