DISCLAIMER: I am not a U.S. citizen nor did I vote in this election. This article is an objective analysis of what the Democrats need to reflect on before the midterms.
When I woke up on the morning of Wednesday, November 6th, the first thing I did was reach for my phone. The election had been called the night before, but I was curious to see how people of various backgrounds would react to the results on social media platforms such as X, formerly known as Twitter. The messages from the right side of X were not surprising: a multitude of politically incorrect name-calling, a deification of Donald Trump (with AI-generated pictures and videos), and most importantly, a celebration of revisionist politics. The tweets from the left were shocking, however. A recurring theme was a sense of instant revulsion at the results of the election that many echoed; they expressed extreme sentiments that included a complete rejection of the other side of the spectrum. Certain users wanted Trump voters to “block” or “unfollow” them, using logical fallacies such as “If you voted for Trump, how can you claim to care about women?” Other users resorted to even more violent language. I was puzzled as I was reading all of this: isn’t the lack of understanding of the American people what cost the Democrats this crucial election?
One of the biggest reasons the Democrats lost overwhelmingly in the political trifecta is their increasing disconnect with working-class voters. Once hailed as the party that represents the people, with its extensive policies for social welfare and uplifting the common man, the Democrats have strayed further and further from their origins. The elite mindset plagues the party leadership, and one needs to look no further than Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker of the House, to witness the problem. The daughter of a former Congressman and wife to a wealthy businessman, it is plausible to contend that she has never experienced the same problems as the average working-class family. In fact, Pelosi has not been free of allegations in recent years either, with her well-performing stock portfolio drawing questions as to whether she leveraged knowledge gained on the House floor to engage in a form of insider trading. The issues trickle down to the local level. In a now-viral New Hampshire District 2 debate, Lily Tang Williams, the GOP candidate who was born in China and came to the U.S. with just “100 dollars”, called out Maggie Goodlander, the Democratic candidate for her grandiose plans that purportedly help the people. Stressing the fact that Goodlander is well-connected with the D.C. elite and has a net worth of “20 million to 30 million dollars”, Williams ripped her on the basis that she does not “go to Walmart” nor “understand the problems of regular people”, and rightfully so. Goodlander could not come up with a single coherent response, and her failure to do so showed in the polls. In a historically deep blue district where Democrats usually won by 10-20 percentage points, Goodlander only won by 5.7%. The reasoning is apparent; everyday people are fed up with the lofty messaging by the Democrats.
One of the biggest reasons the Democrats lost overwhelmingly in the political trifecta is their increasing disconnect with working-class voters.
The worst messaging manifested in the issue of inflation and the economy, which also happened to be one of the most paramount deciding factors of the election. Instead of candidly tackling the topic, or employing the most important tactic in all of politics, spin, the Democratic consensus was clear: avoid talking about the issue altogether, or at least do so as much as possible. In her CNN interview, Vice President Harris embodied this strategy. When inflation came up, she fell back on the vague, somewhat irrelevant topic of “opposing price gouging” once again. However, this simply does not work. People with lower incomes bear the brunt of any economic downturn and thus inflation hits them the hardest. Society’s poorest are most exposed to the effects of higher-than-usual inflation, which was most pronounced for basic consumer goods such as food, as empirically confirmed by sectorial CPI data for the last four years. To just brush it off and evade discussion of such an important topic is exactly where the Democratic elite went wrong. Perhaps they should have tried something like this: Have Harris give an economic primer on TV about how inflation works and why prices will not go down unless the U.S. economy contracts. Pin the blame on Republicans since it was under Trump when inflation first spiraled out of control, well over the 2% threshold set by the Fed. Finally, spin the issue and argue Democrats have been doing a better job, as they have been trying to fix inflation and reduce it to the best of their abilities. In fact, inflation has not exceeded the real wage growth rate since January 2023, meaning the purchasing power of consumers has increased under Biden. All of this could have helped Democrats gain some ground on the economy, yet they resorted to doing nothing, leaving it up to the (mostly uneducated) voters who switched allegiances because they now pay $3.40 for a dozen eggs instead of $1.40 in 2019.
