Let’s get right to the good stuff: In a new poll conducted by NBC News and The Wall Street Journal, just 33 percent of those surveyed think the Democratic Party is “in the mainstream.” More than half (56 percent) consider them out of step.

Just two years ago in 2016, those numbers were far different: 48 percent mainstream, 42 percent out. That means the “mainstream” number has plunged 12.5 percent, a huge drop in just two years.

Man, it’s not easy being a Democrat these days.

Chief among the party’s problems (and they have many) is that the Democrats lack a leader. The last head of the party, Barack Obama, took his mojo with him when he left town, and he’s busy partying it up with Jay-Z and Beyonce in Paris. Meanwhile, 2020 is still too far away, so no one has yet emerged around whom the party faithful can rally.