A few weeks ago, Sam Freedman wrote in The Observer about the challenges facing the centre right. After listening to hundreds of voters and senior strategists in the US, Germany, Australia and the UK for new research for the Progressive Policy Institute, it is hard not to conclude that centre left parties are facing their own difficulties too.
The findings should make every politician deemed part of the status quo sit up and take notice. You could say it is a plague on all your mainstream parties.
Voters around the world have never been more disaffected, especially those from the struggling working classes. Previously thriving and optimistic that their kids could “better themselves”, many now feel beleaguered; neglected by “tired” political parties that once championed their cause. In Germany, voters asked to imagine the Social Democratic Party (SPD) as a drink chose stale coffee, contrasting with the populist AfD, seen as “an energy drink” , “fresh, ready to provide a much needed shake-up”.
