Democratic strategist Robin Biro warned Monday that a new poll showing that numerous Americans feel his party does not prioritize economic issues is a worrisome indicator.
Americans frequently identified abortion, LGBT policy and climate change as the Democratic Party’s main focuses, while their own top concerns were the economy, health care and immigration, according to the poll, which was conducted by The New York Times and Ipsos in early January. When Newsmax host Bob Brooks raised the poll on “American Agenda,” Biro expressed concern that Democrats are failing to learn from their November election losses.
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“Oh, this is — this spells trouble for my party. I said this in the weeks and months leading up to the election, because [former Vice President] Kamala Harris wasn’t focusing on the economy. And as [Democratic strategist] James Carville famously said back in the 90’s, ‘It’s the economy, stupid.’ And it always has been the economy, stupid,” Biro said. “So I’m worried that we’re not learning our lesson. John Powell famously said, ‘The only real mistake is the one from which nothing is learned.’ And I wish my party would take that to heart.”
The poll also found that Americans view the Republican Party as mainly prioritizing immigration, the economy and taxes. Similarly, CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten also explained recently how Americans have flipped to trusting Republicans over Democrats on immigration since President Donald Trump’s first term.
Moreover, the Democratic Party’s approval rating also sunk to 31% among registered voters, according to Quinnipiac polling released Wednesday. Democratic Washington Rep. Adam Smith also said Tuesday that his party has a poor reputation on key issues.
The Democratic National Committee elected Ken Martin as their new chair on Saturday, according to the NYT. He has served as the Minnesota Democratic chairman and campaigned in part on expanding the Democratic Party’s attractiveness to working class voters.
“I don’t rub elbows with billionaires or Hollywood elites, I rub elbows with working people in union halls, on picket lines, at civil rights marches and at protests,” Martin asserted at a recent candidate forum, according to the NYT. “I’m running for chair because that’s what the next DNC will look like when I’m the next chairman. That’s who we’re fighting for.”
Trump made gains with young voters and minority voters as every state in the nation moved to the right during the November 2024 election, according to the NYT.
“My party needs to reestablish our credibility on a number of issues. It’s not going to be enough, even if it is strategic and tactical and smart to criticize what Donald Trump does. I mean, we have to do that and we have to do it intelligently,” Smith said. “It’s just not going to be enough because we don’t have the credibility that we need on issues like immigration, like DEI, dealing with racism and discrimination. Like the economy. I think we need to spend more time reestablishing our own credibility, not just bashing, on what Trump does.”
