June 12, 2025, 7:14 p.m.
After-action reports show Democrats losing significant ground with young and less politically engaged voters, prompting the party to rethink its approach to communications. Now out of power, their primary tool to resist President Trump and win back support is a revamped messaging strategy. They’re taking a page out of Trump’s playbook: posting online and appearing on podcasts.
“Trump would not be president but for the strength of his Twitter threads circa 2015, 2016,” Democratic Rep. Mike Levin told National Journal. “He has thrived on social media and continues to now.”
The Democratic data firm Catalist found that during the 2024 presidential election, Democrats lost support among voters under the age of 30 by 6 points compared with 2020. Irregular voters—those who did not vote consistently in all four of the last even-year general elections—also drifted toward Trump.
To connect with voters who are less politically engaged, Democrats are now appearing on a variety of podcasts, sharing March Madness picks, and firing off snarky social media threads bashing Republicans’ budget bill.
“We’re meeting voters where they are across the country, hosting town halls where Republican members of Congress are too scared to show up, expanding our digital reach and partnerships, and going full-court press on anti-Trump messaging across media platforms,” DNC spokesperson Aida Ross said in a statement.
Democratic strategists said the 2024 cycle showed that the party had fallen out of the loop on social media trends. Trump dominated the podcast sphere last cycle, appearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast and garnering tens of millions of views in the process. Rachel Janfaza, who researches youth political engagement and media consumption, told National Journal earlier this year, “What Republicans did so well is that they politically coded culture instead of trying to culturally code politics.”
In response, Democrats have begun appearing on podcasts—or launching their own. California Gov. Gavin Newsom launched a podcast that has made headlines for featuring conservative guests, such as Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has used his own podcast to discuss a potential presidential run. And former Sen. Jon Tester also launched a podcast, featuring conversations with Democrats like Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Sens. Dick Durbin and Chris Van Hollen, as well as Republicans like former national security adviser John Bolton.
Newsom’s podcast averages about 38,000 listeners per episode, according to the analysis firm Rephonic. Beshear’s podcast draws only about 200 listeners per episode.
“New media platforms provide a good opportunity for us to [communicate] directly with voters, rather than through a traditional media entity,” Levin said.
Since the election, Democrats have thrown millions of dollars at initiatives to support Democratic new media and online content creators.
In the last few cycles, strategists said Republicans had to build their communications from scratch and were free to experiment. Democrats, on the other hand, had historically been more effective online and saw less need to deviate from their established playbook.
The DNC is collaborating with elected Democrats and providing resources as it ramps up its own rapid response efforts. It launched an official rapid response page, managed by the alumni of former Vice President Kamala Harris’s digital team, that highlights criticism of Trump from both the Left and the Right.
The DNC’s TikTok account has garnered over half a million new followers since Trump gained office.
On Monday, the DNC launched a live YouTube show called The Daily Blueprint, which will highlight Democrats and their resistance to Trump. As of publication, its first installment fetched about 9,100 views.
“The launch of The Daily Blueprint is an exciting new step for the Democratic Party—it cements our commitment to meet this moment and innovate the ways we get our message across in a new media landscape,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a statement. “Our goal with The Daily Blueprint is completely aligned with our new War Room operation: to cut through the noise of Trump and Republicans’ flood the zone tactics and get to the heart of the issues working families are most concerned about—and give them a way to take action now.”
Hannah Muldavin, deputy communications director and host of The Daily Blueprint, said the show aims to call viewers to action and cut through the noise of the Trump administration.
“This show is for everybody,” Muldavin told National Journal shortly after taping an episode. “We’re talking about what’s happening that might not be getting coverage, and giving viewers a way to take action.”
Democrats have had to move outside of strictly political environments to reach voters. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro recently interviewed Vic Fangio, the defensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles. And Maryland Gov. Wes Moore discussed Maryland sports on Stephen A. Smith’s podcast.
Other Democrats have started doing more direct-to-camera messages to voters, sometimes live from late-night bill markups. Sen. Cory Booker has posted daily videos describing “how Trump’s big, beautiful bill is ugly for Americans.” Booker, the chair of the Democratic Strategic Communications Committee, advised Democrats to embrace platforms like Twitch and Snapchat when expanding their social media arsenals.
Booker’s videos reached at least 50,000 viewers on average, according to a Hotline analysis.
“It’s an excellent way to communicate because you’re speaking without an intermediary,” Levin said.
Democrats have also been launching explainer summaries of the trillion-dollar budget reconciliation megabill Congress is currently deliberating. They’ve also been quicker to provide a public response to actions by the Trump administration, from tariffs to DOGE cuts.
“I’m trying to reach anybody willing to take the 30 seconds to read through the basic provisions of the bill, or the 60 seconds to read through the basic provisions of the bill, and trying to make sure people know why I voted no,” Levin said.
