Dems Rebuild

[RedDenver]

35 minutes ago, TGHusker said:

Regarding the bold - they need to broaden their tent.  They need to listen to fly over country.   The GOP has done a good job of labeling Dems as  a party that will take your guns, abort all of the babies, tax you to death, shut the door of churches, and install socialism.   If the Dems want to go full bore towards the 'progressive' side the divide will remain.   Part of it is education -presenting the facts on where the party stands on various issues important to the small states  and part is in taking concrete steps in passing legislation that appeals to that voter. 

 

 

In the same way, the GOP will remain the way they are if their appeal is primarily to just the most conservative and alt right among us. 

Except the Dems HAVE been running middle of the road candidates. That's not working (or at least not working well).

 

The common thread of winning candidates has been a message of change. I'm starting to think that policies and stances on issues are matter less and less, and instead Americans care about 1) their individual condition (economic, healthcare, etc.) and 2) against the status quo.

[TGHusker]

16 minutes ago, RedDenver said:

1) their individual condition (economic, healthcare, etc.) and 2) against the status quo.

I can agree with this.  In fact some of the commentary on exit polls stated similar. 

[RedDenver]

 

[funhusker]

3 minutes ago, RedDenver said:

 

I think Dems can focus on the same causes but be smarter in their marketing.

 

You and I may know what “defund the police” means, but it’s low hanging fruit for Billy Bob waving his blue line flag. It was a dumb slogan.

 

There are other ways to publicly describe universal healthcare besides socialized medicine.  The reality is, most people won’t know the difference between a democratic socialist and a communist.

 

Dems need to realize that and promote ideas accordingly.  There is a reason a crazy man who speaks at a fifth grade level garnered a huge following.

[Enhance]

I don't have a good gauge of the Dem candidates that ran elsewhere, but at least in Nebraska, Kara Eastman was largely viewed as too radical... even by a lot of moderates. And that's after I think she tried to even tone it back a bit compared to last time.

[RedDenver]

16 minutes ago, funhusker said:

I think Dems can focus on the same causes but be smarter in their marketing.

 

You and I may know what “defund the police” means, but it’s low hanging fruit for Billy Bob waving his blue line flag. It was a dumb slogan.

 

There are other ways to publicly describe universal healthcare besides socialized medicine.  The reality is, most people won’t know the difference between a democratic socialist and a communist.

 

Dems need to realize that and promote ideas accordingly.  There is a reason a crazy man who speaks at a fifth grade level garnered a huge following.

It's a good point. One of the things that stands out to me is how well progressive policies are polling and even doing at the ballot box. $15 min wage passed in Florida, multiple states passing drug decriminalization and even recreation laws. Government run healthcare insurance at 70% in exit polls.

 

Messaging matters a lot though. And connecting that message to the lives of the voters looks to be really critical.

 

5 minutes ago, Enhance said:

I don't have a good gauge of the Dem candidates that ran elsewhere, but at least in Nebraska, Kara Eastman was largely viewed as too radical... even by a lot of moderates. And that's after I think she tried to even tone it back a bit compared to last time.

The individual candidate also matters. Obama did so well because he was so charismatic. Trump did well because he is also charismatic in a eff-the-politicians way.

[RedDenver]

 

[RedDenver]

Wow. I'm not even sure what to take away from this.

 

[funhusker]

2 minutes ago, RedDenver said:

Wow. I'm not even sure what to take away from this.

 

Weird.  Are all the votes from that county in?

[RedDenver]

4 minutes ago, funhusker said:

Weird.  Are all the votes from that county in?

Yes

https://er.ncsbe.gov/?election_dt=11/03/2020&county_id=78&office=FED&contest=1373

[VectorVictor]

7 minutes ago, RedDenver said:

Wow. I'm not even sure what to take away from this.

 

 

Wow...and considering that reservations had been begging Trump to help them out with COVID funds/supplies because they were getting hit especially hard with the virus and Trump pulled funding to spend on the wall and other missives...this really looks odd on the surface. 

[RedDenver]

Just now, VectorVictor said:

 

Wow...and considering that reservations had been begging Trump to help them out with COVID funds/supplies because they were getting hit especially hard...this really looks odd on the surface. 

Would be interesting to find out if something happened during the Obama/Biden era to Native Americans in that region.

[Danny Bateman]

6 hours ago, RedDenver said:

Except the Dems HAVE been running middle of the road candidates. That's not working (or at least not working well).

 

The common thread of winning candidates has been a message of change. I'm starting to think that policies and stances on issues are matter less and less, and instead Americans care about 1) their individual condition (economic, healthcare, etc.) and 2) against the status quo.

 

Republicans are WAYYY better at messaging than the Dems are but I'm not quite sure why. 

 

I do think in sum they're less truthful. And allowing yourself to be constrained by the truth is a disadvantage.

 

Obviously running candidates who are good fits for where they're running is crucial, even if they seem odd nationally. Not many Joe Manchins out there - blue dogs are pretty rare - but he's a hell of a politician. Maybe we need more socially conservative economic populists? But I feel like those types usually lose primaries when they're boxed out by the national party for their social views. But at this point "let's just run Republicans who somehow have liberal economic ideas" seems viable.

 

I just don't know the answer, man. 

 

But it does seem a blue Senate is going to become more and more a rarity unless something substantial changes. 

[Moiraine]

6 hours ago, RedDenver said:

 

 

 

 

Ya, this is definitely never a good argument. The GOP will always label people socialists. They said it about Biden.

[Moiraine]

31 minutes ago, Danny Bateman said:

Republicans are WAYYY better at messaging than the Dems are but I'm not quite sure why. 

 

I do think in sum they're less truthful. And allowing yourself to be constrained by the truth is a disadvantage.

 

Obviously running candidates who are good fits for where they're running is crucial, even if they seem odd nationally. Not many Joe Manchins out there - blue dogs are pretty rare - but he's a hell of a politician. Maybe we need more socially conservative economic populists? But I feel like those types usually lose primaries when they're boxed out by the national party for their social views. But at this point "let's just run Republicans who somehow have liberal economic ideas" seems viable.

 

I just don't know the answer, man. 

 

But it does seem a blue Senate is going to become more and more a rarity unless something substantial changes. 

 

 

It's hard because if people with more education tend to vote Democrat, they're less likely to like hearing a bunch of bulls#!t even if it's about a politician they don't like. I personally don't like made up s#!t when the truth is bad enough.