Third, Democratic leaders, mostly based in coastal cities, assumed their voters were as progressive as they were. In a year in which the Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police movements took hold, Republicans attacked Democrats as proponents of socialism and defunding the police. The problem for Democratic leaders was that some Democratic voters were sympathetic to the GOP message. "In the districts we looked at, those in which 'law and order' or 'socialism' was a continued drumbeat also saw a higher share of Latino/AAPI/black voters who supported the GOP," the report says. Finally, Democrats thought hatred of President Donald Trump would propel them to victory, not just in the White House, but the House and Senate, too. It didn't work out that way. "Some campaign teams we spoke with felt that the party didn't have a message beyond 'Donald Trump sucks,'" the report says, "and this void led to split-ticket voting for Biden at the top of the ticket and Republicans down ballot (leading to split outcomes in 16 districts nationwide)." The result was a mess for Democrats competing for House and Senate seats. And much of that mess was created by a Democratic elite that didn't understand -- and didn't even try to understand -- what was important to the party's voters.