Ed Luce: “As Ruy Teixeira, a veteran political scientist, says: the Democratic brand is ‘somewhere between uncompelling and toxic to wide swaths of American voters, who might potentially be their allies.’ The fact that Teixeira is saying this ought to make Democrats take notice. He was co-author of the seminal book, The Emerging Democratic Majority, which argued that racial trends would make Democratic rule inevitable. This remains an article of faith among election consultants. Yet Texieira has changed his mind. How could Democrats be alienating the people it needs to win?”

“A big part of the answer is that they have stopped listening to ordinary voters.
This would be less of a problem were the party’s leadership a cross-section of US society. But its upper echelons are dominated by a white college-educated activist class that is used to talking with itself. The days of knocking on the doors of potential new voters are largely over. Since Barack Obama’s time, Democrats have been wedded to a digital model that downplays old-fashioned engagement. This detaches the party from reality.”