Last month, Illinois U.S. Senate candidate Juliana Stratton (the state’s progressive lieutenant governor) ran an ad with a not-so-subtle message regarding our president:

Stratton herself doesn’t say this, but she lets multiple other people say it for her. The crude campaign stunt got me thinking: Is this really what Democratic voters want? (That primary election is March 17, as I write this, so it’s TBD if her messaging worked.) 

There’s a growing disconnect in America. As our political parties move further to their respective extremes, most voters fall somewhere in between. Whether Republican or Democrat, the majority of Americans simply want what’s best for their families and for their country. 

The Democratic Party is having an especially hard time connecting with its constituents, as witnessed by a steady stream of polls showing just how bad off it is. 

A recent NBC News national survey found that only Iran is less popular than the Democratic Party among U.S. voters. The reason? The party continues to push its far-left, progressive policies even as many Democrats hold much more moderate views. 

With only months until the November elections, there’s not a lot of time to turn things around.

Democrats want their party to move more to the center

A Manhattan Institute poll released earlier this month highlights that a large coalition among liberals favors more moderate approaches when it comes to the most pressing issues, and would like to see the party move more to the center than further left.

The success of socialists within the Democratic Party, like Zohran Mamdani, the new mayor of New York City, has gotten a lot of people talking about whether that’s the right direction for the party. 

The Manhattan Institute identified three main blocs within the party, with the largest – 47% – comprising “moderates,” who favor middle-of-the-road views. Just 11% are part of the “woke fringe.” And 37% are “progressive liberals.” 

“Despite the prominence of the hard left within Democratic politics and corners of social media, today’s Democratic coalition shows a clear preference for moderation,” the poll states, with a plurality (38%) saying the party should move toward the ideological center; 26% believe it is in the right place, and 22% want it to move further left.

Here are a few key findings from the poll: 

Regarding immigration, only 11% of Democrats support an ”open border.” Most favor a skills-based immigration system that prioritizes the deportation of criminal illegal immigrants. 

When it comes to transgender policy, most Democratic parents support parental notification requirements in schools and oppose transgender students playing on girls’ sports teams. 

Many Democrats expressed openness to free trade and supply-side economic policies. 

Most voters affirm Israel’s right to exist, but younger voters are less supportive.

On national identity, 64% believe that the United States has historically been a force for good in the world. 

Trump drives Democrats wild, but he's winning on key issues

Politicians like Stratton may think throwing f-bombs at President Donald Trump is all it takes to woo voters. 

Unfortunately, that overlooks the fact that many Americans – including Democrats – agree with key points of Trump’s agenda.

A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll from early March found Trump and Republicans hold an advantage in several areas.

When it comes to the midterm elections, Republicans have a 4-point messaging edge among likely voters. 

More than half – 52% – say the economy is better now than under former President Joe Biden, a 5-point jump from January. Of course, the war with Iran is a wild card that could upend the growing confidence in the economy. 

In regard to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, the voting bill that Trump is strongly advocating, voters are on his side: 85% say only U.S. citizens should be allowed to vote, and 71% explicitly support the SAVE America Act. 

And despite capitalism-bashing politicians like Mamdani, it turns out Americans still like the free market. The Harvard poll found 76% of voters support free enterprise over socialist policies, with strong support for private home ownership and property rights. 

If the Democratic Party hopes to revamp its image ahead of the midterms, it needs to hit the brakes on its hard left turn ‒ and look a lot more normal. 

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on X: @Ingrid_Jacques

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