Wake-up Call: Democrats could easily lose the White House and Senate next year

I voted for that bowl of tapioca once and I'll do it again.

I don't live in the US so I don't have a horse in this race

But it just seems like half of the people here can't qualify Biden's successes (and why he'd be worth a second voting for again) and the other half are just scared that Trump is on his way back and therefore the Dems need to vote like crazy to keep him out, regardless of how lacklustre his current term was.

I'll say it here: he lost the popular vote with his unequivocal support for Israel. As a self proclaimed Zionist, he chose Israel's genocide of Gaza over Trump's victory and too many voters are going to remember that over whatever he's going to promise (which so far is nothing; his campaign so far is just reminding everyone that the other guy exists).

There's no way Dems win this one, unless Biden cedes to a more worthwhile candidate.

It's the illusion the maga crowd clings to. They think the economy was better under Trump and they think that relates to prosperity for them. The truth is that the economy really only indicates how the market is for the wealthy. But they don't see that. Trump, like nearly all GOP, is fully prepared to strip mine this nation of all resources possible, which would me amazing for the economy. 🙄

Ah yes, the obligatory "the other guy is worse" post. We know the other guy is worse. That doesn't mean democrats shouldn't pick better candidates.

I don't understand how they can possibly put Biden forward again. He's well past losing his marbles. Way too old to run imo. It's disgraceful.

And you think the Dems don't? Don't mistake pandering for genuine concern.

So I'm supposed to vote for the genocide supplier?

want to privatize every last piece of American society

And Democrats are not doing this?

The people who think fascism could never come here, I guess?

Wait you can lose elections? Shit ..

The Democratic party leadership doesn't seem to understand it

I don’t think about this ever. I’m literally waiting for one of those two worthless parties to die.

I don't know, I think the situation is more nuisanced. I didn't vote for Biden in the primaries (I did in the general), but I have to admit he's accomplished a lot more than I anticipated he would. At the time I just wanted a president who wasn't a complete train wreck.

I'd be all in if he was younger, but even so, I'm not sure what the best option is. If Biden stepped aside, I'm not sure the Democrats' ability to win in 2024 would go up. Incumbents have an advantage for sure, and there isn't an obvious choice to replace him. The most important thing at this point is that Trump doesn't win. Whatever situation maximizes the chance of him losing is good with me.

I agree, Newsome would have been a good candidate. Hell there are half a dozen good candidates that are half Bidens age. If Dems loose, I agree they did it to themselves by letting Biden run again.

I see that point of view. Out of curiosity, though, do you think there’s an obvious next in line on the bench? The only person I can think of as a no brainer for electability is Michelle Obama.

Edit: I’m confused as to why my comment has been so controversial. I think it’s because people are misreading my claim. I am saying that Michelle Obama is obviously one of the most electable alternatives to Biden. The polling corroborates this. She is well liked and has 100% name recognition. Seriously, even if you hate her, as an objective empirical fact, she is obviously one of the top contenders for electability.

I am not claiming that she is likely to run or that she wants to run, etc.

What a short sighted view. Had he came in guns blazing we would have never heard the end of it from Republicans. Dudes done quite a lot without giving the Republicans much ammo.

What the hell are you talking about???

The dems have absolutely given us things to vote for: infrastructure act, record low unemployment, union support with the pres visiting the picket line for the first time ever, we have the best inflation rate across all of the G7.

Yeah it’s not enough but that’s on the contrarians more than anything else.

The fuck you talking about

I think they do: https://www.whitehouse.gov/therecord/

I just think the Dems suck at advertising it. Hell, I think Biden is trying for at least some student debt relief.

They give money to run ads for the most insane GOP people so they can have easier opponents, they wanted Trump to win the primary because it would have made the GOP a laughingstock. Problem is over time this emboldens and normalizes this faction, and now it's just this death spiral where they can't change or the other faction will win, it's like this logical inevitability at this point. Dems said it loud and clear in 2016 they will choose a candidate friendly to donors over one that could easy win against Trump.

Where'd you get this hot take? X or corporate news media?

Even Obama said Biden shouldn't run in 2020, but when it seemed like Bernie Sanders would win, he put in the calls to get other candidates to drop and support Biden, who became the democrats' only hope.

I'm starting to think that loosing this election is the dnc's plan.

Voting for Biden or any Democrat is like voting for a car salesman. They're there to sell you corporate bullshit. Voting for Trump or any republican is like voting for a used car salesman. They're trying to sell you old non working pieces of crap or shitty russian knock offs.

Right wing media hasn't eliminated the incumbent advantage.

Stop trying to trick people into thinking they want the Dems to weaken their position by officially showing the world that they don't have full faith in our current president.

Unless you really just don't realize...

Exactly, the best thing Democrats or anti-Trump voters can do right now is blame the party for it's own failings rather than shame the left voters they need who are on the correct side of every issue. I view that as more a confession than anything. Too often this turns in to "oh you care about ____, well that's how we get Trump, get off your high horse and live in reality." Well now that blank is genocide, so they can't say this and save face anymore. Even though the US is always supporting this type of foreign policy, and you can rant about it all day if you're on the left while they shame you for caring, you're only taken seriously by Democrat voters when it's not able to be brushed under the rug as a minor issue.

