What Happened to Our Party?

A recent CNN poll shows Democratic favorability has dropped to just 29%—a frustrating reality amid the national crisis Donald Trump is creating. Core institutions like education, Social Security, and Medicaid are under attack by a billionaire class determined to privatize them and concentrate even more wealth. Meanwhile, working- and middle-class Americans are footing the bill for one of the largest tax-cut-driven wealth transfers in our history—Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill.”

How did we get here? How did the Democratic Party fall from the heights of the Obama era to this low point? The decline didn’t begin with Obama’s departure—it started decades earlier, with the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act.

The Hart-Celler Act ended the national origins quota system that had favored Western and Northern Europeans, replacing it with preferences for family reunification and skilled labor. Over time, this shifted immigration toward people from Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Democrats assumed these new immigrants would become a permanent, loyal voting base for a progressive agenda. That assumption was wrong. Today, we've lost significant support among rural and immigrant communities alike. It’s time to rethink our political and policy strategy to win them back.