(Headline USA) Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, admitted his party has a “likability problem” this week and said Democrats need to talk like normal people instead of MSNBC hosts.
Asked by the New York Times whether he believes the Democratic Party is out of touch with voters on “immigration, or LGBTQ rights, or another issue,” Maloney said, “Well, the way I’ve often put this to my colleagues is to say, if our positions and our policies are so popular, why don’t they like us more? That’s a good question.”
“And you’ll find broad agreement in our caucus, from the conservative Democrats to the most progressive, that we have a likability problem,” Maloney continued.
“My answer to that is that we move really fast, and we are really passionate about the solutions we want to bring. And we sometimes don’t give people enough time to understand what we’re doing and to bring them along.”
Democrats are “really clear on our own priorities,” but often fail to ask about voters’ priorities, he added.
“If I’ve had any success in the Trump district, it’s because I try to take seriously the priorities of the people I represent, not just tell them about my own,” Maloney said.
“So for example, Democrats could be much more intentional about our work in rural areas, with veterans, with farmers, with people in communities that have not benefited from the global economy. We could talk like human beings, we could build a relationship with voters.”
Democrats need to be “more comfortable on the factory floor, or at least as comfortable on the factory floor as we are in the faculty lounge,” he said.
“I think that most of the voters that we ask about this think that we’re out of touch, they think we’re elitist, we think we are better than they are. And they don’t like it,” Maloney said. “And we have a likability problem.”
