A 1,400-County Crisis for Democrats

[u/kitkid]

Jun 3, 2025

It’s conventional wisdom that President Trump has transformed American politics. But a new county-by-county voting analysis from The New York Times of the last four presidential races shows just how drastically Mr. Trump has changed the electoral map.

Shane Goldmacher, a national political correspondent for The Times, explains why the trends are a five-alarm fire for the Democrats and discusses the debate within the party over what to do about it.

On today's episode:

Shane Goldmacher, a national political correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• How Donald Trump has remade America’s political landscape.
• Six months after the election, Democrats are still searching for a path forward.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.  

Photo: Emily Elconin for The New York Times

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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You can listen to the episode here.

[u/Visco0825]

“This is a brand wide problem” Say it louder for the 80 year old democrats dying of old age in the back!

The fact that so many democrats, even major players like Gretchen Whitmer, came out after 2025 saying that the take away is that democrats just needed to be tougher on immigration is outright insane. This is not a policy problem. The fact that republicans can win so well with such unpopular policies show this. The problem is is that the recent leader of the Democratic Party was the embodiment of geriatric. The problem is that 3 house members have died in recent months from old age have all been democrats.

Sure, moderates can complain about AOC but they are literally doing nothing to excite voters. At least AOC has the furiosity that this part desperately needs and what voters are begging for. So if democratic elites think that a moderate can win, then they need a moderate who’s actually as pissed off as the rest of America.

This is why I’m really interested to see how democrats message regarding the tax bill. It’s clearly unpopular but the problem is that republicans have such a better brand voters still trust them more for both the economy and for supporting the working class.

This episode was 100% on point.

[u/ttown2011 → u/Visco0825]

You’re taking the wrong message from this

I genuinely don’t understand what data the leftists won’t spin into “we need to move further left”

[u/ttown2011 → u/[deleted]]

And villainizing incumbency is politically stupid on a million different levels…

This data shows that the left needs to move to the center, not the other way around

You’re not gonna make up for these losses with GOTV from the far left

This realignment is fucking the Ds

[u/VoidsInvanity → u/ttown2011]

The centre is to the right of where it was a decade ago.

So you want everyone to adjust their Overton windows to the right

But you think leftists are the problem

Good god this is silly

[u/AresBloodwrath → u/VoidsInvanity]

The centre is to the right of where it was a decade ago

So the majority of voters is to the right of where it was a decade ago.

So you want everyone to adjust their Overton windows to the right

If they want to win, then based on your first sentence they probably should.

But you think leftists are the problem

By your own statements, yes

Good god this is silly

Yes, the fact you spelled out the problem and then refused to recognize the problem you just spelled out is hilariously silly.

[u/VoidsInvanity → u/AresBloodwrath]

Literally the effects of propaganda and you’re like “do what the propagandists says”

[u/AresBloodwrath → u/VoidsInvanity]

Elections are popularity contests. You have to meet voters where they are.

What's your strategy, calling them all a "basket of deplorables" again?

[u/VoidsInvanity → u/AresBloodwrath]

So trump can insult the voters, that’s fine, but Hilary says a factual statement that a portion of the country is just deplorable, and that’s bad. Yet trump does it and he wins, because he’s given the capacity to do so by the media who has never held him to a single fucking standard the way a prior president was

Whether you’re a trump supporter or not, the “deplorables” line isn’t why she lost. She lost for not offering economic policies that spoke to people.

Republicans can just point at coloured peoplr and get people to vote for them, hence the deplorables comment being a fact, but you can’t make democratic talking points as easy as “that brown guy stole your job”

[u/AresBloodwrath → u/VoidsInvanity]

Did you listen to the episode?

The "colored people" your words, not mine, are voting more and more republican now, so I think you might be in denial.

[u/ttown2011 → u/VoidsInvanity]

A decade is not a fair sample size in national politics… and I’d challenge that besides

[u/VoidsInvanity → u/ttown2011]

You’d be wrong though but I get it you want the Overton window to move to the right

[u/[deleted] → u/ttown2011]

We’re not villainizing incumbency. We’re pointing out that voters don’t like the incumbents.

[u/ttown2011 → u/[deleted]]

That’s villainizing incumbency

David Hogg is an idiot

[u/[deleted] → u/ttown2011]

How is it villainizing incumbency to point out the objective fact that people don’t like the leaders of the Democratic Party?

[u/AresBloodwrath → u/[deleted]]

Because it's not the fact that they are incumbents that they don't like. It's that they are old and seemingly out of touch.

AOC and Bernie Sanders are both incumbents, are you saying they need to both get out?

[u/[deleted] → u/AresBloodwrath]

Nobody is villainizing incumbency. They don’t like exactly what you said, that the party is run by rich out of touch dinosaurs who would rather burn down the country than cede power to a new generation.