| | | People Are Furious With Democrats. Bernie Sanders Knows Why.
Democratic Party leadership is way out of touch with where the American people are, and it’s almost frightening to see the kind of anger and contempt that people feel toward it.
John Nichols
Poll after poll in recent months has revealed that, while approval ratings for Donald Trump are tanking and are also down for congressional Republicans, attitudes toward the Democratic Party are even more negative. And, as The Christian Science Monitor has pointed out, “One subgroup driving the Democrats’ poor ratings [is] their own base. A recent CNN poll found that Democratic voters currently hold far more negative views of their own party than Republican voters do of theirs. At town hall events and in focus groups, frustrated Democrats say they want their representatives to push back harder against the Trump administration.” Surveys show a mounting anger on the part of grassroots Democrats with party leaders, who are seen as having failed to mount a coherent opposition to congressional Republicans or to articulate bold positions on the issues of the day.
Senator Bernie Sanders shares their frustration. The Vermont independent and two-time contender for the Democratic presidential nomination has spent recent months traveling the United States with a “Fighting Oligarchy” message that has drawn massive crowds at dozens of events, including in some of the bluest and reddest parts of the country. He has come away from the experience with a powerful sense that the party needs a new direction. To that end, Sanders has been endorsing insurgent Democratic primary candidates, and in states where the party organization has atrophied, he has said he’s open to endorsing independents. Among them is 34-year-old democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York. But even as the senator was enthusiastically campaigning for Mamdani, Democratic Party leaders from New York were refusing to do so.
Sanders spoke with The Nation about how his longtime concerns about the leadership of the Democratic Party have been amplified in recent months—and about what he believes it must do to reconnect with working-class voters, expand its base, and appeal to disenchanted independent and irregular voters.
thenation.com |
|
