Democrats ditch woke jargon to win back Trump voters

Democrats are ditching woke jargon to win back voters who defected to the right and elected Donald Trump.

Prominent party figures warned that said phrases beloved by its activist base like “Latinx” had isolated ordinary voters and fuelled shattering losses in the last year’s elections.

They also fear the party’s emphasis on issues such as pronouns exhausted the electorate.

Kamala Harris, who lost the 2024 presidential election to Mr Trump, was criticised during her brief campaign for nonsensical “word salad” responses she gave during interviews.

“Some words are just too Ivy League-tested terms,” Ruben Gallego, the Arizona senator, told The Washington Post.

“I’m going to p— some people off by saying this, but ‘social equity’ – why do we say that? Why don’t we say, ‘We want you to have an even chance’?”

Mr Gallego, who defeated Kari Lake, a candidate endorsed by Mr Trump, in his senate race, said he had once been instructed to describe his background as “economically disadvantaged” rather than “poor”.

“Not every person we meet is going to have the latest update on what the proper terms are,” he continued.

“It doesn’t make them sexist or homophobic or racist. Maybe they are a little outdated, but they have a good heart.”

He said the term “Latinx”, which avoids gendering Latinos or Latinas, is “stupid” and claimed that few Hispanics actually use it.

Joe Biden, the former US president, has previously claimed it was “hard to get Latinx vaccinated” because they were scared of being deported.

Policy papers produced by Mr Biden’s administration also refer to “justice-involved populations” rather than prisoners, and “previously-incarcerated individuals” instead of ex-convicts.

Andy Beshear, the Kentucky governor who won two terms in the red-leaning state, said Democrats had fallen into using phrases like “substance abuse disorder” instead of addiction.

“I believe that over time, and probably for well-meaning reasons, Democrats have begun to speak like professors and started using advocacy-speak that was meant to reduce stigma, but also removed the meaning and emotion behind words,” he said.

“It makes Democrats or candidates using this speech sound like they’re not normal… It sounds simple, but what the Democratic Party needs to do is be normal and sound normal.”

“Democrats trip over themselves in an attempt to say exactly the right thing,” said Allison Prasch, an associate professor of rhetoric, politics and culture at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

“Republicans maybe aren’t so concerned about saying exactly the right thing, so it may appear more authentic to some voters.”

Elissa Slotkin, the Michigan senator, said she had once won over a group of sceptical Teamster union members by calling them “motherf—ers”.

“They love it…. That is a different way to enter the room,” she said.

She has previously criticised progressive politicians, like Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, for railing against the “oligarchy”, claiming the term means little to ordinary voters.

In March, Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman urged his party to talk “like regular people”, adding: “Most people are not sure what an oligarch is.”

During last year’s election campaign, the Trump campaign and Republicans sought to paint Democrats as out-of-touch and beholden to a radical activist wing.

‘Word salad’

Ms Harris was frequently mocked for her “word salad” responses to interview questions. One New York Times commentator complained she relied heavily on “jargon” and “rehearsed turns of phrase” while she “winds her way slowly toward an answer”.

In a town hall event a fortnight before election day, Ms Harris appeared to address the issue, conceding she struggled to answer questions, was “kind of a nerd”, and was not always “quick on her feet”.

Several commentators said her lack of clarity meant she ended up on the wrong side of the culture war. One of Mr Trump’s most effective attack adverts ended with the tagline: “Kamala is for they/them; President Trump is for you.”

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Monday, Rahm Emanuel, the former Chicago mayor who is considered a potential contender for the Democratic nomination, urged his party to focus on issues like education over gender identity.

“I’m empathetic and sympathetic to a child trying to figure out their pronoun, but it doesn’t trump the fact that the rest of the class doesn’t know what a pronoun is,” he said.