The Democratic Party entered the 2022 midterms saddled with a historically unpopular president and an inflationary economy. And yet the party is exiting them as the election’s clear winner. In fact, Democrats put up one of the best midterm performances for an in-power party ever.
David Shor believes that he knows why. The founder of the Democratic data firm Blue Rose Research, Shor has gained prominence in recent years by evangelizing for “popularism,” a theory of electoral politics that emphasizes the importance of adopting poll-tested issue positions and exercising message discipline, among other things.
The debate over how to interpret the 2022 midterm is just beginning. Votes are still being tallied. But Shor believes that the completed results tell a coherent story. I spoke with him about the role that abortion played in Democrats’ success, the burdens that Donald Trump imposed on the GOP, and why he believes his party owes its success to persuasion rather than base mobilization. CONTINUED
Eric Levitz, New York Magazine
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