A longtime pollster warned his fellow Democrats this week that they will continue to lose if they “go the progressive route” and push radical policies like ‘Defund the police.’
Doug Schoen, a pollster who most recently worked for the Clintons, told the New York Post that his data shows Democrats suffering massive losses in the 2022 midterm elections if they continue to listen to leftists like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY.
“The data says to me that if the Democrats go the progressive route they can lose the House and the Senate overwhelmingly in 2022,” Schoen explained. “The incoming Biden administration has to understand that unless they take a moderate path, that is a likely potential outcome for the Democrats.”
Schoen cited a recent poll conducted by his polling firm, Schoen Cooperman Research, which found that an overwhelming number of respondents agreed Biden should pursue a moderate agenda.
“The hardcore activists, they like AOC. The rest of the country outside of hardcore party activists are not so keen on AOC or her agenda,” Schoen continued. “The question for the Democrats is how to keep the progressives on the reservation without fracturing the party.”
Several congressional Democrats shared similar concerns after it became clear the Democratic Party lost severely down-ballot during the 2020 election.
“We need to be pretty clear. It was a failure. It was not a success,” Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., reportedly said during a conference call with House Democrats. “We lost incredible members of Congress … We have to commit to not saying the words ‘defund the police’ ever again. We need to not ever use the words socialist or socialism ever again. It does matter, and we have lost good members because of that. If we run this race again we will get f***ing torn apart again in 2022.”
