Where Have All the Democrats Gone?

The Soul of the Party in the Age of Extremes

By: John B. Judis, Ruy Teixeira

Narrated by: Leon Nixon

A much-needed wake-up call for the Democrats, which reveals how the party has lost sight of its core principles and endangered its political future―from the authors of “one of the most influential political books of the 21st century” (The New York Times)

For decades, American politics has been plagued by a breakdown between the Democratic and Republican parties, in which victory has inevitably led to defeat and vice versa. Both parties have lost sight of the people at the center of the American electorate, leading to polarization and paralysis. In Where Have All the Democrats Gone?, John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira reveal the tectonic changes shaping the country’s current political landscape that both pundits and political scientists have missed.

The Democratic Party, once the preserve of small towns as well as big cities and of the industrial working class and the newly immigrated, has abandoned and even actively alienated many of these voters. In this clarion call and essential argument for common sense and common ground, Judis and Teixeira reveal the transformation of American politics and provide a razor-sharp critique of where the Democrats have gone awry and how they can avoid political disaster in the days ahead.

©2023 John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira. (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“John Judis and Ruy Teixeira are the two preeminent scholars of liberalism and the Democratic Party. Over the past several decades, they have chronicled the vicissitudes of the American left with unmatched skill and insight. Where Have All the Democrats Gone? captures the fragile state of the party at a critical moment and joins the ranks of Theodore White’s The Making of the American President 1960 and Richard Ben Cramer’s What It Takes. A deeply informed and beautifully written work of reportage and scholarship, this volume is brilliant, indispensable and simply the best analysis in decades of America’s urgent, fraught politics.”—Thomas Edsall, columnist at The New York Times

“If like me you are terrified by the prospect of a second Trump presidency, you need to ask yourself just how, despite seemingly favorable demographics, the Democratic Party became so vulnerable to populist attacks. In Where Have All the Democrats Gone?, John Judis and Ruy Teixeira’s brilliant and levelheaded intervention into the fraught debate around identity politics and polarization, two of our best political minds make a clear and persuasive case for how and why Democrats must win back the trust and partnership of the working class. It’s a What’s the Matter with Kansas? for the contemporary left and just in the nick of time.”—Thomas Chatterton Williams, author of Self-Portrait in Black and White

“Over the last half century, Democrats went from being the unified party of working people to a fractured collection of interest groups. With an unparalleled understanding of political history and practice, John Judis and Ruy Teixeira tell us how and why identity politics trumped class, and what the Democratic Party must do to regain its strength—and its soul.”—Rana Foroohar, columnist at the Financial Times

Tough to get through.

This book is difficult to read and the narrator seems frustrated throughout, leaving readers dissatisfied.

False Equivalency

Right-wing radicals control the Republican Party leadership but left-wing radicals are outsiders in the Democratic Party. We don’t get that distinction from this book. Tired of books that simply don’t acknowledge that by Trump getting close to majority support it demonstrates a sickness in American society; it’s not the Democratic Party’s fault. Don’t appease Trump supporters. Hope their fever breaks and enough return to loving their country again. In the meantime, Democrats will continue to make sure anti-democratic radicals are kept from any real power.

Tone Deaf Dems

The authors laid out how the path that led to a fork that drove the working class to the republicans one direction and the Dems were too tone deaf to do anything about it until it was too late.

Interesting and compelling but unapologetically Keynesian

I enjoyed the book but I found it off putting how often the authors stated economic and labor policies as if they were purely factual. Any pro-free trade, anti-union, or pro-spending policies are stated as the “right” move not just to win over the working class vote but also for pure economic growth and success of America. Tax cuts are stated as “regressive” whenever mentioned and deficits or negative effects of government spending are ignored.

I would love to read this book in a purely factual perspective followed by partisan conclusions that are separate rather than interspersed within the factual statements.

As it got into more recent years I found the takes more illuminating and less stilted.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and recommend it, with the caveat that the anti-free trade and pro-union factual statements fit with the overall perspective of the book as centering on the working class.

True reflection on my party

There was one heck of a lot of facts in rapid succession,,, a-little overwhelming .
Over all I will and have recommended this book to many.

Too many stats. The last chapter condensed it nicely.

The stats especially from the past were a bit tedious. No where was there any mention of how to get the party elites to become more moderate and mainstream, and able to win again.

Articulated my concerns

Reviewing the history of my voting adult life has been interesting. This book helped to refresh my memory of the last 50 years. It has helped me to articulate my concerns about where the political thinking has changed. Also, why I am so uncomfortable with our voting choices.

Boring

Disliked the detailed statistics in the first hour or so. Decided this book was too boring to continue and to remove it from my library.

Disappointed

You had me hooked for the first 3/4 of the book, then came the infamous “trump said to drink bleach” rhetoric. He did not say that, it was joe Biden who referenced that he did. "And when it comes to COVID-19, after months of doing nothing, other than predicting the virus would disappear, or maybe if you drank bleach you may be okay, Trump has simply given up," said Biden, who delivered his remarks at a metalworks factory near his hometown of Scranton on Thursday. What a damn shame I wasted a credit on this book.