Friends -

We recently sent out an email asking a few important questions. Where do you think things stand politically today? What kind of campaign has to be run in order to generate grassroots excitement and increase a progressive voter turnout?

Let me thank you for the large number of responses we received from that email. As of today we have received nearly 7,500 written comments – almost all of them of them very thoughtful and serious.

Many of the respondents thought Democrats still had a lot of work to do in order to win elections in 2024. A smaller percentage thought that things were going well and only required a few changes at the margins.

In a soon-to-be written email I’ll give you my thoughts on that question. But now, I hope you’ll take a minute to read a cross-section of some of the responses we received so that you can get a sense as to what people around the country are thinking.

"I don't know Bernie, I just don't know. It seems like people need to see a difference in their everyday lives. To see that government can do good things for people. I would love to see the Democrats take bold action - on healthcare, housing, safety net things, etc - in ways that bring us together, emphasizing care for each other, for our community." - Mary from Georgia

"How are things going? In a word, horribly. The left and center in this country have been fighting a defensive battle, trying to stave off one self-imposed political disaster after another for decades. I want candidates who refuse to fight for tiny, incremental change and instead promise bold transformational change." - Dennis from Illinois

"It is not enough for democrats to campaign on being "not as bad as Republicans". - James from Maryland

"Things are going a LOT better than the perception. I think dems need to tell us that. All the good done with Biden and what can happen when he is elected." - JoAnn from Oregon

"The most important thing is taking on the greed of corporate America. Everybody blames the Biden administration for inflation. We have to tell people the number one cause of inflation is corporate greed." - Farbod from Alabama

"I think things are better than they were at the end of 2020. The economy shows some signs of improvement, but corporate greed is still rampant and also fueling a lot of the inflation in the housing market and stagnant wages. The political polarization makes me fear for the future of democracy." - Robert from Ohio

"There has not been enough emphasis on climate change! I get that there are many immediate competing issues but climate change is on everyone's subconscious worry list. Biden should be bold and keep the importance of this problem front and center." - Basil from Oregon

"Biden and his surrogates need to talk more about what his administration has done to benefit middle class Americans, such as building infrastructure, lowering drug prices, reducing inflation and forgiving student loans." - Paul from Connecticut

"Things are looking better now, but If trump is elected, there goes our Democracy. If Democrats don't run a vigorous campaign, pointing out Trump's failures and intentions, he just might win." - John from Massachusetts

"I am terrified of another Trump presidency and Biden needs to do more to get the average person to truly understand what is at stake in this election but at the same time he simply cannot run just on this issue alone as many people especially younger people see no point of voting if those in power aren't doing enough to help them such as the housing market getting worse and wages not going up and barely scraping by." - Adrian from New Mexico

"I’m extremely happy with what President Biden has done with his first term. I will be voting for his second term. I think the average American does not understand how the chips act, infrastructure or inflation legislation affects them personally. I also don’t think they understand that benefits of these things will take awhile to feel the full benefits. It would be great if we could find bite-size pieces to put out there to show people how it affects every day Americans. Loved the Valley Forge speech. We need more of that." - Julie from Maryland

Thank you for reading. This is an important discussion that I look forward to continuing.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders