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2020 Democratic Candidates Tracker
- Thread starter Brainster
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Foolmewunz
Grammar Resistance Leader, TLA Dictator
What's your bet? And what are the terms?
Okay so how is this supposed to be working exactly?
If you aren't "Left" enough people will vote for the "Right?" That if someone isn't 100% percent as far Left as you want them to be but only... like 60 or 80% they'll vote for someone who's 60 or 80 or 100% fully on the Right or not vote at all just... why? To spite them?
These all just seems like a narrative to justify cause purity.
If you aren't "Left" enough people will vote for the "Right?" That if someone isn't 100% percent as far Left as you want them to be but only... like 60 or 80% they'll vote for someone who's 60 or 80 or 100% fully on the Right or not vote at all just... why? To spite them?
These all just seems like a narrative to justify cause purity.
Remember Bernie Sanders continuously bringing up the Clinton Email "scandal" during the 2015-16 primaries?
Oh wait ...
Belz...
Fiend God
Logically you'd think it'd be the other way around.
Delvo
Дэлво Δε&#
Or not vote.
No but "dirty tactics being used in the primaries before they are used in the general election" are most certainly a thing that happens.
No I can't predict what any mud any one person is going to chose to fling, but it's naive to act as if the primaries are going to be any less cutthroat then the general election.
Axiom_Blade
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Why would Democrats nominate a centrist? To spite us?
The Democrats lost all right to use the "purity" argument when they smeared Bernie for not being "pure". The argument was he shouldn't be nominated, because he wasn't a "real Democrat", like Hillary. He was a usurper, who was simply using the party for his own ends. In fact, he hates Democrats! Look at all of these horrible quotes we found where he criticizes them!
So, when it came right down to it, Democrats denied Bernie the nomination based on a purity test.
Belz...
Fiend God
Who's "us"?
Hellbound
Merchant of Doom
Axiom_Blade
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That's a big IF. I'd like to see some evidence that a centrist is what the US is looking for right now. If the last election was any indication, the answer appears to be a resounding NO. It seems to me that, more now than ever, centrist Democrats bore voters and keep them away from the polls.
I remember how reviled W. Bush was in 2004, and the Democrats were positive that the centrist, warhawk John Kerry was just the man they needed to unseat him. Yeah. That didn't work, either.
The fact is, putting up a "lesser-evil" centrist and then trying to use guilt and scare-tactics to get your base to vote for them isn't terribly effective. However, the Democrats just love that sweet, sweet corporate cash too much to support a real leftist.
So what can you do? Well, you could try finding another Obama. I wouldn't hold my breath on that one. Obama was a centrist, but he was also very charismatic and a great orator, and he knew how to speak to the left. I'm sure that 8 years of W helped a lot, too.
I'm one of those centrists. Definitely more liberal than conservative, but still pretty moderate.
That said, any Dem candidate will be portrayed as a fringe leftist by the Republican/Conservative campaigns, so there's not much chance of peeling off anyone who will believe that- which includes many conservatives who would generally prefer less conservative candidates, but who are not self-challenging enough to parse through their own side's campaign rhetoric.
There are very few undecided voters, very few vote switchers. Victory really does seem to rely on motivating the voters who lean consistently one way of the other but are apathetic enough to skip voting if not excited about the candidates, and those who might vote for third party candidates who are generally more to the right or left than either of the two big parties.
So really, there's not much risk for the Dems to pick a less centrist, more leftist candidate.
That said, any Dem candidate will be portrayed as a fringe leftist by the Republican/Conservative campaigns, so there's not much chance of peeling off anyone who will believe that- which includes many conservatives who would generally prefer less conservative candidates, but who are not self-challenging enough to parse through their own side's campaign rhetoric.
There are very few undecided voters, very few vote switchers. Victory really does seem to rely on motivating the voters who lean consistently one way of the other but are apathetic enough to skip voting if not excited about the candidates, and those who might vote for third party candidates who are generally more to the right or left than either of the two big parties.
So really, there's not much risk for the Dems to pick a less centrist, more leftist candidate.
Axiom_Blade
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This can get confusing, because what passes for "centrism" in the US is actually "right-wing" in the rest of the world. Since we're talking about the US, though, I'm going to use the term "centrism" and "centrist" as it pertains to US politics.
Are US voters looking for a centrist candidate?
Let's look at the positions that are considered "far left" in the US right now.
How about Medicare for all? That's supported by 70% of the population.
Okay, what about free college tuition? That's supported by 66% of the population.
Those are the big two, but let's get into some of the more far-out, crazy left-wing territory, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's plans to tax the rich. Surely, voters are not willing to embrace...(gasp)...socialism?
In fact, 54% of the voters do support this!
Oops, wait, sorry...I'm wrong.
Actually, that's supported by 54% of Republicans (!) according to a poll by Fox News (!!!) When you poll Independents, it goes up to 71%, and Democrats support it by 85%!
So, what's the evidence that a centrist candidate will appeal to the broadest range of voters? It looks to me like the broadest range of voters is looking for somebody "far left" like Bernie Sanders.
dudalb
Penultimate Amazing
Irony is those Democratic voters who Hillary did not motivated are going to be motivated in 2020...by Trump.
I think nominating someone who is pretty far to the left would be the worst thing Democrats could do. Nasturally those far to the left disagree.
dudalb
Penultimate Amazing
dudalb
Penultimate Amazing
But there is no broad range of voters anymore. Everybody is either hard left or hard right. Have'nt you been reading the last few posts?
Belz...
Fiend God
I honestly don't know whether they should go further to the left to energise the Democratic voters, or go towards the center to grab the moderates.
Axiom_Blade
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I posted evidence for my opinion. What is your evidence that it's "the worst thing Democrats could do"?
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dudalb
Penultimate Amazing
Go toward the center. Trump has done the job of energizing the Dems who stayed in home in 2016 for them.......
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