Opinion: Democrats must campaign beyond overused social issues to find voter appeal
Our columnist argues the Democratic Party platforms too heavily on social issues and not enough on tangibles like the economy. They risk losses in upcoming elections without actionable plans beyond opposing Trump’s political moves. Abigail Aggarwala | Contributing Illlustrator
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As of August, the Democratic Party’s favorability rating has dropped to a three-decade low. This should come as no surprise considering the Democrats have been effectively shattered following the 2024 presidential election.
The party lacks a clear message and has demonstrated repeated inability to reach the working class. Reliance on advocating for social issues such as abortion, LGBTQ+ rights and climate change won’t be enough to win over the majority of voters nor make necessary headway as a political party.
Following a decisive loss to President Donald Trump in November, Democrats were sent reeling and desperate to save face. Making matters worse, Republicans retained the majority in the House of Representatives and won enough seats to take the Senate.
Democrats assumed that campaigning off of social issues alone would rally enough voters to go to the polls and vote blue. This assumption plays a major part in the complacency and laziness we see in the party now.
While the Republican Party holds the majority in both the House and the Senate alongside the presidency, many other Democrats and I feel as though our representatives aren’t doing enough to fight the power grab happening in Washington, D.C.
About 14% of Democrats describe the party as weak, tepid or apathetic, 9% say it’s broken and ineffective, another 5% see it as corrupt, dishonest and out of touch and 5% offer generally negative comments, according to AP-NORC.
Unsurprisingly, running on social issues such as climate change and LGBTQ+ rights was an incredibly ineffective strategy. The economy was the most important issue among voters with democracy and terrorism/national security trailing behind. Out of the 22 issues polled, climate change and transgender rights fill in the last two spots, respectively.
Joe Katie Crews | Design Editor
These issues aren’t important to the average self-concerned and less financially prosperous voter, so when Republicans ran on policies such as “No Tax on Tips” or tax cuts, they appealed to a larger group.
Last October, Kamala Harris’s presidential ad campaign emphasized abortion and women’s rights with both appearing in almost a third of her ads. In contrast, Trump focused mainly on taxes while increasing his focus on gender identity to reflect the party’s values.
Harris’s campaign only mentioned the economy in 24.5% of ads aired, further relying on social issues. She easily outspent Trump, spending an astonishing $1.5 billion. Even with this much money, Harris lost, proving that the message and the ability to appeal to the majority is worth more than the amount spent.
Even now, Democrats continue to suffer from a similar issue. Simply being the party that’s combating Trump isn’t enough to sway voters.
For more input on this issue, I consulted Syracuse University history Professor Margaret Thompson. She brought up the New York mayoral election and used Zohran Mamdani’s message as a contrast to the failure of Democrats to expand beyond being Trump’s alternative.
“But he’s not just saying, ‘I’m not the Republicans.’ He’s saying, ‘here’s what I intend to do and people obviously liked that message,’” Thompson said.
Voters need to hear what their politicians’ plans are; they want to know how their lives will be directly impacted.
“There needs to be more explicit focus on the immediate needs and the immediate concerns of people,” Thompson added.
As long as Democrats abstain from giving voters a real plan, we can’t expect to see their favorability rating improve.
The first step in making this change is ushering in a new generation of Democrats. Mamdani, for instance, is 33 years old and effectively broadening his electoral base by discussing issues that are immediately relevant to the citizens of New York.
Currently, the average age of Democrats in Congress is 59. Lowering this age will bring in a fresh group of representatives who may be more in touch with the current living conditions and willingly make that a focal point in their campaign.
None of this is to say that abortion, LGBTQ+ rights or climate change are not important. In fact, they’re all extremely prominent concerns. But in a country that places economic issues above all else, politicians must match that priority.
That being said, we should all put in the effort to make these social issues as important to us as the economy. We all need to try to find common ground because these social issues can have as great an impact as economic ones do.
Democrats are going to have a tough time with this administration and with the crucial upcoming 2026 midterms. They’ll need to make an effort to appeal to the average American or face the consequence of being left out of power once again.
I believe that they can make this change and sway the minds of voters, but that effort must start now. I hope the Democrats can look back and see the flaws of their 2024 campaign and adjust accordingly, but, as of now, it seems they won’t put in any more effort than the overused sentiment of being anti-Trump.
James Reed is a freshman studying political science. He can be reached at jcreed@syr.edu.
