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PPI 2024 Election Review and the Way Ahead for Democrats
By Will Marshall, Deborah Mattinson and Claire Ainsley
A New PPI Report
President-elect Donald Trump believes Americans have given him an “unprecedented and powerful mandate to govern.” Like so much of what he says, this claim blurs the line between hyperbole and fantasy. His Nov. 5 victory was solid, but no landslide.
Trump won just under half the popular vote, only 1.6% more than Vice President Kamala Harris received. With a public disapproval rating of 50%, he is the least popular presidential winner in modern times.
It’s certainly possible to look at Trump’s return to power as reflecting the new norm in U.S. elections of small and unstable majorities. Since Barack Obama’s departure, U.S. voters have tossed out the incumbents in one “change” election after another.
But such an interpretation might tempt Democrats, who were shut out of power in Congress as well as the White House, to do little but wait for their chance two and four years hence. That would be a colossal mistake.
Instead, Democrats must face a hard truth: their coalition is inexorably shrinking as non-college voters continue to defect. It’s time for honest answers to three vexing questions:
How did they lose again to the deeply flawed Trump? Does their loss signal a U.S. political realignment? And why are Democrats — and indeed center-left parties across Europe — alienating the working-class voters they once championed?
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High prices for essential goods and services force consumers to make tough choices about what to buy, where to live, and even what bills to pay. Anger around high prices and the high cost of living played a major role in the 2024 presidential election. Disillusionment with the “Bidenomics” agenda fueled a sense of disenfranchisement.
Market power is an important contributor to higher prices in critical sectors that make up the bulk of consumer spending. The report unpacks evidence of high market concentration, flagging productivity, market power “bottlenecks,” and lackluster merger control in critical sectors such as housing, transportation, food, insurance, and health care.
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New from the Experts
Claire Ainsley, Director of PPI's Project on Center-Left Renewal, and Deborah Mattinson: On Wokeness, Patriotism and Change, Kamala Harris’s Defeat has Lessons for Starmer
⮕ The Guardian
Paul Weinstein Jr., Senior Fellow: Diminishing Credit II: How Colleges and Universities Restrict the Use of AP and IB Towards Earning a Degree in Less Than Four Years
⮕ PPI Report
Bruno Manno, PPI Senior Advisor and Director of What Works Lab: Four Job-Launch Pain Points In Young People’s Career Journey
⮕ Forbes
Richard D. Kahlenberg, Director of Housing Policy and the American Identity Project: To Win the Working Class, Democrats Should Champion Patriotic Education
⮕ The Hill
Peter Juul, Director of National Security: The Senate Should Reject These Two Dangerous Nominations
⮕ Medium
Trade Fact of the Week: 29 Haitian garment factories exported 300 million clothing articles to the U.S. last year.
⮕ PPI’s Trade Fact of the Week
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The Least Terrible Way for Ukraine to Negotiate with Russia
By Tamar Jacoby
Director of PPI's New Ukraine Project
for The Washington Monthly
Many Ukrainians, used to making the best of bad situations, reacted to Donald Trump’s reelection with caustic humor. Among the most heard jokes play off his promise to end the war with Russia in 24 hours. “Has everyone set their timers?” one man asked on Facebook. But underneath the repartee, Ukrainians are tired—ground down by a war, now all but stalemated, that will soon enter its fourth year. So they wait, half-frightened, half-hopeful, for what could be a disastrous defeat or a welcome reprieve.
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Don't Miss This Upcoming Event!
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ICYMI: Webinar ft. Gov. Jared Polis
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Pathways to Opportunity: A View From the National Governors Association and Colorado
A Conversation with PPI's Bruno Manno and Colorado Governor Jared Polis
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What’s Next for the Charter School Movement? feat. Starlee Coleman
RAS Reports
ft. Tressa Pankovits
PPI’s Reinventing America’s Schools Project Co-Director Tressa Pankovits sits down for a conversation with Starlee Coleman, the new President and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. The pair discuss the future of the charter school movement in the wake of the election, as well as Coleman’s priorities for the organization now that she’s taken over as CEO.
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Staff Spotlight: Stuart Malec
National Political Director
Stuart Malec is the National Political Director for the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI). In this role, Stuart helps to oversee and implement PPI’s congressional engagement strategy. He administers PPI’s congressional fellowship program, which places policy and communications fellows within the New Democrat Coalition and Blue Dog Coalition in the U.S. House of Representatives. Stuart also manages external relations with several key PPI partners.
Before joining PPI, Stuart worked in multiple congressional offices for the first eight years of his professional career. He was Communications Director for two Democratic U.S. Representatives, serving on the senior staff for lawmakers on the Energy and Commerce, Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security, and Armed Services Committees. Prior to his ascension to Communications Director, Stuart led outreach programs for a congressional district office and worked on state and local political campaigns.
Stuart is a proud New Englander and alum of the University of Rhode Island. He now lives in Washington D.C., where he enjoys playing basketball, traveling, and co-parenting his dog, Biscuit, when not at work.
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