• whoreticulture@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    The most convincing argument I’ve heard for voting third party instead of for Genocide Joe is that liberals were more politically engaged and had more of an activist mentality under Trump.

    Also, I’ve given consideration to the idea that “vote blue no matter who” types would likely vote for a more leftist Democrat than the ones currently being offered. In a long term strategy, if leftists refuse to vote for Democratic candidates who are too far right, then the Democrats would have to either try to appeal to the Trump demographic (which they do unfortunately do), or appeal to the leftist demographic until they get the leftist votes back.

    • spujb@lemmy.cafeOP
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      8 months ago

      just to clarify, do you subscribe to that first argument? it’s kind of a crazy one lol

      like Americans who subscribe to pacifist beliefs were a lot more mobilized during the Vietnam War. that doesn’t especially mean the Vietnam War was good for world peace. 🤨

    • Syrc@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      In a long term strategy, if leftists refuse to vote for Democratic candidates who are too far right, then the Democrats would have to either try to appeal to the Trump demographic (which they do unfortunately do), or appeal to the leftist demographic until they get the leftist votes back.

      You said it yourself. They have two choices and they’re currently doing the worse one. What makes you think they’ll change their mind along the way?

      • whoreticulture@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        If the Democrats go full Trump eventually they would lose the moderate liberals and a third party could step in. I don’t see that as the likelier option.

        Something like 10-20% of voters in the primary did protest votes. It’s a huge chunk of people.

        And it’s also people they currently see as their base, the Democrats are trying to appeal to the conservatives because they believe (correctly) that they can do just about anything and people will continue to vote for them.

        • Syrc@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          A third party will never realistically step in as long as FPTP is in place. Democrats could absolutely go full Trump and get votes because the Republicans somehow managed to go even more off the deep end.

          As I see it, the only way out is to keep voting Democrats and try readjusting the Overton Window, so that eventually if Republicans keep losing they’ll be the ones forced to appeal more to leftwing voters. And at that point, when their opponent isn’t a cartoonish ghoul, Democrats will actually have to try as well.

          • whoreticulture@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            If they keep moving right, eventually they WILL lose Democrats. I don’t really imagine mainstream Democrats suddenly changing their views on abortion, for example. So there will have to be a party that caters towards that HUGE demographic, whether it’s the Dems or another party that fills in.

            I don’t see how affirming the actions of the current administration does anything but to entrench Dems in their belief that they can get away with anything and liberals would still vote them in. It just emboldens them to be more conservative.

            • Syrc@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              I’m assuming the average leftwing person is pro-free healthcare. Neither Biden nor Trump are. Did Jill Stein get a huge amount of voters for being the only candidate to support it in 2016? She barely got 1%.

              That’s not how it works. It’s just going to shift the Overton Window even more.

              • whoreticulture@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                It’s not 2016 anymore. Check out the primary results, 10-20% of people did not vote for Biden as part of a deliberate movement.

                • Syrc@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  Yes, because voting someone else in the primary doesn’t have the risk of electing a literal dictator.

                  I’d actually say 20% is quite low for a situation like that, it means 80% of democrats actually like Biden and that’s baffling to me. Compare that to 2020 when he got 51% in primaries and he actually gained consensus.

                  • whoreticulture@lemmy.world
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                    8 months ago

                    The Republican voters are still very much obsessed with Trump. We deserve a candidate that people actually want to support.