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Are Progressives or Moderates Winning More Dem Voters?
Moderates claim progressives are alienating voters; Progressives claim moderates are holding back progress. Who’s right?
When history takes the measure of this year, this decade, and the years to come, who will emerge on the lauded “Right Side of History”?
Famous, and in some circles, infamous, moderates like Sen. Joe Manchin have attained a much higher profile by bucking Democratic Party leadership and resisting all efforts of progressives to pressure them.
But moderates don’t always come out ahead in Democratic Party politics, circa 2022. Supreme Court Justine Stephen Breyer was the subject of a targeted campaign by progressives to pressure him to retire in order to allow President Joe Biden to appoint someone younger and more left-leaning for the position.
When Breyer finally did decide to retire, his plans were leaked before he’d had a chance to announce them, making his exit far messier and more ignoble than it should have been, all things considered.
It doesn’t help the progressive cause that Democratic Party moderates, Sen. Joe Manchin in particular, have enjoyed much higher approval ratings in their home states and districts after refusing to tow the progressive line.