No matter who wins, the US is moving to the right | Semafor

The Democratic Party , after two decades of leftward post- Clinton drift, has jerked abruptly right.

The result is a center-left campaign with a smaller agenda than what Joe Biden won with, and more careful messaging than Hillary Clinton lost with.

Both parties now face voters, white and non-white, who were open to some left-wing ideas about race, crime and gender in 2020 but are far more skeptical now.

David Gergen : Kamala Harris and Democrats are running on a suite of populist tax policies that build on Bidenâs record.

Gergen says they are no longer running on massive new programs; the most expensive item in the Harris agenda is the continuation of most 2017 tax cuts for households making less than $400,000 per year.

He says the threat of a Trump restoration has kept the vast majority of progressives in line; Harris has continued to prioritize pro-labor positions.

Democrats are responding to four years of criticism in conservative new media, and to hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising that link them relentlessly to criminals and chaos.

When Trump 's positioning was less popular, the party would fight back; his views on crime and immigration are far more widely shared now.