Dems Are Losing The Public Relations War As Party Lurches Left

News admin August 18, 2026 0 Comments

Dems Are Losing The Public Relations War As Party Lurches Left

After a primary season marked by socialist wins — and a party that can’t seem to stop the dramatic lurch to the Left — Democrats are losing the public relations game with average voters, and they’re losing big.

CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten detailed the Democratic Party’s flagging favorability numbers during a Tuesday morning segment — and although he was also careful to note that President Donald Trump was not faring any better in recent polls, he made it clear that Democrats still had some serious work to do ahead of November’s midterm elections.

“Donald Trump’s political brand ain’t too hot to trot these days,” Enten explained, holding his nose for emphasis when he added, “But I gotta tell you, P-U when it comes to the Democratic brand.”

“The net favorability rating of the Democratic Party — you know, back in 2018, when Democrats during the first Trump presidency, right? When they were able to win back control of the House? They were even,” Enten said.

Enten’s tone was incredulous as he dropped the comparison to 2026: “Twenty-five points underwater! Oof. Oof. You know, the Dem brand, it’s not too good these days, it’s not too good. It kind of smells like a New York sidewalk in the summer.”

But what Enten did not address was the wide ideological chasm between the Democrats who ran — and ultimately flipped a number of seats — in the 2018 midterms and the Democrats who have secured primary wins in the 2026 cycle.

Among the 2018 winners were two who eventually switched their party affiliation either to Republicans or independent: New Jersey’s Rep. Jeff Van Drew — now a Republican — and Arizona’s former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who declared her affiliation to be independent in 2022. Others, like Reps. Max Rose (D-NY), Antonio Delgado (D-NY), Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-FL), and Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) were somewhat moderate in their voting records.

Just eight years later, the big primary wins have gone to a number of far-Left candidates who openly attack Israel and embrace socialism — and even a few who are card-carrying members of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, for example, proudly campaigned alongside antisemitic communist and Mao Zedong superfan Hasan Piker — and he was not the only one to do so. DSA-aligned candidates won primaries in New York on the coattails of Democratic socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

And as more moderate Democrats lose to primary challenges from the far-Left, a number of others have opted to fall in line in an attempt to save their own skins, defending the rise of socialism by claiming that the Democrat tent is big enough for everyone.