170
submitted 2 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

DNC’s Local Listeners initiative will target one million ‘infrequent’ voters in battleground districts

Democrats are launching an aggressive campaign to win back voters they lost, not to Donald Trump, but to the proverbial “couch,” as they look to regain support ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

On Wednesday, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) rolled out a new initiative called Local Listeners with the goal of targeting over one million “infrequent” voters in key battleground districts. Seeking to build on the party’s string of off-year election victories, which extended into 2026 with an upset in Texas last weekend, the DNC is betting that early, localized outreach will be crucial in winning back these voters’ trust – and their ballots – this time around.

“If we want to keep earning back the trust and support of voters, we have to listen to them,” DNC chair Ken Martin said in a statement, shared in advance with the Guardian. “This program modernizes the way we are talking to and hearing from the voters that we need to win elections now and for years to come. The Democratic Party is done with waiting until the last minute to engage voters – these conversations need to happen early and often.”

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top new old
[-] in_my_honest_opinion@piefed.social 93 points 2 months ago

Shut down ICE. You'll be the party in power. Fix voting access, nationalize mail in voting resources (states run the elections)

Promote down ballot leftists

Repeal citizens united

They'll never lose another national election

[-] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 30 points 2 months ago

These feel like pipedreams when looking at the current DNC. Or maybe they'll just talk about it then do bupkis when they're in power like last time.

[-] Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz 2 points 2 months ago

They have the power not to fund ice now. They chose to give them money again.

[-] UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 24 points 2 months ago

They aren't looking for a list of things to DO.

They are just looking for the right lies to tell.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] uberdroog@lemmy.world 53 points 2 months ago

Super easy, barely an inconvenience... do the opposite of everything happening in the current administration. Don't court the middle/right. Publicly recognize the lack of accountability and publish plans to do so.

[-] Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz 21 points 2 months ago

Courting the middle/right doesn't mean diet-fascism or shitty, means-tested versions of policy people actually like. "Free healthcare" is more popular across all demographics than any compromised policy.

[-] DaMummy@hilariouschaos.com 6 points 2 months ago

I hear you, I understand you, and I feel for you. Therefore, we're gonna Pokémon GO to the polls.

load more comments (5 replies)
[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 45 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

No mention of changing any of the policy stances, alliances with far right war criminals, and other substance based reasons for what they pretend to be laziness or apathy.

As usual, they're taking the Aaron Sorkin approach to politics where it's all about giving the right speeches and pretending to listen (while refusing to take action based on what they're told) and what you actually DO is immaterial 🤦

Until they stop acting like the country (and by extension the world) is a ridiculously condescending work of fiction with themselves as the main characters (and thus the only ones that REALLY matter), they will keep losing out on critically needed votes and therefore be accomplices to the ravages of fascism their carelessness enables.

[-] EmpireInDecay@lemmy.ml 14 points 2 months ago

Then blame everyone under the sun except themselves for their failures.

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 11 points 2 months ago

It's not like anyone told them supporting a genocide would be bad for voter turnout. How were they supposed to know? /s

load more comments (6 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Lasherz12@lemmy.world 30 points 2 months ago

Being Mamdani without the policies isn't being Mamdani. America's appetite for Obama types is waning.

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Yeah better to be Katie Wilson than Obama

[-] gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world 29 points 2 months ago

Volunteers will undergo a seven-week training program on how to better engage these voters, including sessions on “active listening” and “having difficult conversations about politics”.

Seven weeks of paychecks for the consultants, but the party members they actually want to go out and do the real work of talking to people are just expected to volunteer. Sounds like the Democratic party I know and loathe.

[-] Tylerdurdon@lemmy.world 25 points 2 months ago

Pfff, yea right. Until they go grass roots, this is all smoke and mirrors. The voters have gotten tired of it and want actual change (which is a big reason why we're in this mess). Get rid of Schumer and the rest of the corpocrats, and look at what the people actually want. That'll never happen.

[-] SippyCup@lemmy.world 24 points 2 months ago

Democrats will try anything but policy.

[-] HeadfullofSoup@kbin.earth 24 points 2 months ago

It’s seem like an out there idea but have they try doing their job? Might help

[-] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago

First you need to explain to Chuck Schumer what his job actually is.

[-] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 2 months ago

It isn't getting aid for Israel?

[-] EmpireInDecay@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 months ago

He told us what his job is, it's not us

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] OshagHennessey@lemmy.world 16 points 2 months ago

Lol. Lmao.

“If we want to keep earning back the trust and support of voters, we have to listen to them,”

“This program modernizes the way we are talking to and hearing from the voters..."

The problem isn't that democrats don't have a modern way to listen and talk to voters. The problem is, democrats know exactly what the voters want, but refuse to give it to them because it's inconvenient to their donors.

[-] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 14 points 2 months ago

"Corpodems launch aggressive campaign to get votes by doing literally anything other than what the people want" 🥱

[-] MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world 13 points 2 months ago

Hmm. Opening new offices and hiring people seems more like a way to keep the cycle of donor money moving, rather than a strategy to win…absent any actual messaging or policy changes from Democratic leadership.

When I read the article I expected the regional initiatives to have some sort of mechanism to change messaging and policy. It doesn’t seem to me that “listening” is what’s needed…we know exactly what these potential voters want.

