Dems are unpopular! The media is very concerned!

[senseandsensibility]

Kris Jansing just confronted Jasmine Crockett with a poll result showing Rs with a forty four percent approval rating vs. Dems with a forty three percent approval rating. Obviously, neither party is tearing up the charts when it comes to popularity.

But there is a simple explanation. The high disapproval ratings for Dems results from members of the Democratic party who want their leaders to fight trump harder, not from disapproval of Democratic policies.

Let's put it this way: would any of the Dems who disapprove of their own party for not fighting harder against trump vote for him or his chosen candidates in November? NO. So it is an meaningless statistic.

We're not a braindead cult. The Rs will always get a high rating among their own members who like to be told what to think and do. It doesn't matter. What matters is polls that measure enthusiasm and who voters will actually vote for.

[TBF]

1. People are (rightfully) angry

and they are going to be looking for alternatives to the status quo. So far, they are turning up and flipping red districts, so let's hope that continues. I agree w/your commentary re the disapproval ratings.

[JI7]

2. If Democrats want leaders to fight harder why didn't they support Jasmine Crockett ?

[senseandsensibility]

3. Well, that's TX

I'm a native Californian, and I don't pretend to understand them so anyone who does can correct me. But my impression was that Ds are so desperate for a win there that they chose someone they think has more crossover appeal. Bottom line, their vote was still motivated by an extreme dislike of trump and desire to beat him, not a problem with Crockett per se.

[JI7]

6. That makes no sense. You are admitting that people have different views

because it's Texas. That's what the so called centrists said.

[Fiendish Thingy]

7. They would get a fighter if either Dem had won.

The focus now is winning in November.

[Redleg]

4. We aren't a brain-dead cult but we do sometimes engage in magical thinking

An example: "We will win if we just had a candidate who could craft just the right message."

From my perspective, this is magical thinking because there is no "right message" that will sway some of our citizens to vote for a Dem for any reason. You can "speak to the people where they live" but they ain't necessarily goin' to listen.

I am not denigrating the importance of effective communication- how and what we say is important. It just seems to me that we are often looking for the one-in-a-lifetime candidate and are inevitably disappointed by the eventual nominee. Then a bunch of Dems don't show up at the polls to vote for the eventual candidate.

The rethuglicans have been playing hardball since at least the 90s, they have shaped public opinion of Democrats and still do shape it. Look at the feckless media adopting GOP and MAGA talking points and perceptual frames. The media always seems to act like only the Dems have agency- the Dems need to be the adult in the room, the Dems need to reach across the aisle, the Dems need to bring our nation together. We have all heard this bullshit before. When is the last time the media asked the GOP to do this? No, the media treats GOP wins like mandates and and Dem wins like small victories.

[senseandsensibility]

5. Oh yeah, I am totally for giving up on any strategy that involves trying to win over

confirmed R voters. They're not winnable, at least not in the numbers we need. Focus on keeping Dems united and enthusiastic and winning Independents by as high a percentage as possible. That's enough.

[Brenda]

8. Last paragraph says it all...

Where is Jake Tapper's book about Chump's mental decline?
Where is the media/White House reporters questions about Repubs bringing our nation together?
Why don't they EVER say the Repubs are in DISARRAY AND INFIGHTING when it is happening?

[Redleg]

9. We will all get old before such questions are asked

And now the conservative take-over of media is making this even worse.

[Brenda]

10. I know. What a joke that it was called "Liberal Media" for so fuckin long

It's always been Business Media leaning right.

Now it's becoming Ultra Right Wing Nazi Media.

[everyonematters]

11. Both parties have a low approval rating with independents as shown in today's YouGov poll.

The independents have become a larger voting bloc than either party.

Favorability of parties with independents
Democrats 23%
Republicans 17%

https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/econTabReport_3wplfYX.pdf