Two former campaign managers for former President Barack Obama warned that the Democratic Party is a mess ahead of the 2028 presidential election, due to not knowing what they stand for.
Jim Messina explained to Axios that while Democrats are planning to rely on voters’ frustrations with President Donald Trump and his administration to pick up additional seats in the upcoming midterm elections, that is not enough to win the presidency.
Meanwhile, David Plouffe warned that Democrats are not ready to win “in what are now red states in neutral and even challenging environments.”
“The midterms are going to be 85-90% driven by voter opposition to Trump and maybe 10-15% based on what Dems stand for,” Messina, who served as the campaign manager for Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign, said.
Plouffe, who served as Obama’s campaign manager for his 2008 presidential campaign, stated: “Democrats for the next decade have to be able to win elections in what are now red states in neutral and even challenging environments. That is the test.”
“Anyone who thinks we are ready to do that is spending too much time inhabiting a political world that does not exist,” Plouffe added.
Per the outlet, the comments from Messina and Plouffe come as a recent poll from NBC found that 52 percent “of voters see the Democratic Party negatively,” compared to 30 percent who “view it positively”:
• 52% of voters see the Democratic Party negatively, while only 30% view it positively, according to a recent NBC survey — worse ratings than they give the GOP, which is also unpopular.
• The same poll found voters trust Republicans more than Democrats to deal with border security, crime and immigration. On the economy, Democrats didn’t have an advantage despite Americans’ anger over continuing high prices under Trump. Voters were split on which party would do a better job handling it.
A previously released poll from the Trafalgar Group, which surveyed 1,084 likely general election voters between February 24-25, showed that 47.1 percent of respondents “strongly approve” of the job Trump is doing, while 39.1 percent of respondents “strongly disapprove.”
Another 3.7 percent of respondents said they approve of the job Trump is doing, while 8.5 percent said they disapprove.