In addition to the estrangement of working-class people, Democrats also alienated minority voters in this election, mainly because they treated each demographic as a monolith. The prime example of this is the Latino vote. In a now-deleted tweet, a self-proclaimed liberal X user expressed his frustration with Latino voters, asking them why they “voted for [their] own deportation.” The declaration is not merely fallacious but outright bigoted, as it assumes that all Latinos are illegal immigrants and that just because the Democrats are favorable to Latinos in one policy domain, they will garner universal support from the demographic. While I’m sure most Democrats do not share the same views, this tweet does unfortunately epitomize this election’s Democratic platform. Because their policies are more pro-immigration, Democrats expect Latinos, the leading immigrant demographic in the U.S., to vote blue automatically. They do not take into account the traditionally conservative Cubans, the millions of Puerto Ricans who have been in the U.S. for generations, the machismo and patriarchal aspects that still dominate Latino cultural norms, and a million other cultural/social reasons why some Latinos would not vote for Kamala Harris. As a result, there was no direct appeal to Latino voters from the Democrats, which was a massive misstep in retrospect. Trump stunningly gained the support of 54% of Latino men while Harris only pulled in 44%, a stunning regression from Biden’s victory in 2020 when he won this demographic 59%-36%. The decline can also be seen in Latina women, with Harris suffering a 7% decline in support here. Instead of assuming identity politics still work in the Democrats’ favor, there should have been explicit messaging done by the Left to attract the votes of each minority demographic, whether through the form of substantive policy or contrasts with the other side.
All of this could have helped Democrats gain some ground on the economy, yet they resorted to doing nothing, leaving it up to the (mostly uneducated) voters who switched allegiances because they now pay $3.40 for a dozen eggs instead of $1.40 in 2019.
Other miscellaneous issues also plagued the Harris campaign. From the fact that she never won any primary votes, to her own personal blemishes, to the infamous “I am speaking now” incident in Detroit, MI in which she probably turned away even more Muslim voters, there were simply too many problems for her to overcome the resilient cult of personality that Trump possesses. The more Harris focused on hurling personal attacks at Trump and the more the Democratic party tried taking down Trump justly through the legal system, the more Trump was able to paint himself as a martyr in this “witch hunt” who would return America to its former greatness. The Harris campaign realized this failure way too late, with her policy platforms not posted on her website until one day before the presidential debate, and her last-ditch attempts at winning over voters with provocative tweets about legalizing marijuana right before election day. Had she distanced herself from the incumbent administration and distinguished herself much earlier by setting out clear policy goals that would be achieved, perhaps the outcomes in certain counties would have been different.
Unfortunately, a substantial number of Democrats still refuse to acknowledge their faults, doubling down instead on unproductive rhetoric that alienates potential voters. Rather than introspection, many Democrats have resorted to labeling voters on the other side as “stupid” or “bigoted,” effectively shutting down any meaningful discourse. Even Senator John Fetterman did this on X, calling Green Party voters “dips**ts” who helped elect the GOP. This dismissive attitude was epitomized by Pelosi’s response to Senator Bernie Sanders’s critique of the Democratic Party after the election. Laughing it off during an interview, Pelosi remarked that she “does not respect him saying that the Democratic Party has abandoned the working-class families.” This kind of deflection not only sidesteps the core issues but reinforces the perception of an out-of-touch elite unwilling to engage with the very voters the party claims to champion. Adding to the disconnection are the Democrats’ overemphasis on cultural and identity issues, which, while important, have often been wielded to virtue-signal rather than to inspire genuine unity.
The worst hypocrisy lies in their selective moral posturing: figures like Bill Clinton, who perjured himself on national TV and used his power to engage in multiple inappropriate relationships with younger women, continue to grace Democratic events as keynote speakers. Meanwhile, the acceptance of Dick Cheney’s endorsement, despite his apparent role in war crimes and policies that starkly contradict progressive ideals, only underscores the party’s willingness to compromise principles when it suits their narrative. How can Democratic voters claim that misogyny or racism should have been “dealbreakers” for the other side when they align themselves with such deeply flawed individuals as well? The broader strategy of moral superiority—branding the GOP as an inherent evil rather than presenting compelling, substantive policy solutions—has proven ineffective. Voters are increasingly frustrated with being talked down to or manipulated through identity politics alone. If Democrats want to regain lost ground, they must abandon this ineffective approach and focus on addressing tangible issues that resonate with everyday Americans. Being righteous matters, but only when people can experience a quality of life without compromising their past lifestyles.
It’s time to take a look in the mirror, Democrats. The ball is in your court.
Leo Huang ‘26 studies in the College of Arts & Sciences. He can be reached at h.yuliu@wustl.edu.