Loss of contact with the people ruins Democrats and PT members

Donald Trump’s return to the Presidency of the United States, in an election that also gave Republicans a majority in the Senate and probably in the House, demonstrated, once again, the Democratic Party’s disconnection with the working class it claims to represent. Trump still managed to attract part of the strata that candidate Kamala Harris and the most left wing of the Democrats tried to seduce: young people, Latinos, blacks, immigrants. The defeat serves as a warning to the Workers’ Party, which has had difficulty implementing its unionist and progressive agenda.

Analysts consulted by the report pointed out several factors for this distancing of the Democratic Party from the common average American. Most understand that the administration of US President Joe Biden left something to be desired in the economy, especially due to the spike in inflation, fueled by the Rescue Plan, launched in 2021 by the Democrat. The scenario was worsened by an event not controlled by Biden, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Since then, the rise in prices has subsided, growth has remained stable and unemployment remains low.

Although the United States continued to create jobs and record record growth, inflation led to a loss of purchasing power and difficulty in increasing income, which was reflected in a reduction in family consumption.

Furthermore, the weight given by Harris to identity agendas (“woke” agenda), her difficulty in separating herself from the Biden administration, with an unconvincing speech of change, and her late entry into the position of candidate in place of Biden were additional factors. to bury their real chances of victory over Trump.

The lesson is that, if it does not reconnect with the desires of ordinary citizens, the Democratic Party will be ruined. And the warning to the PT and the Brazilian left that, if it follows the same path, it will also fall into disgrace in the 2026 general elections, after the fall it took at the polls in this year’s municipal elections.

Before the election, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) expressed a preference for the election of Kamala Harris. This Wednesday (6), he congratulated Trump, but several PT members continued their attacks on the new president-elect, claiming that he represents a threat to democracy.

“It was very clear, in the victory of Trump and the Republicans in Congress, the detachment of the Democratic Party’s progressive agenda in relation to voters and the reality of the United States. It has been proven that American society is more conservative”, says Professor of International Relations at ESPM College Roberto Uebel.

“What explains Trump’s victory are strategic errors. From the Democrats, first, to bet on Biden’s re-election. And then, belatedly, remove Biden and install Kamala Harris. Furthermore, a speech focused heavily on social issues, with the decisive factor being the economic agenda. The Biden government delivered a weakened economy, in neutral, which was not enough to win the elections”, adds the professor.

Professor and doctor in Political Science and coordinator of the International Relations course at IBMEC, Adriano Gianturco points to research carried out decades ago by the University of Michigan, in election years, which measures consumer optimism. As a rule, when it is above 80 (on an index from 0 to 100), presidents tend to be re-elected; when it is below, they lose. This year, the index reached the worst level in the historical series starting in 1956: 70.5.

The rising cost of living was an issue for Democrats in this year’s election. An American CNN exit poll showed that 2/3 of voters think the economy is bad and almost half of them say their families are in a worse situation than four years ago – in 2020, when Trump was president, just a fifth he said this in relation to 2016, before he took over the White House.

Class struggle discourse is weakened

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Ernesto Araújo believes that “there is a tendency for the Democratic base to crumble”.

“They really abandoned the working middle class. It was something that had already started in 2016 and they were unable to recover. On the contrary, they solidified these people on the Republican side. They didn’t do anything to win him back. They only beat Trump, which, by extension, is beating people who like Trump. They didn’t give people any reason to like them”, says the diplomat, who has lived in the United States since 2021 – with a degree, he now offers online courses at academiafolhapolitica.org.

For Leandro Gabiati, doctor in political science at the consultancy Dominium, the Brazilian left also needs to update itself, especially to overcome the vision of class struggle.

“A new interpretation of reality is necessary, that there is no longer a class, the micro-entrepreneur is also the worker. As the left has a classist DNA, it has difficulties, faces barriers and obstacles that prevent it from easily facing this change in worldview, it is not simple, it needs to update and change, Trump’s election brings this analysis”, he says.

Lawyer and political commentator Alexandre Pires, in turn, adds that the discourse around the class struggle has been losing strength in several parts of the world. Common features of this phenomenon are, for him, the recomposition of consumption patterns and the emergence of social networks.

“In the Brazilian case, there is very low economic growth. We have lost almost a decade and a half. So there are frustrations in all classes, at all income levels and at all levels of wealth”, he says.

For the expert, this really weighs on those who are taking advantage of cycles of growth and ascension.

“Class discourse can no longer divide the electorate and this has proven true (in Brazil) in the electoral zones that were traditionally won by parties associated with the left and which were defeated by candidates associated with the right.”

“Woke” agenda alienated the left from the average citizen

Adriano Gianturco also mentions that the disconnection of the American left and in various parts of the world with the real desires of ordinary people began decades ago. The gap has deepened with the “woke” agenda, which privileges issues such as abortion, LGBT rights, racial division and environmentalism.

“I see the Democratic Party already very tired of this. The number of companies leaving ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) is increasing”, commented the IBMEC professor.

“On the other side, conservatives are on an upward trajectory. Among young people, they are still small, but they are growing. Today, being counterculture is being direct in the United States, because, especially among young people, the dominant culture, the dominant vision, He is on the left. Those on the right are transgressive. And they have new, different agendas, such as the challenge of the global order, anti-globalism”, he concludes.