I think the failure of a lot of elected Democratic party members to offer a contrasting vision to the Republicans has been at least as harmful

Like, when the Republicans were out there saying “immigrants are killers who will eat your dog!” and Harris responded by promising to make it even tougher to apply for asylum and create new criminal penalties for people who just crossed the border it didn’t make anyone think she was the reasonable compromise choice, it just made a lot of voters think “huh, the Republicans must have a point about these immigrants if even the bleeding heart liberals are ready to get tough on them.”