Tapper to Kaine: ‘Why is Your Party so Staggeringly Unpopular with the Public?’

Ed wrote something last week about the no good, very bad Quinnipiac poll which showed the Democratic Party at a net -26 favorability, an all time low.

An absolutely brutal @QuinnipiacPoll for Democrats:

Republican Party: 43% favorable, 45% unfavorable (-2)

Democratic Party: 31% favorable, 57% unfavorable (-26) pic.twitter.com/m0RgPmGWno

— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) January 29, 2025

And that wasn’t the only poll showing the Democrats are in trouble. A poll two weeks ago by CNN showed the same result.

Just 33% of all Americans express a favorable view of the Democratic Party, an all-time low in CNN’s polling dating back to 1992 https://t.co/vCZ8mFN29j

— Andy Kaczynski (@KFILE) January 19, 2025

All of which led CNN’s Jake Tapper to ask Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia a very basic question: “Why is Your Party so Staggeringly Unpopular with the Public?”

WATCH: Jake Tapper asks Sen. Tim Kaine why Democrats are so unpopular.

“57 percent of the American people have an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party, only 31 percent favorable. This is the worst number for the Democratic Party since Quinnipiac University began asking the… pic.twitter.com/G6ghmxjxbh

— JOSH DUNLAP (@JDunlap1974) February 3, 2025

As you can see, Kaine offered a very carefully phrased answer but if you listen closely, he didn’t exactly dodge the question. What he said is that successful Democrats in Virginia focus on competence and the economy while some national Democrats fail to do that. You have to read between the lines a bit but it’s a nice way of saying that some democrats are incompetent and focused on losing issues. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that he could be pointing his finger at any number of left-wing mayors and governors whose states are struggling even as they focus on far-left cultural issues that turn off a lot of people.

Frankly, I think Kaine’s answer pretty much nailed it even if he’s saying it in such a way that no one will really hear it. There was a focus group held by Politico in December about the Democratic Party brand which concluded the same thing.

When asked to compare the Democratic Party to an animal, one participant compared the party to an ostrich because “they’ve got their heads in the sand and are absolutely committed to their own ideas, even when they’re failing.” Another likened them to koalas, who “are complacent and lazy about getting policy wins that we really need.” Democrats, another said, are “not a friend of the working class anymore.”…

“I think what the Democratic elites and their politicians believe is often very different from what the average Democratic voter is,” said a Georgia man who voted for Biden in 2020 but Trump in 2024. “The elites that run the Democratic Party — I think they’re way too obsessed with appealing to these very far-left social progressivism that’s very popular on college campuses.”

Weakness and wokeness are a bad combination. And yet, even as Sen. Kaine says this or something close to it, his party seems to be doing its best to get it wrong.

Saturday’s DNC chair vote should signal, more concretely, the direction in which the party intends to go in this new Trump era.

I’ve been speaking with several of the top contenders for that job, such as Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Ben Wikler, who told me flatly, “The Democratic brand is broken.”

What can be done to fix it? When I put that question to Wikler and the other leading DNC candidates this winter, the consensus seemed to be that the party needs to do a better job messaging. “There’s a significant challenge to make sure Democrats are telling their own story,” said Wikler, who has been endorsed by Chuck Schumer,Gretchen Whitmer, and Stacey Abrams. “Our whole communication strategy has to be completely upended and rethought after what we saw these last four years,” echoed Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party chair Ken Martin, who is seen as the other favorite in the DNC race and has racked up high-profile support from the likes of Jim Clyburn and Tim Walz. Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley—who has also emerged from a crowded field that includes long shot candidates like author Marianne Williamson and former Bernie Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir—recently told me, “We need to up our game in terms of how we communicate.”

As we know now, Ken Martin won that race but it almost didn’t matter because everyone running seemed to be singing from the same hymnal, i.e. it’s just a messaging problem.

The vote at the D.N.C.’s winter meeting capped a monthslong race that focused on party mechanics and messaging, rather than on sharp ideological or establishment-versus-activist fights that have characterized other party leadership contests…

Sometimes, races for state and national chair positions offer revealing insights about the ideological direction in which a party is heading, or serve as proxy fights in broader clashes between activists and the establishment.

Not so in this year’s race.

In other words, he’s another progressive who will attempt to appear moderate and midwestern in tone even as he does nothing to separate the party from the activists who have driven its brand into a ditch. The party already tried this with Tim Walz and it didn’t work out as planned, so good luck with that. Meanwhile the other new face of party leadership isn’t even trying to appear moderate.

To Announce They’ve Given Up Completely, DNC Selects David Hogg As Vice Chair https://t.co/m1BN1Vvbxm pic.twitter.com/tDZ8AKXJkS

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) February 2, 2025

Okay, that’s a joke but it’s a largely on target one. Hogg really is a far left loon.

I’m very happy David Hogg is now Vice President of the DNC. He will do a wonderful job. My favorite Hogg Memory is the time he praised Abraham Lincoln and quickly backtracked when his loony followers attacked him. He was attending Harvard® at the time 😐 pic.twitter.com/M399qxpk2p

— ℙ𝕣𝕠𝕗𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕠𝕣 𝔻𝕒𝕩𝕠𝕡𝕙𝕠𝕟𝕖 (@DaxophoneSolo) February 2, 2025

Here’s the voice of the new Democratic Party!

This anti-human ideology is miserable and the Democrats are going to keep losing while they continue to elevate people like David Hogg pic.twitter.com/rqVLco1nEf

— Drew Pavlou (@DrewPavlou) February 3, 2025

This is going to go over great in swing states with blue-collar voters.

I am not sure how electing David Hogg as the DNC Vice Chair is going to help democrats solve their male voter problem. pic.twitter.com/JdqQIj4P7I

— Nick Ballas (@NicholasBallas) February 2, 2025

He’s the gift that keeps on giving.

describe david hogg’s politics:

“david hogg is the dylan mulvaney of greta thunbergs”

fun times for the DNC. pic.twitter.com/Y0KeNElhPx

— el gato malo (@boriquagato) February 3, 2025

Seriously, great work Democrats. I can’t imagine why the party is so staggeringly unpopular with the public. It’s a mystery.

BREAKING: David Hogg just delivered his speech at the DNC to become vice chair.

Democrats believe he can be the masculine figure they need to regain the young male vote.

“I don’t just don’t tweet, I don’t just talk the talk, I also walk the talk, and I knock the knock.”… pic.twitter.com/jlA3W1OIbz

— George (@BehizyTweets) February 1, 2025