The Manifesto Project has some pretty serious flaws, and some of it's conclusions simply don't stand up to scrutiny. For instance, the Pierre Trudeau Liberals were positioned to the right of their Progressive Conservative opponents for most of the '70s based on it. Relying on campaign platforms is probably a fatal flaw, both because parties commonly campaign one way and govern another, and because incumbents will often run relatively conservative, defensive campaigns.
But even if we take it at face value, the Democratic Party (assuming they governed like they campaigned) would simply be returning to the position on the spectrum it occupied from WWII to the mid-1980s, a period which coincided with its electoral domination. On the other hand, the shift rightward based on that chart precipitated their worst electoral fortunes in a century, where they lost 10 of 12 House elections.
And unfortunately, the Democrats aren't moving left on the economic issues that can probably gain them traction among the working class, but rather focusing on token culture war issues that probably alienate more people than they attract.
And to be charitable to them, it's not even totally their fault given how ridiculous campaign financing is in the US these days. It's probably unlikely that anyone who offends the donor class is going to be able to run a high profile national campaign, so much like the Republicans, they're beholden to moneyed interests.
|