American Political Economy Lecture

The Future of America’s Democratic Party

In the wake of the 2024 election, the Democratic Party—the largest center-left party in the West—is in crisis. Jacob S. Hacker draws on new research into voters, party-aligned interest groups, and policymaking at all levels of government to examine the party’s shifting priorities. How have these changes shaped its appeal to working-class voters? How have its geographic and demographic voting bases changed? Finally, what must the party do now to mobilize its own fractious coalition to respond to its radicalizing right-wing rival—an increasingly authoritarian-minded Republican Party?