{"id":7767,"date":"2026-08-26T10:38:46","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T10:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7767"},"modified":"2026-08-26T10:38:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T10:38:46","slug":"drucker-democrats-greatest-divide-isnt-race-or-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7767","title":{"rendered":"Drucker: Democrats\u2019 greatest divide isn\u2019t race or money"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Overeducated and underpaid: Welcome to the rising faction of voters pushing the Democratic Party to the socialist left and foreshadowing a clash with mainstream liberals in 2028.<\/p>\n

Read more Horoscopes August 26, 2026: Keke Palmer, pick and choose how you use your energy<\/a><\/p>\n

Strong support from these voters, both young and middle-aged, has advanced several populist progressives and candidates affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America in primaries this year. If you look at the exit polling and geographic patterns, they live in urban areas and university towns and feel inadequately compensated and financially squeezed. But rural and working-class voters \u2014 sometimes one and the same \u2014 and those nearing or in retirement are holding the line against the party\u2019s leftward drift.<\/p>\n

These intramural skirmishes played out in 2025 with blue bastion New York City \u2014 where Democratic Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani triumphed over the state\u2019s former longtime governor Andrew Cuomo \u2014 and just this month for a Senate seat in purple battleground Michigan. There, voters nominated progressive populist Abdul El-Sayed over traditionally center-left Representative Haley Stevens.<\/p>\n

Age, class, gender and ethnicity have all played a role in Democratic primaries over the past decade, but education has been the main driver, especially this year, according to Joshua Zingher, a professor of political science and geography at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, who studies this phenomenon. \u201cThat\u2019s where the divide really is,\u201d he told me. \u201cI\u2019m not so sure it\u2019s class as traditionally defined. I think the big cleavage is education because education maps onto things like social and cultural values.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coming battle<\/h4>\n

This growing rift among Democratic voters portends a potentially bitter battle for the party\u2019s presidential nomination: insurgent leftists on one side and political pragmatists on the other. And it begins sooner than most think \u2014 the day after midterm elections end this fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lane on the left is going to get crowded really quickly because that\u2019s where all the noise is online, that\u2019s where you\u2019re raising money online,\u201d Steve Schale, a veteran Democratic operative in Florida, told me. Schale, who previously advised Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, emphasized that there is \u201cdefinitely\u201d room in the 2028 primary for a center-right candidate \u201cwho can go sit in a space of normalcy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Democratic Party\u2019s base is socioeconomically diverse, multicultural and multiracial \u2014 more so than the Republican Party. That can make for contentious presidential primaries. But the backing for left-wing progressives remains limited in swing states, as proven in the Democratic gubernatorial primary in Wisconsin, where Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley defeated socialist state legislator Francesca Hong.<\/p>\n

White House contenders, however, usually cater to the wings of their parties in presidential primaries. That dynamic has only intensified since the advent of social media, which has increased the reach and influence of committed activists and become a lucrative source of small-dollar campaign cash. Yet it\u2019s the more moderate candidate, who demonstrates general election appeal, that usually wins the nomination. That was true in 2020 when Biden dominated the mainstream lane in his primary (and in 2016 for President Donald Trump, whose crucial advantage, like Obama eight years before him, was being a political outsider).<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

If the 2028 Democratic primary turns out to be particularly bruising, blame the sharp ideological \u2014 and demographic \u2014 divisions that have emerged in this midterm cycle.<\/p>\n

Read more Asking Eric: I have glasses for reading. My husband wants me to wear them all the time.<\/a><\/p>\n

Moonshots<\/h4>\n

Many socialists and progressive populists are running on disruptive, longshot proposals: federalizing healthcare, often referred to as \u201cMedicare for All;\u201d abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement without offering a replacement blueprint for border security; implementing a wealth tax; and severing U.S. ties with Israel, often refusing to support its right to exist as a Jewish state.<\/p>\n

Most mainstream liberals are focused on politically viable but ambitious plans to expand the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare); overhaul ICE; raise income taxes on the wealthy; and place limits on U.S. military aid to Israel, while reinforcing support for the Washington-Jerusalem alliance.<\/p>\n

Some Democratic strategists have viewed progressive populism as the party\u2019s best hope for recovering the support of blue-collar voters without college degrees lost to Trump and other Republicans over the past decade. But as some party insiders have been quick to point out to me, it\u2019s those voters \u2014 and Black voters, often regardless of class \u2014 who are typically the most skeptical of progressive populists (and their socialist-infused agenda.)<\/p>\n

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According to Zingher, the political scientist at Old Dominion University, what\u2019s been unfolding in Democratic primaries in 2026 is rooted in the 2016 presidential election. At the time, socialist Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, ran a competitive campaign against then-New York Senator Hillary Clinton. The same was true in 2020, when Sanders\u2019 bid for the nomination was derailed at the eleventh hour by Black voters\u2019 support for Biden in South Carolina.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was definitely an educational split between Sanders supporters and Clinton supporters in \u201916 and then Sanders supporters and supporters of the other candidates in \u201920,\u201d Zingher told me. \u201cCertainly, you\u2019ve seen the places where the Democratic Socialists have been most successful are in places where the cost of living is high and the Democratic establishment has not been particularly effective in adapting to the times.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s still the matter of socialists\u2019 and populist progressives\u2019 overall performance. Even in Democratic primaries where they have finished on top, they haven\u2019t exactly bulldozed the mainstream liberal competition. And if that\u2019s the best they can do in congressional primaries, their prospects aren\u2019t going to get any better in a presidential election \u2014 especially with independents and swing voters being so decisive in November.<\/p>\n

David M. Drucker is a columnist covering politics and policy. \u00a92026 Bloomberg. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Harriette Cole: I learned of my husband\u2019s workplace swindle, and I\u2019m appalled<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This growing rift among Democratic voters portends a potentially bitter battle for the party\u2019s presidential nomination<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nDrucker: Democrats\u2019 greatest divide isn\u2019t race or money - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7767\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Drucker: Democrats\u2019 greatest divide isn\u2019t race or money - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This growing rift among Democratic voters portends a potentially bitter battle for the party\u2019s presidential nomination\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7767\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-26T10:38:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7767#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7767\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Drucker: Democrats\u2019 greatest divide isn\u2019t race or money\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-26T10:38:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7767\"},\"wordCount\":983,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7767#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/a6f87cf27e8d391d2d93fb510a95a39e-scaled.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7767#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7767\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=7767\",\"name\":\"Drucker: Democrats\u2019 greatest divide isn\u2019t race or money - 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