The Dems Will Stay Weak Until They Stop Obsessing Over Polls

You can watch this episode of Right Now With Perry Bacon above or by following us on YouTube or Substack. Read the transcript of this episode here.

Democratic politicians are overly reliant on polls and don’t use them correctly, says Anat Shenker-Osorio, a political strategist who works with progressive candidates and groups both in the United States and abroad. In the latest edition of Right Now With Perry Bacon, Shenker-Osorio argues that politicians taking positions based on what people say they support in surveys isn’t effective because such polls can’t capture what messages and policies will be memorable and viral and ultimately inspire people to vote and get engaged in campaigns. Kamala Harris’s hawkish immigration stands in 2024 might have polled well but didn’t help her much because that rhetoric did not excite liberals and was unconvincing to moderates and liberals, according to Shenker-Osorio. Alternatively, she argues that President Trump and Zohran Mamdani, while having opposing policy views, both smartly identified messages that galvanized their bases and created conflicts with their opponents on the candidates’ preferred terms. The conversation is based on a recent piece in which she encourages Democrats to embrace “magnetism” and reject “pollingism.”