Analysis: Fetterman’s Polling Numbers Should Be a Warning For Democrats

Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman’s polling numbers highlight the already failed strategy of trying to appeal to the political right

Immediately after Democrat losses in the 2024 election, many pundits and members of the consultant class flooded corporate media to condemn progressive policy ideas and argue that Democrats needed to shift more to the right. Their hypothesis focused on meeting conservatives in the middle while denouncing identity politics, speaking up for trans rights, and targeting women’s rights by suggesting voters should embrace pro-life Democratic candidates.

The notion that people should vote against their values to support the status quo and overt corruption isn’t how a society solves problems; it’s how it normalizes them. At no point, not then and not now, on the heels of Charlie Kirk’s murder, have the punditry mentioned how racism and bigotry are now a permanent staple in conservative politics. Instead, the U.S. finds itself in an era where both parties are demanding that anyone who isn’t on the political right “tone it down,” as Republican leaders attempt to categorize rhetoric they don’t like as violent and terroristic.