Democratic supporters in McHenry County, IL carry party banner
The Democratic Party is still experiencing a rift that emerged during the 2016 presidential campaign, between so-called progressives (a misnomer since the Democratic Party’s mainstream principles, from civil rights to taxation to gun safety laws and more, are progressive) and more establishment Democrats. Those factions were represented by Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries. Thus far, the party has held a unity tour featuring Sanders with Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tom Perez. That tour did not do much to mend the party rift, especially as Sanders, an Independent, spent and still spends much of his time bashing the Democrats and telling them what to do. Now, Democratic Party leaders and Democratic-leaning organizations are sending numerous surveys to Democratic supporters, apparently in an effort to find out what the voters want to focus on, and to try to show that the politicians are in touch with voter needs.
Among the surveys sent out in recent weeks are from:
— Democratic Leadership, a project of Ameripac, (chaired by House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer), inviting supporters to a focus group to help Democrats win back a majority in the House of Representatives this November;
— Democrats.org (the DNC), asking how important various issues (Jobs and Income Inequality, Immigration, Climate Chage) etc. are;
— From Democrats.com (“the oldest online community of progressive activists”), asking whether Donald Trump should be impeached;
— From Democratic Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis, a “2018 Presidential Values Survey”;
— From DNC Deputy Chair Keith Ellison (himself a DNC choice to reach out to the party’s liberal base); and others.
It is often said that getting Democrats to agree is like herding cats. The Democratic Party’s combination of a “big tent” full of many independent thinkers causes some mixed results. On the positive side, the potential Democratic voter pool is huge, apparently way bigger than the 38 percent or so of Republican Trump supporters. On the negative side, however, with such a big tent, it’s tough to make everyone happy. The surveys being sent around are an attempt to be responsive and keep Democrats in the tent. With crucial elections just months away, that’s a good place to start.
Photo by Elise Kay Camp, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/rqshK7
