I think the centre of the US political system is probably to the political right of where most of Europe currently leans. In many ways from the UK, the Bush-Clinton-Bush handover felt like passing between two teams not that far apart from each other. That also happened here between Blair, Brown and Cameron. There were differences, but both were more central than the extremes of their own parties.

At their boldest the Dems brought in The New Deal and Got FDR elected multiple times, LBJ brought in Medicare and Medicaid and then Obamacare arrived too. There's appetite for economic socialism if its sold right to the population - the Democrats could move the needle to the economic left if they were brave enough. Almost all our progressive policies here in the UK were brought in by Labour Governments taking bold decisive action. The NHS was blocked for years, the minimum wage likewise, but once they're in - they're popular and rarely repealed.

Labour don't get in often because there's a firm belief they'll tax and spend. Which they do - and it's difficult to run on a 'we're going to put up taxes' ticket. The Democrats need to be clear about this too - and need to demonstrate how they're able to take money out of large corporations/away from tech billionaires and redistribute it into meaningful change, particularly in those swing states.

The US is a right-wing country, certainly comparatively with here in the UK. It's far more religious which is odd, because it doesn't align those christian values with socialism (which I think is at the core of a Christian message) - and instead has created a society where people generally fend for themselves, but the individuals contained within the borders are (for the most part) genuinely kind and compassionate. The Christianity bit isn't playing well with the progressive stuff, particularly the LGBTQ+ debates but I think there's room for a kick towards socialism and the economic left - I just don't know how you sell it to a right-leaning conservative country. Perhaps it's about bolstering the charity sector? It's a tough one, whatever the Democrats do next - they probably shouldn't run the Clinton/Harris playbook.