Democratic Primaries
In reply to the discussion: Bernie Derangement Syndrome. [View all]Garrett78
(10,721 posts)1) People celebrating the idea of denying Sanders the nomination if he has a plurality of pledged delegates.
2) Support for this asshole: https://www.currentaffairs.org/2020/02/a-republican-plutocrat-tries-to-buy-the-democratic-nomination.
Absolute insanity. Yes, at a time when disgust with the status quo is the driving force in the US, let's deny anti-status quo Sanders the nomination and let Mike fucking Bloomberg buy the nomination. I'm sure that wouldn't backfire (the eye roll is implied). Good grief.
So much of this seems to stem from a misunderstanding about the electorate, in particular so-called independents, swing voters and the disenchanted non-voter/3rd party voter. Someone was trying to suggest that the electorate of today is no different than it was in the early 1970s. That's nuts.
Today's so-called independents are more partisan (more likely to always vote for the same party) than the average party-affiliated voter of the 1970s. They're also less likely to actually vote than the party-affiliated, partly due to being disenchanted with the status quo.
And true swing voters aren't as great in number as some claim--more importantly, what they tend to swing against is the status quo or party in power (it's not a well-defined ideology - some mix of conservative and liberal views - or a party platform that dictates how/if they vote--instead, it's a sense that things ain't right and the boat needs to be rocked).
Conventional wisdom of the past is no longer wise, and we fail to recognize that at our peril. But people like Carville have a really hard time accepting that their formula is outdated. The notion that we should select a candidate or run a campaign based on appealing to middle-of-the-road voters or winning over the MAGA hat wearers is dangerously misguided.
Dems should take the following to heart:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/9/9/20750160/liberalism-trump-putin-socialism-reactionary
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/02/06/rachel-bitecofer-profile-election-forecasting-new-theory-108944 (the headline is misleading, as that's not what she says)
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/what-everyone-gets-wrong-about-independent-voters/
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/14/politics/independents-pew/index.html
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided