Updated August 2, 2026 at 4:01 AM CDT
On the campaign trail, Democratic candidates have largely kept a consistent message, hounding Republicans on high prices and a range of economic strains on working people.
Not straying from the issue of affordability is a strategy that many in the party believe is the best way for Democrats to regain power in Congress.
But other party figures think candidates could diversify their message and include a focus on democracy too, especially as President Trump continues to baselessly malign the country's elections.
"As Democrats, we have to keep on showing that we are fighting on all of those fronts, that we are not ceding any ground and that we're not talking like robots," Jane Kleeb, a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, told NPR.
Kleeb believes that the integrity of U.S. elections is something Democrats should be prepared to talk about, especially in the wake of Trump's presidential address last month in which he accused Democrats, without evidence, of cheating.
But a new report from a pair of prominent California researchers adds to evidence that Democrats should stay away from the issue of democracy to win over working-class voters. And some activists and operatives are worried it could be a distraction from the issues voters want policymakers to focus on — chiefly, the price of housing, groceries, gas and healthcare.
"I think it would be very wise for Democrats to continue to stay laser focused on President Trump's mismanagement of the economy," Lindsay Owens, president and CEO of Groundwork Action, a group that pushes for left-of-center economic policies, told NPR.
Owens believes Democrats are walking into a uniquely strong position on these issues during the midterms. Recent polling found that for the first time in more than 15 years, more voters say they trust Democrats on the economy than they trust Republicans.
"The Republicans' fall from grace on the economy has been self-inflicted," Owens said. "It is coming from the fact that President Trump and Republicans have been pursuing policies that actually make inflation worse and increased costs for American families."
She said Democrats should try to "cement and press their advantage on cost of living and affordability issues, which are top of mind for Americans" during this election cycle.
A "hard sell"
This is a sentiment shared by Amanda Litman, co-founder and president of the group Run for Something. She says Democrats can tackle things like gerrymandering, campaign finance and voting rights once they are in office. But they shouldn't shift campaign strategies now.
"It's a really hard sell for someone to hear 'ending gerrymandering will make your housing more affordable,'" she said. "That's like a three steps removed argument. … And if what it takes to elect pro-democracy leaders is for them not to talk about democracy, that's fine."
But Kleeb maintains that this is a false choice.
"Operatives who think that voters are only thinking about one issue are not out knocking doors or talking to folks," she said.
Democrats suffered setbacks in the 2024 elections. Kleeb said Democratic strategists told her in 2024 that the issue of democracy was a "loser issue" and "distraction" that should be avoided.
"And it turns out that that was a fundamental issue that was motivating people," she said. "And that might not have been something that they were telling exit pollers, or it wasn't something that was coming up on exit surveys or polling, but it was a fundamental value that people had in their guts and in their hearts."
Part of the reason this is tricky for the party is that the democracy issue has been ill-defined, said Nathan Johnson, a Democrat running for Texas attorney general.
He said for years now, Democrats have been focused on aspects of democracy such as voter suppression, which he said "absolutely has happened."
"But it also has not happened at levels that really command the public attention," Johnson argued. "So as a standalone issue, just talking about preserving our democracy is not overriding the price of a box of cereal at the grocery store or the perception that we're all being manipulated by large, powerful corporations."
Linking democracy and the economy
Johnson says telling voters that they should care about democratic institutions because it ultimately affects prices could be a way of talking about democracy and the economy at the same time.
Malcolm Kenyatta, a state representative in Pennsylvania running for reelection, says this is a strategy he is using as well. He said he hears frustration about corruption all the time from voters. And he thinks talking about that is not a distraction from the economy.
"These are interconnected issues," he said. "The cost-of-living crisis is in many ways a direct result of the endless corruption and the intent of blowing up our institutions to make that corruption even easier, which frankly has been at the heart of the Republican agenda."
Litman said this kind of messaging could work, but it's worth remembering that some voters just aren't invested in institutions.
"Young people don't believe that democracy works for them, in particular," she said. "It hasn't proved that out. I think that the best campaigns can really argue, why should a voter want you to win?"
Melissa Toufanian, the managing director of polling firm Navigator Research, said messaging about election issues — particularly allegations of election fraud — has different effects on different kinds of voters.
She said her group conducted a survey of 1,000 Democratic-leaning, infrequent voters nationwide. She said talk about voting issues brought up by Trump — such as alleged voter fraud — had mixed effects.
"For some people in our sample size of low-propensity Democratic voters, when they're hearing about these potential threats or a voter suppression, they might want to get out there and it even motivates them more to vote," she said. But "it can actually backfire in some cases in certain demographics. So specifically for younger Black voters and for older Hispanic voters, it … demotivated them, so they were less likely to say they wanted to vote."
Copyright 2026 NPR