[-] EmpireInDecay@lemmy.ml 12 points 2 months ago

They are infrequent voters because they listened to what Democrats said then they watched what Democrats did. Democrats can't be trusted.

[-] inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I'm sure that having leadership sanction Democrats voting for ICE funding after they murdered an American citizen, withholding support for the progressives that won the primaries, and stating their job is to ensure funding for Israel is their first step in proving they deserver another chance.

Again, big talk, no actions from these A-holes.

[-] mrdown@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

With jefferies, Schummer, Newsome and Kamala forget about it

[-] yonderbarn@lazysoci.al 6 points 2 months ago

I just threw up in my mouth

[-] mrdown@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

We will listen to you then do whatever we always planed to do anyway

[-] duelistsage@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 months ago

Say they're going to raise taxes on rich people.

[-] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 months ago

Have they considered actually standing up to MAGA?

And what about actually delivering something of value to their voters, in the places where Dems have a majority such as state and city governments?

[-] OshagHennessey@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

No, they haven't. They won't go against their donors.

[-] Danarchy@lemmy.nz 5 points 2 months ago

VOTE MORHRRFUKER (punches u in the face)

[-] JennyLaFae@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 months ago

In the months leading up to the election i had so many Democrats knocking on my door i started going off on them, asking if they talked to each other at all, telling them i was feeling harassed. I literally almost threw away my ballot i was so pissed, when one asked me to send her pictures of me voting, I told her to fuck off.

They don't care about us.

[-] cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 months ago

seems far better to listen to your frequent voters in the base turned off by leaderships inability to listen to them then it is to chase mythical focus group groups.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Krauerking@lemy.lol 3 points 2 months ago

If you are paying yourself to train to better understand the average person, you have immediately lost.
You are incentivized by the wrong thing now

[-] Maeve@kbin.earth 3 points 2 months ago
[-] Ryanmiller70@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 months ago

Guess the one benefit of living in a deep red Midwestern state is they'll never try that crap here. Not gonna waste breath on people that value donations over human lives.

[-] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 months ago

Democrats need to replace First-past-the-post voting in states they control. Then they can be whatever they want.

[-] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 months ago

European countries that don't have FPTP are just as fucked up as the ones that do.

The same is true of term limits. US states that have implemented them don't have any better governance than those that didn't.

[-] kandoh@reddthat.com 2 points 2 months ago

Two words:

President Clooney

[-] moseschrute@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Just tell them JD fucked the proverbial couch. They’ll get right up.

[-] MrVilliam@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 months ago

And also show them a picture of JD Vance and explain that he's Peter Thiel's lapdog. And explain who Peter Thiel is. And explain why he's bad and therefore why Vance is bad.

On second thought, reaching the willfully ignorant is gonna be a fucking task and a half, especially with fox news blasting in public spaces like waiting rooms while critical thinking is gutted in public schools.

It's hard to feel bad for America right now. We had it coming. We told ourselves for 80 years that it can't happen here, so our guard wasn't up to contend with the reality that it could happen here, guaranteeing our eventual current state of fucking happening here.

I don't know how this ends in anything other than violent collapse, and I'm not sure how to get my family out in time or where to go. I won't be considered a valid refugee until after these Nazis have us too trapped to get out at all. People are too exhausted and stupid to organize into effective resistance. I doubt it would take that many bodies to surround the white house with rifles and achieve regime change, but nobody's coming to save us, and that includes our bickering, divided left and also the feckless liberals trying to soften everything to just some light fascism that's still 100 calories of fascism, but that's better than 140 calories of fascism so we're supposed to just be over the fucking moon with all their hard work.

I'm so tired of warranted anxiety. Say what you want about Biden, (believe me, I have my complaints,) but he at least kept the car on the road. He got us off the rumble strips. Now we've already careened off the cliff, but nobody will acknowledge it until we hit the bottom in a fiery explosion. It would take a fucking miracle to sprout wings and save us at this point.

[-] moseschrute@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I have to disagree with the hard to feel bad part . I’m American. Every election I’ve ever voted in has been plagued with Trump. I didn’t spend 80 years saying that it couldn’t happen here. I’ve never really seen what an election without Trump looks like. At least not one that I was old enough to participate in. It’s difficult for me to not feel that the older generations have let my generation down. That’s where my frustration lies. I don’t think the younger generation deserves the blame yet.

I don’t mean to sound morbid, but I’m excited that boomers are close to aging out of politics (aka dying). Will be nice to finally have some younger representation. Too bad it couldn’t have happened sooner.

[-] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 months ago

Primaries are important

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] kreskin@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

"If we want to keep earning back the trust and support of voters"

they never started. If the are "keeping on" some effort, it has already failed. Ken has proven to be a collosal disappointment and waste of everyones time.

[-] JennyLaFae@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 months ago

In the months leading up to the election i had so many Democrats knocking on my door i started going off on them, asking if they talked to each other at all, telling them i was feeling harassed. I literally almost threw away my ballot i was so pissed, when one asked me to send her pictures of me voting, I told her to fuck off.

They don't care about us.

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2026
170 points (98.9% liked)

politics

29565 readers
1623 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS