'We've been on a steady decline since 2008': What the future holds for the Democrats in the U.S.

It wasn'tso long ago that obituaries were being written about the Republican Party that Donald Trump'swidely assumeddefeat would be the ruination of the GOP.

But a presidential victoryhas a way of healing all wounds, it seems. And now, according to conservative columnist George Will who left the partyin disgust over Trump's nomination the Republican Partyis "as strong as it's been since the 1920s."

"The losing party here is in tatters," Willsaid after the election on ABC-TV'spolitics programThis Week with George Stephanopoulos.

Thatlosing partywould be the Democrats, who, despite picking up a few seats in the House and Senate,have lost control ofthe executive and legislative branches of government.

And like any losing party, they'renow seekingto carve out a path to recapture victory.

The Democrats' political misfortunes extend beyonddefeat of their presidential candidate,Hillary Clinton.

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"In most of the country, having a D beside your nameis like carrying a 10-pound weight around your ankles," said JimKessler, senior vice president for policy at the D.C.-basedthink tank The Third Way."We have the fewest number of elected officeholders since just after the Civil War."

Some of that is historical the party that wins the presidency typicallyloses power in other branches. Still,the Democrats have suffered some massive defeats.

Not only have Democratslost control of the federal government, their power continues to erode state by state. When BarackObamaentered the White House in 2009, Democrats controlled 62 state legislative chambers out of 99. Now, the Republicans will control68.

In 2009, the Democrats held the majority of governorships, with 31. Now, it's 17.

"HavingObamaas president waskind of masking the losses," said Kessler, a former senior staffer to New York Democratic Senator ChuckSchumer. "But we've been on a steadydecline since 2008."

Of course, any political loss inspires scapegoating. And some Democrats have channeledtheir anger over the election results againstvoters themselves, saying Trump isonly in the White House because he appealed to a growing racist and misogynistic element in the electorate.

But it's unlikely that women-hating cross-burners are solely to blame, for example, for the 209 counties out of 676 across the country that twice voted for Obama, only to turn tothe real-estate magnate this time around.

This recent electioncampaign was lost in theindustrialMidwest, specificallythe states ofWisconsin, Michigan, Ohio andPennsylvania, wherefor decades Republican presidential candidates havebeen unable to penetrate thisseeming fortress of Democratic blue.

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Trump offered a simple message of economic populism that appealed to disenfranchised Republicans and blue-collar Democrats, many of whom make up what is now commonly referred to as the male, white, non-college-educated voter demographic.

'Took industrial Midwest for granted'

And the Democratssimply ignored them.

"I think oneof the problems of the Clinton campaign is they took the industrial Midwest for granted," said Democratic strategist BillBannon. "And they paid the price."

There are reports that former president Bill Clinton had pushed (or warned) the campaign not to turn itsbackonthese voters, the same ones who propelled him into the White House in the '90s. But his advice was ultimately rejected. HillaryClinton, for example, never campaigned in Wisconsin, andhercampaign did not spend any money there onadvertising in the last month before the election.

Obama himself seemed to rebuke that strategy during a news conference shortly after the election. Asked about theresults, he suggestedthe key to victory is that Democrats "have to compete everywhere, we have to show up everywhere."

As well, bothKesslerandBannonagree that Democrats need to appeal to those voters who may feel the party has become too focused on cultural liberalism.

"Our challenge as Democrats is to continue to make the progress that we've made [on those issues] and bringmore people along and make them feelthey're included inthis discussion and less ridiculed for being hesitant," said Kessler.

Bannonwas more blunt: "You can't call people racistsand misogynists and then expect them to turn around and go vote for you."

While the Democrats' campaign strategy continues to be dissected, so too begins the reflectionon the party's ideological souland a possible futuretug of war between thecentristClintonitesand theleft-leaning Bernie Sanders supporters.

"You're going to see the balance of power moveaway fromthe Clinton wing toward the Sanders wing,"Bannonsaid. "A vote for Hillary Clinton became a vote for the establishment in this country."

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In a column for the New York Times, Sanders wrote that the party "must break loose from its corporate establishment ties and, once again, become a grassroots party of working people, the elderly and the poor."

'Economy has abandoned them'

In a speech to the AFL-CIO Executive Council, Democratic Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren suggested it wasTrump, and not her party, who spoke to the "very real sense of millions of Americans that their government andtheir economy has abandoned them."

But some fear adopting more progressive policies and continuing tomovethe Democratic party leftwardis the problem, not the solution.

Following the adoption ofObamacare, for example, Democrats suffered heavy losses in the 2010 midterms.

"I'm skeptical that a populism focused on expanding governmentwill work for voters in this country," said Kessler."I think they don't trust thegovernmentthat much."

The challenge, he said, is to develop a whole series of ideas to get jobs "to start here, to stay here and expand here."

Campaigns are won in the political centre, Kesslersaid, and for too long, when it comes to the economy, Democrats have concentrated on how to make jobs more fairinstead of more plentiful.

"[Voters] aren't buying into that kind of leftist populist answer in that your future is much, much larger government," he said. "Not that they trust companies so much, but given the choice between the two, they trust the private sector more."

David Hopkins, assistant professor of political science at Boston College, said he doubts the Sandersview will prevail, as it's still a minority faction within the party.

But in the end, Hopkins said that campaign auditing and ideological fine-tuning may not make much difference.

Instead, the political fortunes of the Democrats will likely rely onthe possiblemisfortunes of Trump.

"If Trump is a disaster, then the Democrats will benefit no matter what they do just by beingin theopposition," he said.

"If Trump is asuccess, then they willprobablycontinue to be in theminorityregardless. So a lot of this is out oftheirhands."