In a purple state like Michigan, you should run the most conservative democrat possible. Otherwise, you’ll lose.
Yeah, that’s not necessarily true.
People who vote for conservative Democrats are way more into the things that MAGA Republicans like: Voting R to prove your manhood; Voting R to own the libs; Voting R to deport all the immigrants; Voting R to keep trans women out of women’s sports (all ten of them.)
Then there’s independents who are really only concerned about how the economy is doing, or rather how their own household is doing. If it’s doing poorly, they vote against the incumbent. If their household is doing well, they’ll keep the current guy to avoid rocking the boat.
Then there’s the breed of Democrat who is interested in platform issues. They’re not all interested in the same platform issues:
Some really want universal healthcare.
Some really want to stop support of the Gaza genocide.
Some want serious action on the climate crisis.
Some want a jobs guarantee.
Some want full access to women’s reproductive healthcare, including abortion, to be guaranteed nationwide.
Some want a combination of these things.
And then there’s those Democrats who will vote blue no matter who, because they acknowledge the crisis of democracy that’s unfolding in the US. The Republican party is actively attempting a coup in order to secure themselves a permanent majority, a step towards a one-party state, and autocracy. If that happens, then our elected officials don’t need to care at all about what the public thinks, since the peaceful transition of power as been eliminated. (That also puts non-peaceful transition of power in the center of the table, but that’s a different conversation.)
But this last batch of Democrats try to express their policy opinions in the primaries rather than in the general elections, and back any Democratic candidate that makes it to the general. So some of these Dems are voting in progressive candidates in the belief that progressive Democrats are better winners against Republicans than centrist ones.
(To elaborate on this hypothesis, Republicans are going to Republican: FOX News just has them by the balls, and there’s nothing for them, but a Democratic candidate that has something to offer will draw apathetic Democrats to the election polls, tipping the election in their favor. And in the current clime, we’re seeing this happen repeatedly.)
So what the centrists are banking on is a voting bloc that likes establishment Democrats that take corporate money and are beholden to the lobbies of their campaign contributors, that doesn’t like progressives (who try to be beholden to their constituency) and yet are not so hardline that they vote Republican, who do the same thing. That would be the corporations and the lobbyists themselves, I think.
Democrats as a group don’t identify as blue the way Republicans identify as Red. This is evident in the messaging crisis on the Democratic side. They vote D because they’re interested in the policies that benefit them, or to stop MAGA from taking over the country. Establishment Democrats seem to be looking for blues that identify as blue.
Maybe there’s a demographic that I’m missing, but from here it seems that our Blue Dog Democrats are out of touch.
uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 days ago
In a purple state like Michigan, you should run the most conservative democrat possible. Otherwise, you’ll lose.
Yeah, that’s not necessarily true.
People who vote for conservative Democrats are way more into the things that MAGA Republicans like: Voting R to prove your manhood; Voting R to own the libs; Voting R to deport all the immigrants; Voting R to keep trans women out of women’s sports (all ten of them.)
Then there’s independents who are really only concerned about how the economy is doing, or rather how their own household is doing. If it’s doing poorly, they vote against the incumbent. If their household is doing well, they’ll keep the current guy to avoid rocking the boat.
Then there’s the breed of Democrat who is interested in platform issues. They’re not all interested in the same platform issues:
Some really want universal healthcare.
Some really want to stop support of the Gaza genocide.
Some want serious action on the climate crisis.
Some want a jobs guarantee.
Some want full access to women’s reproductive healthcare, including abortion, to be guaranteed nationwide.
Some want a combination of these things.
And then there’s those Democrats who will vote blue no matter who, because they acknowledge the crisis of democracy that’s unfolding in the US. The Republican party is actively attempting a coup in order to secure themselves a permanent majority, a step towards a one-party state, and autocracy. If that happens, then our elected officials don’t need to care at all about what the public thinks, since the peaceful transition of power as been eliminated. (That also puts non-peaceful transition of power in the center of the table, but that’s a different conversation.)
But this last batch of Democrats try to express their policy opinions in the primaries rather than in the general elections, and back any Democratic candidate that makes it to the general. So some of these Dems are voting in progressive candidates in the belief that progressive Democrats are better winners against Republicans than centrist ones.
(To elaborate on this hypothesis, Republicans are going to Republican: FOX News just has them by the balls, and there’s nothing for them, but a Democratic candidate that has something to offer will draw apathetic Democrats to the election polls, tipping the election in their favor. And in the current clime, we’re seeing this happen repeatedly.)
So what the centrists are banking on is a voting bloc that likes establishment Democrats that take corporate money and are beholden to the lobbies of their campaign contributors, that doesn’t like progressives (who try to be beholden to their constituency) and yet are not so hardline that they vote Republican, who do the same thing. That would be the corporations and the lobbyists themselves, I think.
Democrats as a group don’t identify as blue the way Republicans identify as Red. This is evident in the messaging crisis on the Democratic side. They vote D because they’re interested in the policies that benefit them, or to stop MAGA from taking over the country. Establishment Democrats seem to be looking for blues that identify as blue.
Maybe there’s a demographic that I’m missing, but from here it seems that our Blue Dog Democrats are out of touch.