A Deeply Important Conversation for Democrats Who Want to Stop Deluding Ourselves

This conversation between Ezra Klein and David Shor, the head of data science at Blue Rose Research, a Democratic polling firm, blew away many of my comforting assumptions and conclusions about the painful and terrifying result of the 2024 election. I urge you to watch it in its entirety. Several conclusions that are backed by data are uncomfortable and must be taken seriously as Democrats seek to claw back from defeat.

A few key points:

• Democrats lost the immigrant vote. Seriously.

• Democrats are losing young voters, especially among those with massively online lifestyles.

• We were LUCKY that many 2020 voters stayed home, because we would have lost WORSE if they had not.

• We have lost traction in EVERY non-white demographic.

• Voters were way more convinced we needed major change than they wanted to preserve American democratic institutions.

• We lost the trust of the public on most of the key salient issues of this election, including even Social Security!

We need to stop telling ourselves comfortable untruths that salve our wounds and look hard at the discomfiting data.