WelcomeFest speakers said they want Democrats to take popular positions, but their own agenda is controversial.
By Russell Payne, Salon
Centrist activists at the heart of a new push to control the direction of the Democratic party insist that they want Democrats to adopt positions that track with public opinion. But, as it stands, there is sparse evidence that their preferred platform is actually popular, according to researchers, with the advocates for a more centrist party also failing to recognize the impact that leaders can have on public opinion.
Last week, centrist Democrats gathered in Washington, D.C. for an event billed as the largest public gathering of centrists in the Democratic Party, “WelcomeFest.” The event served as a celebration of Democrats (and former Democrats) like former Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.V., who represented the party’s center-right flank.
The co-founder of the centrist billionaire funded Welcome PAC, Liam Kerr, even walked out on stage wearing a Joe Manchin West Virginia University Mountaineers football jersey, before delivering an opening statement in front of slides which surmised the group’s vision for the party going forward as “dogs,” referencing Blue Dogs; “data”; and “Slotkin,” referring to the freshman senator from Michigan, Elissa Slotkin, who Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has taken a shine to.
The closest thing to a thesis statement for the event, however, came from Lauren Harper Pope, a founder of the Welcome Party, the political organization behind the event, who described the group’s mission as making sure “Democrats are on the right side of public opinion.”
G. Elliott Morris, a public opinion researcher and the proprietor of the Substack blog, “Strength in Numbers,” said in an interview with Salon that “it’s very obvious, if you’re a student of public opinion, that public opinion is very malleable and also very subject to the questions you’re asking and the way you’re measuring the thing you’re trying to measure.” He suggested “those two nuances are just not compatible with activism among these groups,” referring to those who attempt to position themselves on the “right side” of public opinion.
In practical terms, however, being on the right side of public opinion appears to mean adopting more conservative policies on issues where a more conservative position appears to be more popular, like on immigration or the participation of transgender people in sports. In economic terms, the group has pushed towards the “abundance agenda” which focuses on rolling back regulations that proponents say limit things like the construction of new housing.
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