The Democrats Are Letting the Midterms Slip Away

Election Day is less than three weeks away, but the GOP is having a field day thanks to the same old lies.

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

For the past few days, there has been a passage of a New York Times article about the midterm elections rattling around in my head. I cannot stop thinking about it. It’s not something particularly new or sensational, merely a reiteration of a trend that most politically-aware people will recognize: that in general, American voters are intensely stupid. Here is the passage, from this Times story:

“I’m shifting more towards Republican because I feel like they’re more geared towards business,” said Robin Ackerman, a 37-year-old Democrat and mortgage loan officer who lives in New Castle, Del., and is planning to vote Republican this fall.

Ms. Ackerman said she disagreed “1,000 percent” with the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and erase the national right to an abortion. “But that doesn’t really have a lot to do with my decision,” she said of her fall vote. “I’m more worried about other things.”

If you hear a sound in the distance that is like a burbling whistle, like a pot with a crooked lid kind of rattling around while pasta water inside it boils over, a just generally unpleasant and grating noise, do not panic. It means that you, like me, are experiencing the kind of brain death that comes from watching the non-fascist party in the U.S. lose over and over again because they have for decades been unable to correct the average moron’s perception that “uhhh Republicans… money???”

It is pretty clear to me what happened here: Democrats thought that the post-Roe uptick in political engagement would carry them through the midterms, but continued economic troubles exacerbated by an ineffective federal response created what’s known in professional terms as a “bad economy,” which is just about the best thing an opposition party can get in an election year. A closer look at the Democrat’s strategy tells a similar story. From a Washington Post story earlier this month:

With a tough midterm election about six weeks away, many Democrats have largely settled on a campaign message, and it’s not one that simply emphasizes their accomplishments. Instead, it amounts to a stark warning: If Republicans take power, they will establish a dystopia that cripples democracy and eviscerates abortion rights and other freedoms.

This is not an altogether bad plan. It’s good that the Democrats are finally starting to become institutionally aware of the existential threat their opponents represent. It’s good that they are trying to communicate that to voters. But it’s not enough to win an election. Part of that, I think, is due to the fact that your average voter, who, we must remember, is very stupid and short-sighted, does not necessarily see the fascist dictatorship oppressing them every day. Certainly many white suburban voters don’t. But what they do see is the price at the gas pump (which isn’t really anything to do with the president but again, people are stupid). They see stuff at the store getting more expensive and interest rates going up and their rent increasing and they think, Damn. This sucks. Economy is bad. Guess I’ll vote for the other guys. That is the very uncomplicated thought process that results in the Times quote at the top of this story. That is how an enormous number of Americans think. Is it stupid? Yes, and frustrating, and obtuse and all of those other words. But the Democratic party knows this. We all know people are often dumb and incoherent, that they are easily persuaded to vote against their interests of befuddled by the many little lies that capitalism convinces people to fall for. Our society deserves leaders and a system of government that allows for the average person to be, essentially, a dumb idiot who doesn’t really get it. But in order for that to happen you have to meet them where they’re at, and figure out a way to correct some of those lies and present a better alternative to an economic crisis than just ‘social dystopia that will happen if you vote for the money guys.’

There are signs that some people in the party know this. Bernie Sanders, the 81-year-old standard bearer for slightly-left-of-liberal social democracy, is planning a “midterms blitz” of more than 19 events over eight different battleground states in support of candidates for every office from Congress to mayor. As the Times reported today:

Mr. Sanders said he planned to focus on an economic message in pitching Democrats in 2022. Asked to assess how his party was doing in selling itself to working-class voters, he replied, “I think they’re doing rather poorly.”

“It is rather amazing to me that we are in a situation right now, which I hope to change, where according to poll after poll, the American people look more favorably upon the Republicans in terms of economic issues than they do Democrats,” he said. “That is absurd.”

Yes! Thank you! It IS absurd! And as Sanders explains, countering the GOP’s “we are good money guys” platform is relatively straightforward: call them on the bullshit, and focus on the things that people actually notice in their everyday lives. The Vermont senator also told the Times:

“They’re going to have to respond to why they don’t want to raise the minimum wage, why they want to give tax breaks to billionaires, why they want to cut Social Security. Those are the questions that I think these guys do not want to answer. And those are the questions I’m going to be raising.”

The fact that an octogenarian Senator who lost the Democratic nomination twice is the only one prescient and motivated enough to address this isn’t a good sign. Once again, we’re left hoping that the rest of the party catches up before it’s too late—if it isn’t already.