This reminds of the optics crisis experienced by the Alt Right post Charlottesville, and Biden’s communications crisis that Americans think the economy sucks and he’s too old to govern. These are all attempts to deny reality. The problems are deeper than branding, optics and communication.
People don’t want to do the work. They don’t want to go deep. They want the easy solution.
My biggest disagreement with my peers (people giving their opinion about the world) is that I see good things existing in a constellation where they compete with one another (freedom vs community, efficiency vs cohesion, truth vs safety), while they see a clear hierarchy of values (such as freedom or efficiency or democracy are always first).
Grok says: “The Democratic Party is currently facing what many describe as a branding crisis, particularly evident in its low favorability ratings and struggles in battleground areas. Recent analyses, such as a March 2025 Axios article (Axios – Democrats’ popularity crisis), indicate that the party is in its deepest popularity hole in nearly 50 years, with challenges including a lack of popular national leaders, dwindling media influence, and a shift of young voters toward conservatism. This crisis is not merely perceptual; internal polling from Navigator Research, shared with POLITICO in March 2025 (POLITICO – Democrats’ brand problem), shows that in swing congressional districts, a majority of voters believe Democrats are “more focused on helping other people than people like me,” with only 27% of independents feeling the party focuses on them.”
