Comedian and television host Bill Maher warned Democrats that they have a “serious problem,” pointing to March polling that found only a quarter of young party members are proud to be Americans.
Newsweek has reached out to the Democratic National Committee‘s (DNC) press team for comment via email on Saturday.
Why It Matters
Maher, a Democrat, has grown increasingly critical of the party’s progressive wing, frequently pushing back against what he describes as “woke” culture. His show often throws jabs on both sides of the aisle, taking aim at President Donald Trump and Republican figures as well.
The scale of the Republican Party‘s triumph in November—taking the White House, flipping the Senate, and maintaining control of the House—has sparked widespread soul-searching within the Democratic Party over what went wrong and how to rebuild. Democratic leaders have come under criticism from within, some for pushing the party too far left, and others for appearing too conciliatory toward Trump.
What To Know
In a Friday segment of HBO‘s Real Time with Bill Maher, the comedian echoed Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin‘s April call for Democrats to “retake the flag,” referencing prepared remarks the Michigan lawmaker was set to deliver, which were obtained by Politico.
Maher said this idea of lack of patriotism and American identity “is a serious problem for Democrats,” citing polling that shows “less than 1 in 4 Democrats under 30 say they are proud to be an American, 54 percent say they are embarrassed by it.”
A national poll of 2,098 adults ages 18 to 29, conducted by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics from March 14 to 25, found that 76 percent of young Republicans said they are proud to be American, compared to 24 percent of Democrats. Just 8 percent of Republicans said they are embarrassed to be American, while 54 percent of Democrats expressed the same sentiment. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.21 percentage points.
After citing the polling data, Maher acknowledged, “Is America perfect? No, of course not.” He went on to say that the United States is “leagues ahead of the rest of the world on most of the progressive issues that are important to young people,” citing statistics on women-owned businesses, same-sex marriage rights and more.
He stated that the “dilemma” for Democrats, is that young members are backingthe “wrong ones” citing support for Hamas and the Houthis. He added that they are “looking for love in all the wrong countries,” rather than appreciating the U.S. His comments are largelyin reference to various pro-Palestinian protests across the country that have happened since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in October 2023.
“If the thoughtleaders in the Democratic Party keep encouraging and not rebuking the idea that America is cringe, and the people who run Gaza are great, the Democrats are doomed,” Maher concluded.
What People Are Saying
Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said on the FLAGRANT podcast that aired in April: “I do think my party needs to do a much better job, especially with the kind of finger-wagging that you’re talking about; I think we are like very prone to that.”
Senator Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, said in February: “I think the Democrats’ brand is really bad, and I think this was an election based on culture. And the Democrats’ failure to connect on a cultural basis with a wide swath of Americans is hugely problematic. I think the majority of the party realizes that the ideological purity of some of the groups is a recipe for disaster and that, candidly, the attack on over-the-top wokeism was a valid attack.”
Former Democratic Ohio Representative Tim Ryan said in an MSNBC interview in late November 2024: “Our brand is toxic in so many places, and it is like, ‘you are a Democrat?’ That’s the stuff we get in Ohio. We need a complete reboot. We need a complete reboot with the DNC. We need a complete rebranding.”
Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats, wrote in a statement in the wake of the 2024 election: “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them.”
What Happens Next?
The 2026 midterm elections are expected to be a bellwether of the Trump administration and the Democratic Party.
It’s unclear who the party will eventually support in the 2028 presidential election, with some early polling showing former Vice President Kamala Harris leading the pack of potential presidential candidates, followed by New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, California Governor Gavin Newsom and Buttigieg.
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