The politics we have as Americans ultimately is up to us. We can choose for our democracy to be a dreary march to the drab center or running over groups of people with a metaphorical bus. Or we can choose an imagination battle that realigns the center ...

The idea that some still argue that Dems should only talk about issues where the majority of the population agree with them, rather than finding wedges that can move people towards them (and away from the GOP) is so bizarre to me. Politics is persuasion.

@newrepublic And we have a thread with some details here:

And thanks to @newrepublic for this excellent story about the report. https://t.co/lqpLGajUpa

Link here, and of course more substantive conversation is happening on other platforms. https://t.co/6vAPay3m87

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Lots of discussion today about the DNC report/autopsy. If you want to know what went wrong in 2024 based on what voters thought, read ours. We integrated the most qualitative data of any research program we’re aware of, presumably a different focus than what’s in the DNC report.

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Signal 5 here is an incredibly important but often overlooked point - fighting about the ideology of candidates completely misses the point. Voters don't think in a progressive v. moderate framework. Great stuff from @WayToWinAF.

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The whole report is available today on our Substack here - https://t.co/Dm029FJCBI

Coming up on The Dean Obeidallah Show: @joesudbay is joined by Evan Sutton, @kerryeleveld .bsky.social from @WayToWinAF, @ArmyofNaveed, from @commondefense , and @JackInacker from @FUBARPAC! ☎️: 866-997-4748 🔊: https://t.co/WvbbvLK51a

But we know Republicans are going to fight like badgers in 2026. We'll be ready. Enjoy all the data, and we wish you the best for the holidays. We are ready to fight and build with you in the New Year.

The incompetence and horrors of Trump's governance have interrupted the trend of chronic Dem underperformance. Dems have practically run the table in 2025, taking 25 R held seats in special elections this year while Rs have taken 0 Dem held seats.

Dems need to choose strength now. They can’t live in fear of how the right will characterize them. ICE is completely out of control, they’re ripping people out of classrooms and naturalization ceremonies. This is directly downstream of choices Democrats made in their campaigns.

Practically all voters across this coalition need a persuasive, strong, mobilizing message. We will have much more to say about this next year. The purpose of this report was to pour a strong foundation of understanding where voters are at, so we can build a strong 2026 offense.

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In the turnout vs persuasion question, it’s both. Clearly. There’s a base of voters who desperately want government that works for ordinary people and believe in the dignity of their neighbors. But the past few cycles have clearly shown these voters can not be taken for granted.

And in our keystone Lake Research poll of voters who voted for Biden in 2020 and skipped 2024, with a slightly different version of the question, 72% of voters chose inequality-affordability as the bigger problem, and it was **77%-13%** in ‘24 battleground states.

When we gave voters a choice between the problem being a fraction of the 1% taking all the money vs whoever the right is blaming (wokeness, DEI, immigrants, trans people, etc), 64% to 36% choose the 1%, and even bigger margins with voters of color - and 38% of Trump voters!

Voters are frustrated and feel like things have gone terribly wrong, but they’re a bit bamboozled as to why. Giving them a clear story on this was the single biggest missed opportunity for Dems in 2024 and their single biggest opportunity going into 2026.

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These five signals are from the executive summary, which is a pretty good synopsis. If you’re strapped for time at least give that a read, it’s only two pages! (But check out the appendices too. How voters think is key, and Dems have more than 1.5x as many moderates as Rs!)

Voters in 2024 had both chronic and acute frustration about the economy. They wanted change and were skeptical of Dems’ capacity to deliver it. Right wing and corporate media effects are not insurmountable. But a lack of movement alignment makes this challenge more difficult.

This is our operational definition of political strength: making decisions based on core values and principles, explaining choices with clear and persuasive arguments, drawing a contrast with one’s opponents, and making it clear why your approach is the better one.