Political strategist David Axelrod argued Thursday that Democrats have gotten a “smarty-pants, suburban, college-educated party” that might preserve dropping electorally if it doesn’t change course.
“You can’t approach working people like missionaries and say, ‘We’re here to help you become more like us.’ There’s a kind of unspoken disdain, unintended disdain in that,” Axelrod, a CNN contributor, mentioned in an interview with the outlet.
The longtime Democratic strategist praised President Biden for performing some “good things for working people,” however acknowledged that the celebration as a complete “has more and more turn out to be a smarty-pants, suburban, college-educated celebration and it lends itself to the sort of backlash that we’ve seen.”
His feedback on CNN’s “AC360” got here a day after the 2024 White Home race was referred to as for President-elect Trump. The GOP nominee gained all seven battleground states and made electoral features amongst a number of demographics and in blue-leaning states.
After Vice President Harris’s loss, Democrats began pointing fingers at who or what was guilty for the upset. Axelrod weighed in on the defeat alongside CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
“I do have concerns about the way the Democratic Party relates to working-class voters in this country,” Axelrod informed Cooper. “The only group that Democrats gained within the election on Tuesday was White college graduates, and among working-class voters, there was a significant decline.”
“I do have concerns about the way the Democratic Party relates to working-class voters in this country,” he added. “The only group that Democrats gained within the election on Tuesday was white college graduates. And among working-class voters, there was a significant decline.”
Axelrod, who served as a senior adviser to former President Obama, mentioned the celebration solely gained amongst those that make greater than 100 thousand {dollars} a 12 months and warned that “you can’t win national elections that way, and it certainly shouldn’t be that way for a party that fashions itself as the party of working people.”
The strategist additionally seemingly agreed with Barstool Sports activities founder Dave Portnoy’s analysis of the Democratic Get together, saying in an interview earlier on CNN that blue-collar employees and different related voters “feel like they are thought of as less and that their priorities are not the priorities of the Democratic Party.”
The celebration has obtained a slew of backlash following the election outcomes, together with from some inside its personal ranks. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an impartial lawmaker who caucuses with Democrats, closely critiqued the celebration after Republicans flipped the higher chamber, accusing it of abandoning the working class. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) claimed the defeat was as a result of public’s notion of the celebration in relation to the “far left” members.
Others, like Democratic Nationwide Committee Chair Jaime Harrison, snapped again, saying that Biden was the “most-pro worker president of my lifetime.” He referred to as Sanders’ criticism “straight up BS.”
