Democratic voters in Pennsylvania criticized their party’s national leadership as “fractured,” telling The Washington Post it lacks both a clear message and a unifying figure months into President Donald Trump’s second term.
“Right now, there is no leader,” said one of more than 20 Democratic voters whom the Post interviewed in Doylestown and Philadelphia. “There is no strong voice for the people as a whole.”
“We’re fractured. We don’t have a definitive message,” a second voter told the Post, while another said that Democratic leaders need to be “really, genuinely more engaged with their constituents and with their party.” Other Democrats say that their leaders appear “so powerless” and ineffective. “It’s hard for me to say who they are,” one voter said.
The criticism comes amid months of infighting and a leadership vacuum within the Democratic Party. The Democratic National Committee, under Chairman Ken Martin, “wildly trails” its Republican counterpart in fundraising, as donors increasingly view the party as “rudderless, off message and leaderless,” Politico reported last month.
Democrats have also lost ground in voter registration. In the 30 states that record party affiliation, the party shed 2.1 million registered voters between 2020 and 2024, while Republicans gained 2.4 million, according to The New York Times. “The Democratic Party is hemorrhaging voters long before they even go to the polls,” the Times added.
The Democratic Party’s favorability has fallen to its lowest level in 35 years, with 63% of voters viewing it unfavorably, according to a July Wall Street Journal poll. An Associated Press-NORC survey last month found Democrats less enthusiastic about their party than Republicans and more likely to describe it in negative terms.
Some Democrats believe that the party’s efforts are primarily performative, based on interviews conducted by the Post. “We are really good at doing little protests and making cute signs and stuff,” one voter said, but “there’s not a lot of action that backs that up.”
