I mean at this point in the primary I don’t find it to be particularly useful to spend time putting together a very long and exhaustive reason for voting for Harris over Warren my first and probably Second choice when there are like 18 other candidates to eliminate :-p
but in my view, Harris has what it takes to be President while Warren doesn’t score as highly in the subjective rating that I am using to evaluate the candidates.
I feel like the people trying to win over republicans need to also consider “what would drum up their base to actually go out and vote.” I’m not saying one side is more than the other, but they need to be weighed against each other.
Also meanwhile everyone is getting their butt kicked by Biden.
Harris would regrettably really fire up the GOP base.
The issue that we need to figure out here is, in part, why did former Obama voters change sides and vote for Trump. We need a candidate that will appeal to those folks.
Also, curiously enough, Biden seems to poll better among African-Americans than any of the other Democratic candidates right now.
Christ we’re 10 months out and I’m already exhausted.
I think election years may be bad for my health in and of themselves.
Well, he’s also polling pretty high overall, which I suspect is largely due to name recognition from his time as VP. People got to see and know Uncle Joe during the Obama years, and perhaps there’s a bit of nostalgia going on for a simpler time when we could believe that maybe a white man wasn’t trash and that the country wouldn’t really elect a literal garbage can to lead it.
Seriously, the last two years have been the longest decade of my life.
It’s not an election year for federal races this year.
Maybe better to say election seasons then. The horse race. It’s like what I imagine people who are on nicotine feel.
It sucks but I still obsessively seek it out for reasons I can’t adequately explain to myself.
On one thread…
Trump & Obama: claimed to want to change things. Now whether you believed that…
McCain & Hilary: were part of the public political zeitgeist for generations.
Which if you follow that rhetoric I think you want to run Bernie? Or maybe Buttigieg for the fresh new outsider angle and maybe confusing the right’s ‘moral’ argument? Biden is clearly a “return to the norm” candidate, and there are a lot of people that seem to want that, but he’s definitely not drumming up the same supporters Obama did.
Warren is still my favorite on policy, but some of the ‘moderates’ I know already are falling victim to the rhetorical engine meant to shoot her down. Then again, maybe they are not needed.
With the 24/7 news cycle and pervasive social media, ALL seasons are now election seasons.
Trump literally started planning for reelection the day after he was inaugurated.
The game has changed.
You’re obviously not wrong, that’s 100% true. It doesn’t feel like what I’m talking about either.
There’s a thing that happens and it gets worse the closer we get to a federal election where, it’s not just the media though that’s certainly a big part of it, where everything just becomes about the election. It’s all anyone seems to be able to talk about.
The first warning signs seem to be people talking about the horse race. People debating which candidate is the most electable and which strategy should be deployed. It’s also part and parcel with an increase in hate. The rise in hate is what really bothers me. I don’t really mind the horse race, it’s even kind of fun playing call balls and strikes with Nate Silver. But it’s also a harbinger of what’s to come.
If the past is any indication, what’s to come is a breakdown in peace between my conservative family and me, my friends being unable to go too long without talking about the election because that’s all that’s on all the media all the time and me just feeling angry all the time.
It’s not good. It hasn’t happened yet but I felt the first pang of it just now in this thread. This is the first sign. Apparently it begins approximately 1 year and 5 months or so before actual elections.
Stay out of politics for your mental health, there are literally elections every year… And those Local ones can be deeply personal.
A powerful sign that a democracy is unhealthy is a high rate of engagement by the population itself.
I keep an eye/ear and choose when I want to engage. I also go to therapy on a monthly and know when I need to take breaks and consume more edibles.
That was the most interesting part of the “Political Book Club” the rates of voting in the Wiemer republic were ridiculously high prior and during the Nazi’s taking over.
That’s why I always warn people saying they want high voter participation rates, that it can be a sign of bad things coming, a content population is a population not driven to vote or care much about politics.
Insert argument for mandatory voting here.
I mean, I always vote, but in some ways I enjoy the local elections much more because I can approach it the way I approach most other problems. By seeking out the information I need and then making my own decisions. Plus I can just go and talk with local politics people. I can and have just been like, ok person who want’s my vote, what’s your deal? And gotten a response from person who want’s my vote.
Hell my local rep used to tutor me in middleschool. (he says as he lowkey doxxes himself)
National nonsense is much harder because I’m constantly being hit with the firehose of “the information I need”
I’m not really into my local elections, everyone seems like an idiot. And the winner will almost definitely have the R next to their name.
I’ve found local elections to be trickier because it’s harder to find information on the really minor candidates. I mean, good luck trying to find info on the candidates for country comptroller or whatever.
This is probably less of a problem if you live in a bigger city like New York, but out in the 'burbs or smaller towns, it does get trickier. If I’m lucky, I get something from the politicians themselves in the mail and that’s about it.
See for me, perhaps because I can get a bit obsessive when attacking problems, I just have no problem straight up spending loads of my time getting like personal info on people running for office.
It all started when I was like 13 and watching law and order and began wondering who my district attorney was. Within a few minutes I was able to find their office and call them and ask them the same questions I wanted to ask Jack McCoy.
Same deal with treasurers and comptrollers, just look them up and find their offices and give them a call or a facebook message or an email or whatever they have. Usually local politicians are happy to briefly talk with their constituents.
When you’re pretty close with someone in local office you can lean on them too. When I’ve asked Raven for help, they usually just give me their public email that she nabs from my city’s intranet. I’ve never been stonewalled before.