Do you really think Bernie campaigned much in Vermont? If so he’s an idiot for wasting resources there that could have been used supporting other candidates.
I think he did more than Harris did, and Bernie would be an idiot if that were not true.
I don’t think anyone would have been a favorite to beat Trump in 2024 but I feel like there is big difference in possible outcomes between dems deciding on Harris v Sanders and everyone deciding between Harris/Sanders v Trump.
Communication with conviction is important. While the dems may feel that running a centrist with more favorable policies may be the safe play, Bernie could have possibly been far more successful at addressing issues directly affecting the middle class and young people and essentially spark interest and bring more people into the political conversation.
I mean, it’s all hindsight at this point, and we obviously can only speculate how Bernie would have performed but the loss of 15 million was in some degree a serious lack of interest that Bernie may not have had.
1 Like
Heard a pollster say something interesting today on Ezra Klein’s podcast. He said they asked voters about the most memorable moments of the campaign, and the #1 answer by far was Trump working at McDonald’s.
In these postmortems, there’s been a lot of discussion about how Democrats can message policy achievements better. Or whether they should move left or right on this policy or that.
But I would argue the thing they really need to work on is much simpler: signaling. I think most Democrats see Trump cooking french fries or dressing up as a garbageman as naked pandering and write it off as a ridiculous stunt. And that might be true. But I don’t think most working class voters see it that way. They see a guy who’s signaling to them that he’s on their side.
That matters. Unfortunately, it probably matters a lot more than policy. Democrats need to let go of this idea that photo-ops like this are beneath them. Do stuff that breaks through the noise and gets eyeballs and clicks. Visually show working class voters that you stand with them.
10 Likes
That’s completely missing the point I am making
I am not on any other sites what are you talking about? rhetorical question, dont care
Local popularity doesn’t mean anything. DeSantis is popular in Florida. Vance is popular in Ohio. The rest of the US laughs at them. Even MAGA.
This was somewhat cathartic.
1 Like
Lol how long you had that grievance in the chamber
We know
This really isn’t true, and is trivially easy to figure out by looking at who else the state elects
Why compare such two different things to make a point when direct data exists?
There is lots of polling showing majority support for a range of progressive policies.
1 Like
Bernie might not have won. People suck.
But
Almost a full point! Omg!
And Bernie definitely loses votes for supporting Harris and other Dems, including from people who voted for Harris. For example @BusinessGenius, I believe you voted for Harris, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you were mad at Bernie for a couple things and might withhold a vote for him in an election you knew he was going to win. ?
Vermont is weird. They have a very popular Republican governor.
I don’t think this proves anything about her message and whether she was a better candidate. I think it shows that she ran a smart campaign focusing her efforts on the states that mattered. However, it also indicates that generally people liked Trump more than her, but she was able to cut into this with a strong ground game in the battle ground states.
I’m not saying she was a bad candidate - I think generally she did the best she could in a tough spot. But that doesn’t mean she was the best candidate.
She definitely faded towards the election - all the polls showed that. My view is that she got a bunch of initial euphoria from not being Biden, but then failed to keep that by offering a clear message to explain how she was different than Biden (other than not being senile). Maybe this was the best she could do as VP, but maybe that also means someone not tied to Biden would have done better.
1 Like
He spends more time here, because his job is to represent the state. I’m not sure I’d call it “campigning” because he doesn’t need to. He’s a senator until he dies or doesn’t want to any longer. Incumbents are nearly undefeated here.
The only incumbent here that lost a job in DC in my lifetime was Peter Smith, a Republican who was endorsed by pro-choice and environmental groups (different time, I know). He lost that job in 1990 to some guy named Bernie who leaned heavily into the working class and organized labor. I wonder if that tactic could work again.
1 Like
For those of you that think climate change is real, how do you take into account that it was cold yesterday. Idiots
2 Likes
I’m not a fan and have never voted for him, but he’s well to the left of any Republican on the national stage.
1 Like
Doesn’t matter. People will vote against policies they prefer.