The Breakdown: How Can the Democrats Close the Enthusiasm Gap?

The Breakdown: How Can the Democrats Close the Enthusiasm Gap?

The Breakdown: How Can the Democrats Close the Enthusiasm Gap?

Ari Berman and Chris Hayes ask why Republicans are fired up and ready to go while Democrats are just burnt out?

Chris Hayes
Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

Ari Berman and Chris Hayes ask why Republicans are fired up and ready to go and Democrats are just burnt out?

The Breakdown With less than a month until the midterm general elections, the phrase “enthusiasm gap” has become short-hand for the Democratic party’s inability to muster the same fervor and urgency in their constituency that conservative and Tea Party activists have been able to ignite for the Republican party’s base. But why is one party fired up and ready to go and the other base is just burnt out? Furthermore, what happened to the grassroots movement that swept Obama to office in 2008, and why is it faltering in 2010? DC Editor Chris Hayes and The Nation‘s Ari Berman, author of Herding Donkeys: The Fight to Rebuild the Democratic Party and Reshape American Politics, answer these questions and more on this week’s edition of The Breakdown.

 

Related Links

Herding Donkeys: The Fight to Rebuild the Democratic Party and Reshape American Politics by Ari Berman.
More stories by Ari Berman from The Nation.
The New York Times‘s FiveThirtyEight blog on the enthusiasm gap.

Subscribe to The Breakdown on iTunes to listen to fresh takes on the confusing concepts that make politics, economics and government tick. A new episode every week!

Support The Nation’s June Fundraising Campaign

With the midterm elections now firmly upon us, the question is whether Democratic candidates will do more than merely occupy ballot lines as mild alternatives to the red-hot crisis that is Donald Trump.

As Trump spends over $1 billion a day on a globally destabilizing war on Iran and admits that he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation,” millions across the country are struggling with the surging costs of essentials. Democrats must seize this moment and advance bold, small-“d” populist ideas—not settle for cynical caution that once again snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Nation elevates progressive ideas, movements, and elected officials achieving real change across the country into the national conversation. At the same time, our journalists are exposing how crypto and AI-funded super PACs are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to knock out candidates they oppose, reporting on the devastating impact of the Supreme Court’s evisceration of the Voting Rights Act, and sounding the alarm on attempts by red states to quickly redraw electoral maps, disenfranchising Southern Black voters.

We can play this critical role because of support from readers like you. This June, we’re raising $20,000 to power The Nation’s independent journalism in the run-up to November’s immensely consequential elections.

It’s in our power to build a more just society, and your support at this critical moment brings us closer to that bold vision. I hope you’ll donate today.

Onward,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation

Chris Hayes Chris Hayes is the Editor-at-Large of The Nation and host of “All In with Chris Hayes” on MSNBC.


Ad Policy
x

Latest from the nation

Today 10:12 am

Free-Speech Fraud Bari Weiss Would Rather Deport Than Debate

Jeet Heer
Today 10:07 am

Jerry Nadler Is Still Campaigning

John Nichols
Today 5:00 am

The American Revolution’s Long Tail

Richard Kreitner
Today 5:00 am

Progressive Democrats Are Winning in Just About Every Corner of America

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Today 5:00 am

The Last Thing US Healthcare Needs Is an AI Takeover

Karim Sariahmed and Marc Shi

editor's picks

VIDEO: People in Denmark Are a Lot Happier Than People in the United States. Here’s Why.

The Nation

Historical Amnesia About Slavery Is a Tool of White Supremacy

Mychal Denzel Smith