Ideas for restoring party are laughable – start attending NASCAR Races & UFC Fights, even become familiar with Video Games
By Cal Thomas
It's been six months since their disastrous 2024 Election performance, and the Democrat Party is “still searching for the path forward” wrote The New York Times just last week. In order to help them fix this difficult problem, some Democrats hired some (very) expensive consultants – and one of them decided to ask voters what animal they would assign to each party. The traditional Elephants & Donkeys didn’t make the cut.
The newspaper reports that the survey showed:- Republicans were likened to “apex predators like lions, tigers and sharks.”
- Democrats were compared to “tortoises, slugs, sloths.”
- Democrats were called “slow,” “plodding,” and “passive.”
Polls show the party’s "favorability rating" is at a modern-day low: 27% according to an NBC News Poll.
That’s not the kind of momentum Democrats need going into next year’s congressional races and the 2028 presidential contest.
(EDITOR's NOTE: Just 27% of "Registered Voters" told NBC News they have "positive views" of the Democrat Party – it’s lowest NBC News rating dating back to 1990. Just 7% say those views are “very” positive.
That’s not the kind of momentum Democrats need going into next year’s congressional races and the 2028 presidential contest.
(EDITOR's NOTE: Just 27% of "Registered Voters" told NBC News they have "positive views" of the Democrat Party – it’s lowest NBC News rating dating back to 1990. Just 7% say those views are “very” positive.
“With these numbers, the Democratic Party is not in need of a rebrand – it needs to be rebooted,” said Democrat pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates, who conducted the survey along with GOP pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies.)
Some Democrats – including recently ousted Democrat National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg (below right with Cong. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) – have suggested that older members of Congress be forced out by much younger people through primary election challenges.
It’s actually not that difficult to fix their problem. It will pain them to say it, but confession is good for the soul – and can help restore lost credibility.
They need to say three little words: “We were wrong.”
Democrats lack a road map, and are clueless about what to do to win over voters – especially young male voters who moved heavily to vote for President Trump.
They need to say three little words: “We were wrong.”
Democrats lack a road map, and are clueless about what to do to win over voters – especially young male voters who moved heavily to vote for President Trump.
Some ideas for restoring the party are laughable.There have been suggestions that Democrats start attending NASCAR races and UFC fights – and even become familiar with video games to attract young men.
I haven’t heard a suggestion that they attend conservative churches. Maybe that’s asking too much from a party that is more secular than religious, but it might do them and their party some good.
Unless they are sincere in their contrition, they might come off as condescending, which could produce the opposite effect.
They need to say – and mean – they were wrong about covering up President Biden’s decline and wrong about some of their policies.
Just for starteers, those policies might include:
Just for starteers, those policies might include:
- an Open Border
- Transgender Athletes in Women’s Sports
- ever-higher Taxes, and
- Unending Government Spending
Favoring some restrictions on abortion and school choice is polling well, yet too many Democrats are stuck in their old and absolutist positions.
It also might help if, instead of promoting younger Democrats who might share the same ideas as their older brethren, they try to understand the appeal of these and other issues.
They might also consider having lengthy conversations with Republican conservatives.
It also might help if, instead of promoting younger Democrats who might share the same ideas as their older brethren, they try to understand the appeal of these and other issues.They might also consider having lengthy conversations with Republican conservatives.
Democrats were once seen as strong on national defense. They were anti-communist and pro-American. Names such as John F. Kennedy and Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson come to mind. So does retired Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia. They and others like them were reasonable men who spent more time attacking America’s enemies and promoting the general welfare than criticizing their party members.
Their kind have been expunged from the party like former Soviet dictators who stood atop Lenin’s tomb and watched a military parade pass by – but were later erased from photographs when they fell out of favor.
Today’s Democrats probably would not embrace the policies of those of yesteryear, or want them in today’s Democrat Party.
I’m not expecting Democrats to follow my advice, but at least I tried.
A strong two-party system is good for the country, but we can’t have that equality when voters compare Republicans to lions while Democrats are viewed as sloths.
Cal Thomas is one of America's most widely read & syndicated columnists, whose column is syndicated by Tribune Media Services in Chicago. He began his 40+ year journalism career as a copy-boy for NBC News in Washington, D.C., and worked as a General Assignment Reporter & Anchor for both KPRC-TV in Houston and NBC News in Washington. 
