Feehery: Why Democrats are now historically unpopular

Both Joe BidenJoe BidenDearborn office of Rep. Debbie Dingell vandalized Pfizer to apply for COVID-19 booster approval for 16- and 17-year-olds: report Coronavirus variant raises fresh concerns for economy MORE and Democrats are unpopular by historic margins. Progressive activists and pundits wonder why, considering the low unemployment rate, brisk economic growth and some legislative success. 

Here are six reasons:

1)    Democrats are anachronistic: Biden is old and frail. House Speaker Nancy PelosiNancy PelosiNews media’s sausage-making obsession helps no one Klobuchar confident spending bill will be finished before Christmas Five reasons for Biden, GOP to be thankful this season MORE (Calif.) is 81. Senate Majority Leader Charles SchumerChuck SchumerLawmakers take aim at ‘Grinches’ using bots to target consumers during holidays Democratic frustration growing over stagnating voting rights bills Schumer mourns death of ‘amazing’ father MORE (N.Y.) is relatively spry at 71, but he seems like he has been around forever. Beyond their advanced ages, these Democrats have old ideas and are fighting old battles that no longer reflect our current realities as a nation. Biden wants to hearken back to the good old days of the Senate, when he, Chris Dodd and Ted Kennedy used to pal around. But those days are gone forever, and they aren’t coming back. These Democrats seem to believe that if they just pass one more huge government program, they will somehow become more popular with the voters. But most Americans don’t want more handouts from the government. They want to get on with their lives and take care of their families. 

2)    Democrats keep the pandemic panic going but the American people don’t buy it anymore: On the House floor and at every Democratic press event, masks are mandatory. But outside the Beltway, in suburban Virginia and suburban Maryland, almost nobody wears a mask. The overreaction from the Biden administration to the new South African variant is another example. The president immediately stopped flights from eight African countries, despite little evidence that such a travel ban will have any impact on slowing down a variant that most experts don’t believe will be particularly problematic.  Democrats don’t want this to end because it gives them more power over the people. But voters have had enough and want to move on. 

3)    Democrats divide us to unite us: According to one analysis, voters think that the Democrats are too focused on equality and fairness and not enough on people like them. This is obviously true. If you aren’t the right person of color who identifies with the right gender or sexual preference, you probably are not going to be part of the new Democratic coalition. Asian voters, who used to think they qualified as people of color, now are classified as white-adjacent and are thus disqualified from preferential treatment. There are two problems with the new approach taken by the progressive…