Do Democrats even have “game”?
A few “Democrats concede they are losing an asymmetrical battle with the president and his MAGA allies,” Politico reports. But there is no agreement on how to mount an effective, attention-getting rapid-response:
“Republicans are running circles around Democrats for how to connect to the culture today,” said John Della Volpe, director of Harvard University’s youth poll and an expert on Gen Z. “People are still asking me in these post-election meetings, ‘Who is Theo Von?’ Even if they had the best message, you can’t connect if you’re not part of modern American culture, if you’re not injecting yourself into these spaces where people already are.”
It’s not just the leadership’s overdependence on traditional media, although that’s part of it. A majority of “swing voters” identified by Navigator Research got their political news “primarily from social media and alternative sources, like podcasts,” while Kamala Harris voters relied on broadcast TV.
The GOP is winning the fight for attention.
There are some exceptions among Democrats who are piercing through, including Ocasio-Cortez, who regularly goes viral with her Instagram live videos and posts on X. Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), the first Gen Z member of Congress, frequently spars with Republicans online, as do Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).
[…]
“They should be creating bait of their own. Be more aggressive, be more outlandish,” said Tim Miller, a former GOP strategist who now hosts a podcast on The Bulwark, a site founded by anti-Trump Republicans. “I think they should be doing 700X of what they’re doing, in terms of output, volume, platforms, speed.”
Some Democrats have gotten the message and are doing more podcasts, Politico observes, but as I’ve said, it’s clear many are bringing 20th-century knives to a 21st-century gunfight. Getting booked and appearing on podcasts is not the same as having the right skill-sets for the medium.
A 20-something friend asked yesterday about Democrats’ new DNC chair.
“Functional,” I said (or something close).
He thought that non-ringing endorsement pithy. He would have preferred Wisconsin Dems’ state party chair, Ben Wikler. Why? Because the younger Wikler has more presence, more social media savvy, and brings more energy and passion to his appearances than the merely “functional” leader the DNC elected. Or many prominent elected Dems now trying their hands at appealing to the “kids,” and whoe efforts are “too slow and too tepid and not meeting the moment.”
Update: Rick Wikson’s on the same page.