As the Democratic party debates its path forward, its pitch to the middle class is losing resonance

[mahatmakanejeeves]

As the Democratic party debates its path forward, its pitch to the middle class is losing resonance

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Democrats’ Broad Challenge: Middle-Class Appeal
As the party debates its path forward, its pitch to the political sweet spot is losing resonance

By Gerald F. Seib
June 26, 2017 10:36 a.m. ET

Democrats have entered a summer of discontent, in which their disdain for President Donald Trump is matched by their frustration at an inability, so far at least, to notch an election victory that would show they can translate anti-Trump sentiment into success at the ballot box.

They are troubled most immediately by their failure to capture a seemingly winnable vacant House seat in suburban Atlanta last week. That has precipitated a round of backbiting and second-guessing, and a debate about whether the party’s success lies in staking out the political center, to claim the votes of independent and moderate Republicans put off by the coarseness and unpredictability of Mr. Trump, or in moving left to capture and spread the passion of those who want a clean and sharp break from the status quo.

Democrats might want to pause, though, to consider a broader problem: Why has their hold on the middle class loosened?

This is the trend that made the Trump phenomenon possible, and that Mr. Trump in turn appears to have exacerbated. The scope of Democrats’ problem is visible in the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. Less visible is what the party can do to reverse it.
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Write to Gerald F. Seib at [e-mail]

[pirateshipdude]

1. Isn't this a skewed article.

I stop reading when I see the article states it was a "winnable" seat outside Atlanta with no factual information on the extreme red it sits in.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. It's an op-ed. NT

[kimbutgar]

5. There was no way the district in Atlanta was going blue

Cobb county is the home of the kkk who went overwhelmingly for chump. It was a fantasy. Plus those pre programmed voting machines would not have allowed a Democratic win!

[ciaobaby]

2. Why the dems hold on the middle class has loosened.

When the dems got so very cozy with wall street, big pharma, lobbyists of any sort.
Most still don't get it. They believe we can just go forward with no changes. Consider that they had to be dragged kicking and screaming into supporting $15.00 minimum wage, gay marriage, and still they find ways to discredit Medicare for all.

I find it very hard to remain in the party. My 30 year old son has already re-registered as an independent and he is not alone.
We need new leadership and I believe the DNC has done more harm than good in the most recent past. (IMO)
The party needs to reinvent it's self , tho I really hate that term, with forward thinking people. Not those tied to the past and the big money donors who they are obliged to please.

[murielm99]

4. Horseshit. n/t