Far-left radical priorities have alienated Democratic voters: report

As the Democratic Party grapples with defeats in the 2024 elections, a new report urges Democrats to moderate their positions on identity politics and cultural issues while promoting affordability, border security and public safety ahead of competitive midterm elections expected next year.

The party’s future seemed destined for socialism when the trio of self-identified democratic socialists — New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-CortezD-N.Y., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. – joined forces to bring together more than 10,000 New York City voters at Forest Hills Stadium on Sunday. But with a week until Election Day, the “Decide to Win” report is urging Democrats to return to the center.

“To win elections, Democrats must make the following changes. First, we must focus more on the issues that voters think we are not prioritizing enough (the economy, cost of living, health care, border security, public safety), and focus less on the issues that voters think we are prioritizing too much (climate change, democracy, abortion and identity issues and cultural),” wrote authors Simon Bazelon, Lauren Harper Pope and Liam Kerr.

“Second, we must moderate our positions on issues where our agenda is unpopular, including immigration, public safety, energy production, and certain identity and cultural issues,” added the trio of Democratic researchers and operatives.

POLITICAL ANALYST SAYS DEMOCRATS ARE ALREADY WORRIED ABOUT “BIG PROBLEM” OF WINNING 2028 Voters Back

Supporters of Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani gather outside 30 Rock in New York on Thursday, October 16, 2025. (Fox News Digital/Deirdre Heavey)

The Democratic Party has been without a clear leader since former Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 presidential election to President Donald Trump last year.

NYC VOTERS EMBRACE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM LIKE AOC, SUTMP SANDERS FOR MAMDANI

On the eve of the 2026 midterm elections, the race for New York City mayor has dominated the national political scene this year.

New York Democrats, such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Gov. Kathy Hochul, waited months to support the Democratic candidate. Republicans, meanwhile, have capitalized on endorsements such as adopting a far-left agenda, including Trump calling Mamdani a “communist” – a nickname he has rejected.

New York City voters who attended the star-studded rally in Queens on Sunday embraced democratic socialism and told Fox News Digital that Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez represent the future of the Democratic Party.

But released the next day, the “Decide to Win” report, first shared with Semaforpushes Democrats back to the center. The report is based on “thousands of election results, hundreds of public polls and academic articles, dozens of case studies, and surveys of more than 500,000 voters since the 2024 election.”

According to information from Semafor, elected Democrats should receive copies of the report this week, and events will take place in Washington, DC and New York to promote it.

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One during a trip from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Tokyo, Japan, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

Democratic campaign staffers are more liberal than Democratic voters and are more likely to be “on average, younger, more educated, more likely to be white, more likely to be female, and less likely to attend church than Democratic voters and the overall electorate,” according to academic research from the American Political Science Review.

While the report finds that “most voters are white, most voters are not college educated, and are over 50,” the authors say Democrats are meanwhile being pulled to the left by donors and campaign staff.

“Research by Data for Progress shows that Democratic elites are significantly to the left of the general public and that the gap between Democratic elites and the public is larger than the gap between Republican elites and the public,” the report said, arguing that Democratic donors and campaign staff are pushing the party to the left, away from the electorate.

“To win again, Democrats must listen more to voters and less to disconnected donors, detached party elites, and Democratic politicians who systematically underperform early results,” the authors write.

According to the report, this has created a divide between the Democratic forces driving the national debate and the voters who go to the polls.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a Forum on Democracy event hosted by the Obama Foundation at the Javits Center on November 17, 2022 in New York. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Since President Barack Obama won his re-election campaign in 2012, the authors say the Democratic Party has moved to the left on “essentially every issue.”

They conclude that today’s Democratic Party is more focused on climate change, democracy, abortion, and identity politics than on the economy and the middle class. With this shift, they say, more voters now view the party as “out of touch.”

The authors encourage Democrats to refocus their policy agendas on cutting costs and building the economy, and argue for “grassroots” economic policies, as opposed to student loan forgiveness or Medicare for All. They also urge Democrats to focus less on issues like climate change and abortion and more on the cost of living.

This involves moderating positions on immigration, public security, energy production and certain identity or cultural issues, while rejecting economic influence in politics.

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., react on stage during a “New York is Not for Sale” rally at Forest Hills Stadium in the Queens borough of New York on October 26, 2025. (Reuters/Eduardo Munoz)

“First, voters’ frustrations with the status quo are not the same thing as a desire for socialism. And second, criticizing the status quo is a complement to, not a substitute for, advocacy for popular policies on the issues that matter most to the American people,” the authors said.

The authors acknowledge that Democrats have “much to learn” from Mamdani, Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders about prioritizing affordability, just as they should from Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego’s approach to border security in Arizona.

Democrats should prioritize “an unwavering focus on economic issues that are the top priorities of the American working class while meeting voters where they are on issues like immigration and public safety,” according to the authors.

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While pushing Democrats to the center, the authors assert that “deciding to win does not advocate abandoning our party’s core values ​​or refusing to stand up for disadvantaged groups.”

The report encourages Democrats to “be courageous,” reject third-party requests and “embrace new media platforms and unanticipated events with voters, rather than listening to consultants whose greatest fear is that their candidate will make a mistake.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the DNC for comment but did not immediately receive a response.