Thoughts on production, alienation, and ideology

Category: Partisan Politics (Page 11 of 17)

Two Ways to Beat Trump

Joe Biden’s supporters point to his winning strategy: attracting older voters and moderates to the Democratic Party while trying to minimize losses among younger voters who often don’t vote anyway. Biden mostly ignores higher-income progressives, who don’t have anywhere else to turn and will therefore stay in line and vote a straight Democratic ticket.

And it’s working rather nicely for Biden. He’s way ahead in the polls and will likely defeat Trump handily. But I think a closer look at the evidence shows two ways to beat Trump. Biden took one path.

I’m more interested in the other.

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Impact of the First Debate

Going into the first debate between Biden and Trump, it wasn’t clear how the debate could even impact the race. Why? Because the polls have been consistent for months. Most Americans see the election as a referendum on Trump. Most of Trump’s voters love Trump. And most of Biden’s voters hate Trump. Few in either camp hold many strong opinions on Biden.

Americans mostly settled into these opinions months ago – even years ago. Since March 2019, Trump’s approval ratings have never deviated below 41% or higher than 47%. And they almost always move between 43% and 45%. This means about 43-45% of the country loves him, and just about everyone else hates him. The polls proceed accordingly. Presidents rarely overperform their approval rating, and Trump is no exception. And so, we see the polls against Biden put him at around…43%. Big surprise. Biden wins most of the voters who don’t like him. Again…big surprise.

The New York Times tax stories certainly did no favors for Trump, either. As a result of these things, it seemed unlikely the first debate would change anything.

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Bigger Than Bernie: The US Left After Sanders

bigger than bernie bernie and matt

After Bernie Sanders lost to Joe Biden, think pieces rolled off the assembly line. Whence did the Bernie Bros come, and where shall they go hence? Is there a movement bigger than Bernie?

In fact, that’s not quite true. The think pieces didn’t roll off the assembly line. COVID-19 washed most of them from the headlines along with everything else. And so, the U.S. press largely spared us from endless speculation on the future of the Bernie Sanders movement. But COVID also held us back. Leftists should think about this a bit. Where does the Bernie movement go from here? Even this question might assume too much. Is there still a Bernie movement? Or did it die in the couple of weeks after Super Tuesday?

Most electoral campaigns fall apart quickly. I’ve written about some of them: Cathy Glasson in Iowa and Elizabeth Warren nationally. That’s how most campaigns end. Remember the ‘Pete Buttigieg Movement’? Of course you don’t. Neither do I.

Is ‘Sandersism’ any different?

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4 Mistakes Leftist Candidates Make

I’ve returned a few times in this blog to the dismal track record of leftist candidates. Especially ones running for local or regional offices. We all know about the successes of Alexandria Ocasio-Corez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib in strongly Democratic Congressional districts. And the 2016 and 2020 Bernie Sanders campaigns offered some reason for optimism. But the overall track record of leftist candidates is terrible. It’s especially so at the local level.

Let’s talk about why. I think – at a minimum – leftist candidates repeat a small litany of mistakes.

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What The Snake Emoji Gets Wrong About Warren

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders had a dust-up in January. After that, a number of Sanders supporters directed the snake emoji at Warren on social media. You know the one. It’s the one in the photo above. What’s going on here? Is Warren a snake?

No, not exactly. Or so I’ll argue. Sanders supporters got it wrong with the snake emoji. But I don’t think they know why they got it wrong. I’ll say a bit about why and what I think they miss.

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