The percentage of Americans who believe the Democratic Party is “out of touch” has increased by double-digits over the last decade, with 70% indicating the party is disconnected from the issues that matter to voters.
The Democratic Party is perceived as being overly-focused on “Protecting the rights of undocumented immigrants” and “Protecting the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans” – alienating voters who care more about secure borders and crime reduction, a survey released Monday by Welcome, a center-left group, found.
“To win elections, Democrats need to make the following changes. First, we need to focus more on the issues voters do not think we prioritize enough (the economy, the cost of living, health care, border security, public safety), and focus less on the issues voters think we prioritize too highly (climate change, democracy, abortion, and identity and cultural issues),” read the conclusion of Welcome’s “Deciding to Win” survey.
“Second, we need to moderate our positions on issues where our agenda is unpopular, including immigration, public safety, energy production, and some identity and cultural issues,” the group noted.
In 2013, 51% of voters viewed the Democratic Party as “out of touch,” but the number surged to 70% in 2025, the pollster found.
Meanwhile, the Republican Party improved – going from 70% viewing it as “out of touch” in 2013, to 65% in 2025.
Welcome also highlighted polling showing only 39% of voters say the Democratic Party has the right priorities, while 59% of voters say Democrats do not.
The Democratic Party’s priorities should be “Protecting Social Security and Medicare” (82%); “Lowering everyday costs” (79%); “Making healthcare more affordable” (74%); “Creating jobs and economic growth” (74%); “Cutting taxes on the middle class” (66%); “Lowering the rate of crime” (56%); and “Securing the border” (53%), according to Welcome’s massive survey of more than 500,000 Americans.
The issues garnering the lowest level of support for Democratic prioritization included protecting illegal immigrants (23%), hiking taxes to increase spending on “social programs” (24%) and protecting LGBTQ rights (25%).
Voters viewed the Democratic Party as 26% more focused on illegal immigrant rights and 23% more focused on LGBTQ rights than they should be, in the survey conducted from Nov. 13, 2024 through June 18, 2025.
The party was also rated as being 21% more focused on securing the borders than it needed to be.
As a result of the party’s failure to align with the priorities of voters, support for Democrats “has declined significantly among working-class and minority voters since 2012,” particularly from moderates and conservatives in these categories, the pollster found.
Between 2012 and 2024, support for the Democratic Party only grew amongst college-educated white voters (+4%) and all college-educated voters (+2%).
Over the same period, the party hemorrhaged support from non-college-educated Latino voters (−16%), non-college-educated AAPI voters (−15%) and non-college-educated Black voters (−11%) among several other groups.
“It is essential that we make these strategic shifts because it is essential that we win,” Welcome’s conclusions continued.
“But winning does not happen by accident. Winning is a choice — a choice to be disciplined and strategic and to be willing to confront difficult truths about the electorate,” the group added.
