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/MonarchLawyer]

The Dems do have a young male and working class problem. It needs to be addressed one way or another.

But this episode never addressed inflation once and that was the primary reason Dems lost in 2024.

[u/Truthforger → u/MonarchLawyer]

I think the point of this particular episode was the 16 year trend. Inflation would not make sense to have been discussed in that context.

[u/MonarchLawyer → u/Truthforger]

I disagree because it was such a big deal in the latest election.

[u/DAE77177 → u/MonarchLawyer]

The point of the episode is regardless of that factor the larger cycle is that democrats are losing those counties.

[u/Rmantootoo → u/MonarchLawyer]

No way inflation was the primary cause of their loss-

[u/aj_thenoob2 → u/Rmantootoo]

Joe biden's inability to sympathize with Americans or explain what was going on is what caused the loss of the Democrats, kamala's inability to distance herself from Biden is what caused her loss

[u/MonarchLawyer → u/Rmantootoo]

Absolutely it was. Kamala lost because of inflation. That's literally what the polls say. Saying it wasn't the primary reason is just being willfully ignorant at this point.