On September 3, 2025, a memo from the centrist think tank Third Way landed with a thud in Democratic circles, bluntly titled "Was it something I said?" The document, according to Third Way, highlighted a growing disconnect between the language deployed by Democratic leaders and the way average Americans actually talk—and, perhaps more importantly, what they care about. "For a party that spends billions of dollars trying to find the perfect language to connect to voters, Democrats and their allies use an awful lot of words and phrases no ordinary person would ever dream of saying," the memo declared, capturing a frustration that’s been simmering just beneath the surface of the party’s post-2024 soul-searching.
That frustration is well founded, if you ask strategists and pollsters who have spent months poring over the data from the last election. According to a September 2, 2025, opinion piece published by Way to Win and Lake Research Partners, millions of voters who supported Joe Biden in 2020 simply stayed home in 2024—not out of apathy, but because they felt politically disillusioned. These so-called "Biden skippers" didn’t flock to Donald Trump in droves, but their absence at the polls tilted the electorate sharply toward Republicans.
What’s remarkable, according to the Way to Win poll, is that these missing voters aren’t the disengaged, cynical Americans that conventional wisdom might suggest. In fact, 75% of them say they follow the news closely. A striking 67% still have a favorable view of Democrats, while 60% hold an unfavorable impression of Trump and 63% say the same of MAGA Republicans. Their decision to skip the 2024 election was less about tuning out and more about tuning in—and not liking what they heard.
"The problem was that they didn’t feel anyone was fighting for them," the opinion article explained. These voters wanted a reason to show up, a candidate or party that seemed to understand their struggles and was willing to fight for their interests. Instead, they were left with what felt like a choice between the lesser of two evils—and, for many, that simply wasn’t worth the trip to the polls.
Economic anxiety, not culture wars, drove their decision. The poll found that concerns about housing affordability and economic inequality topped the list. Latino voters, in particular, emerged as a critical and underappreciated swing demographic. While MAGA Republicans are deeply underwater with Latino skippers—at minus 42 percentage points—Democrats are only barely above water, holding a meager plus 3-point advantage. The old assumption that Latino voters are reliable Democratic allies is fading fast; these voters need to be persuaded that casting a ballot is worth their time.
Two themes stood out in the polling. First, voters didn’t believe the Democratic ticket had a strong enough plan to address the housing affordability crisis. Second, they felt the party was too narrowly focused on middle-class tax cuts, neglecting deeper issues like poverty and economic inequality. Many of these voters responded positively to the bold, populist economic message that defined Biden’s 2020 campaign—taxing the wealthy to invest in infrastructure and jobs—but by 2024, that narrative had faded. What they heard instead was a series of policy points that felt misaligned with their lived reality.
"Put bluntly, voters felt that Democrats weren’t fighting for people like them or taking on big corporations who profit from price gouging and rich people who don’t pay what they owe in taxes," the article stated. Even worse, many saw this as a broken promise, a failure to deliver on the bold change they were promised four years earlier.
When asked which politicians they admired, these voters consistently pointed to Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—leaders known for their willingness to challenge the system and speak in plain, populist terms. The poll found that, despite the media’s fixation on culture wars, most skippers didn’t cite issues like transgender rights or so-called "wokeness" as reasons for staying home. Instead, their top priorities were affordable health care, forcing the wealthy to pay their fair share, stopping price gouging, and making housing affordable.
"Forget gross domestic product statistics and policy acronyms. Talk about ‘cracking down on tax cheats,’ ‘putting a stop to price gouging’ and ‘getting people the health care they need,’" the opinion article urged. The message is clear: Democrats must show they’re on the side of working people, not just in rhetoric but in action and tone.
For party strategists, this is both a warning and an opportunity. The next two election cycles—2026 and 2028—may hinge on whether Democrats can reconnect with these voters. It won’t be enough to run against Trump or rely on fear. The party must offer a compelling, hopeful, and inclusive vision—one that speaks directly to the kitchen-table concerns that keep millions of Americans up at night.
"Because for millions of Americans, the stakes aren’t abstract. They’re personal. People fight every day just to get by and they’re looking for a party that will fight alongside them," the article emphasized. The memo from Third Way echoed this sentiment, albeit from a different angle, arguing that Democrats’ penchant for insider language and consultant-speak is alienating the very people they need to reach. "Democrats and their allies use an awful lot of words and phrases no ordinary person would ever dream of saying," the memo repeated, urging a return to plainspoken, relatable messaging.
There’s a clear path forward, pollsters say: Center the party’s message on economic inequality, corporate accountability, and tangible improvements to everyday life. Decry Republican efforts to cut Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act, especially as GOP leaders push another round of tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations. Above all, give voters a reason to believe that Democrats will fight for them—not just in campaign speeches, but in policy and practice.
The risk, of course, is that if Democrats fail to heed these lessons, they could lose these voters to the couch once again. As the data shows, these Americans are not an afterthought. Their absence in 2024 sent a powerful message, and they’ll do it again if the party doesn’t change course.
As Jenifer Fernandez Ancona, cofounder and Chief Strategy Officer of Way to Win, and Celinda Lake, founder of Lake Research Partners, put it: "Democrats have a golden opportunity right now to start winning over these voters by decrying MAGA Republicans’ cuts to Medicare and Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act’s rising premiums against the backdrop of another GOP tax giveaway to the top 1% and big corporations." The message couldn’t be clearer: The future of the party—and perhaps the country—may depend on whether Democrats can rediscover the populist grit and plainspoken urgency that first inspired these voters to show up.
With the 2026 and 2028 elections looming, the stakes for Democrats are higher than ever. If they can bridge the gap between lofty rhetoric and everyday reality, there’s a real chance to bring millions of disillusioned voters back into the fold. If not, the silence at the ballot box will speak volumes once again.
