Making voting a habit

New Engagement PAC is committed to building the working-class coalition of the future in Georgia. To do so, Democrats must reach voters early, listen to them, and use trusted messengers. We must make working class Americans interested in voting for Democrats again.

Americans’ levels of trust in institutions – the media, advertising, government – is the lowest it’s ever been. As a result they increasingly tune out of politics, unsure where to turn for trusted sources and more-susceptible to mis- and disinformation. This makes these voters less-likely to turn out for the party promising government solutions and more-likely to vote for the party that promises to tear down those institutions. Voters increasingly say they only trust friends and family for their political information. In 2024 voters’ news consumption correlated directly with their vote choice: Harris won voters attuned “a great deal” or “a lot” to the news; Trump won everyone else. Erza Klein: “The hardest divide to cross isn’t left vs. right. It’s interested vs. uninterested.”

New Engagement PAC believes in order to regain the working class voters Democrats need for a long-term governing coalition we must change how we communicate.

Americans’ levels of trust in institutions – the media, advertising, government – is the lowest it’s ever been. As a result they increasingly tune out of politics, unsure where to turn for trusted sources and more-susceptible to mis- and disinformation. This makes these voters less-likely to turn out for the party promising government solutions and more-likely to vote for the party that promises to tear down those institutions. Voters increasingly say they only trust friends and family for their political information. In 2024 voters’ news consumption correlated directly with their vote choice: Harris won voters attuned “a great deal” or “a lot” to the news; Trump won everyone else. Erza Klein: “The hardest divide to cross isn’t left vs. right. It’s interested vs. uninterested.”

Even as poll-after-poll shows Democratic economic policies more-popular than Republicans’, knowledge of these policies and who supports them diminishes. These issues are particularly-acute with the New American Electorate: young people and people of color. Democrats lost the most-ground with voters of color, both because of our voters switching to Republicans and turning out at lower rates. In Georgia for example, the only group to experience a drop in turnout rates between 2020-2024 were Black Georgians; if 2024 turnout rates had risen as much among Black Georgians as White Georgians, it would have almost-completely erased Trump’s margin of victory.

What We’re Fighting For