A remarkable shift is happening on the American left: several left-of-center pollsters and political strategists are openly urging Democrats to moderate their rhetoric and mimic Republican positions. After a string of bruising national polls and surveys, these analysts admit that Democrats cannot reconnect with voters unless they reclaim themes long championed by conservatives: economic stability, public safety, secure borders, and a path to the American Dream.
President Donald Trump and the GOP should wear this news as a badge of honor. If your opponents must mimic you just to be viable candidates, you must be doing something right. As the old adage goes, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”
But voters should also remember the often-forgotten other half of that saying: “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” In other words, whoever is doing the imitating can only ever be a shadow of the thing they are trying to copy – don’t be fooled that it’s the real thing. Even if Democrats soften their tone leading up to the midterm elections next year, that does not mean their radical left instincts have changed.
Nonetheless, expect Democrats to try another moderate makeover. Extensive national polling from the Democrat-aligned group Welcome shows a serious disconnect between the party and the voters it claims to represent. More than 70 percent of voters say Democrats are “out of touch.” Another Democrat firm found that 59 percent believe the party has the wrong priorities. Most voters clearly think the party has lost its way.
Welcome’s research explains the problem. Voters believe Democrats focus too heavily on issues like climate change, the preservation of “democracy,” abortion, and picking the wrong side in cultural fights. These issues may animate fringe donors and activists, but they fall flat with families trying to pay the bills.
By contrast, Americans consistently cited the cost of living, the economy, immigration, health care, taxes, and crime as their top concerns – mostly issues where Republicans have the upper hand.
Another national poll from the liberal Searchlight Institute shows that voters see Republicans as the party fighting for every American to achieve “the good life.” Respondents defined “the good life” as owning a home and a car, getting married, having children, building a stable personal life, and being able to save for retirement and the occasional vacation.
These are not obscure talking points; they are the bedrock of American voters’ aspirations, and Democrats have been ignoring them.
These polls highlight a serious problem for Democrats. Simon Bazelon, the lead author of the Welcome report, argues that Democrats should redirect their public message toward kitchen-table concerns. As he told reporters, “A lot of what we’re arguing for is a return to Obama-era positioning on issues like immigration and crime, and prioritization of the economy over cultural issues.”
But as the Welcome report itself tacitly acknowledges, Obama was the impetus for Democrats’ leftward lurch in the first place. The party began radicalizing after his 2012 re-election campaign and never stopped, believing that it had a mandate to “remake” America.
In the years since, Democrats in Congress have embraced ever-more extreme positions. Support for “Medicare-for-All” (read: socialist single-payer healthcare) among congressional Democrats has risen from just 24 percent in 2012 to nearly half their congressional caucus today. Backing for an assault weapons ban surged from 41 percent to 88 percent. And a slavery reparations bill that once attracted only one percent of support now has majority backing within the caucus. None of this reflects a party that’s willing to moderate.
Voters have noticed this change. From 2012 to 2025, the number of Americans who say the Democrat Party is “too liberal” has climbed sharply, while the share who view the GOP as “too conservative” has ticked down. These results are unmistakable: more everyday Americans now see their values reflected in Republican priorities than extreme positions staked out by Democrats.
This shift observed in the poll data emerged almost immediately after Donald Trump entered national politics. His direct, unapologetic focus on workers, families, borders, and American prosperity forced both parties to confront the issues they had spent years avoiding. Trump repositioned the GOP as the champion of the working and middle class, while Democrats drifted deeper into cultural wokeness that resonates with donors but alienates everyday Americans.
But American voters should remain vigilant. Democrats have a long history of sounding sensible during election season, only to swing hard to the progressive fringe once in power. Joe Biden’s 2020 run is the most instructive example. Voters were told again and again that Biden was a “moderate’s moderate,” a steady hand who would ensure balance. Yet the moment he entered the Oval Office, his administration handed the reins to the most radical voices in his party, unleashing the very policies he insisted he would avoid.
The deeper issue is that today’s Democrat Party is steered by a small circle of ideological elites who have dragged it far from the concerns of everyday Americans. The Welcome analysis lays the blame squarely on the outsized influence of Democrat donors, both the mega-funders and the small-dollar activist base. Together, they have pushed the party into ideological territory most voters never asked for. And the campaign operatives, media voices, and advocacy groups surrounding the party have marched leftward, right along with them, creating a feedback loop that ignores the mainstream and caters only to the progressive fringe.
Republicans should not rest on this moment of triumph. The fact that Democrats are being encouraged to revise their pitch should be taken as validation, but not a victory in itself. Bad liberal ideas have a history of reconstituting themselves and morphing into new forms after being rejected by the American people – just look at the wave of cultural Marxist ideology, like DEI, that has swept the country over the past decade.
Trump and the GOP’s best strategy is to remain focused on delivering stable prices, strong jobs, and family-friendly policies that voters have asked for. If policy echoes that vision, then this Republican moment can become a lasting era, not just a fleeting moment.
W.J. Lee has served in the White House, NASA, on multiple political campaigns, and in nearly all levels of government. In his free time, he enjoys the “three R’s” – reading, running, and writing.
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