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?

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!

Your support makes stories like this possible

From Minneapolis to Venezuela, from Gaza to Washington, DC, this is a time of staggering chaos, cruelty, and violence. 

Unlike other publications that parrot the views of authoritarians, billionaires, and corporations, The Nation publishes stories that hold the powerful to account and center the communities too often denied a voice in the national media—stories like the one you’ve just read.

Each day, our journalism cuts through lies and distortions, contextualizes the developments reshaping politics around the globe, and advances progressive ideas that oxygenate our movements and instigate change in the halls of power. 

This independent journalism is only possible with the support of our readers. If you want to see more urgent coverage like this, please donate to The Nation today.

Ad Policy
x