Just think about how this is framed, "damn, this genocide is really bad for... Biden's polling." If that's the main concern of someone's here then you've already lost.

If you want to prepare, watch The Handmaid's Tale. Probably less entertaining when it's real life.

Task: literally impossible.

unfortunately for us and the world:

Do you want trump?

Roughly half of voters: YES

If you support biden, you are the scum bag.

Billions for bombs on Palestine, zero money for student loans.

I will never forget. And I will never vote blue again.

The centrists are much happier than the leftists with Biden, I've seen more voter apathy among leftists who are tired of voting for center-right candidates while right wing extremists get to vote for fascists that openly support them.

I wasn't exactly an enthusiastic Biden voter last go-around, I thought he was probably past his prime even in the primaries and think his VP is pathetic, BUT there's not even a choice going into 2024. You've got one guy who already staged one insurrection attempt, is openly planning to turn the US into a fascist dictatorship, fumbled the US's pandemic response, gave US secrets away rival countries, is likely beholden to one of our biggest global adversaries, had almost no actual accomplishments to speak of during his term, and consistently breaks the law on a daily/weekly basis. And then you've got a middle-of-the-road, generic politician who has actually racked up some achievements in the past four years, but has a tendency to put his foot in his mouth from time to time. The Israel-Palestine thing is essentially a continuation of US policy for the past few dozen years, yeah it sucks and wish we could do something more than giving them more weapons and just limply saying, "Could you please kill civilians maybe not so fast, just ease up a little bit?" But yeah, Trump would likely give them the ok to just start nuking Gaza/West Bank and might even offer US nukes for the job. Trying to pressure Democrats to change course on Israel by essentially handing the election over to Trump will not help the Palestinian cause any, the same way that being pissed off about Bernie Sanders and sitting out 2016 basically handed Trump and the GOP a SCOTUS majority (note: I supported Sanders in the 2016 primary).

I don't see it as a vote for Biden, rather a vote against Trump

Funny enough, there's research demonstrates that people vote against the voters of a party, and it turns out that people don't like being called idiots for disagreeing politically with someone, and that they'll go so far as to vote against the party of voters calling them idiots.

Maybe just something to think about.

This mentality of picking between worst options isn't very appealing. Better y'all vote for some third party (even if they don't win as whole)

People who are willing to answer a call from an unknown number then answer questions for 15 minutes.

So, basically nobody under the age of about 40.

polls

methodology shall be listed with the polls themselves.

Donor$

Because it's not a communication problem any more than the GOP had a messaging problem some years ago.

You can't communicate your way out of shit governance. Democrats just keep getting further and further out of touch with working class Americans.

That's pretty much all they have.

Nobody has ever really been excited about Biden, and there isn't a clear heir for the Dems either. Bernie is ancient, and while there's a lot of love for AOC from the base, she's perceived as too far to the left for the swing voters.

The Republicans are REALLY good at identifying potential threats early and attacking them. They did it with Hilary for decades, and they've already started with AOC's generation. The only one they really missed since the 90s was Obama, but he pretty much came out of nowhere.

I really appreciate your call to do something. I personally don't think we can vote our way out of this, but we all need to do something. Anything. Whatever we can and feel called to do. This isn't the dress rehearsal.

That would be less painful than another trump presidency

Democrat Base: "Hey, can we... uh... fix... you know..." gestures broadly at fucking everything

Biden: "You got it, champ, unlimited funding for Israel's war effort."

Just give me fireside chats reassuring us that it's not just Biden's rich friends and the sister he forced to help a nanny for his kids that will be ok would be really nice right now.

As opposed to all the Republicans trying to make it a competition with only losers.

Wait... Are you talking about the image at the top where he's got his fingers on his chin?

How does that look frail? Lol. The dude looks healthy, he's not pallor, his eyes aren't glazed over, he's just old lmfao.

There is nothing in the rules that says a Felon can't play basketball! I mean be president.

Before the Tea Party movement in the Republican party, yes I definitely could have been convinced to vote for a Republican candidate. I was actually intending to vote for John McCain for president because at that time in history, both parties really did still have their crazy branches, but the relatively rational adults who knew how to compromise for the good of the country still ran the show, and I was genuinely concerned that Obama didn't have enough political experience to be president.

Then McCain nominated Sarah Palin for his Vice President. That was such a pandering, cowardly, caving to the will of the utterly ignorant, insane extremists in the Republican party move that I voted for Obama. And then the entire Republican party got so mad that a black guy was president that they collectively lost their whole fucking minds.

Republicans no longer want to govern. They want to break things and stay in power and that's it. That's their entire platform. There's nothing to debate because they literally aren't even trying to DO anything useful. Their entire political position right now is "do the opposite of what Democrats want." They have nothing to vote FOR. People who vote Republican right now are doing so only because they're voting against the bogeymen in their own heads.

Before 2016 I was definitely in the camp of looking at both major parties as well as any third parties. I was voting for who I thought was the best despite whatever party they were in.

However, 2016 really opened my eyes to what the Republican party is. They are a party that isn't allowed to have different ideas. You follow the party line and do what you are told or you will be kicked out. Even republicans I thought might have cared for this country would have taken a stance but they didn't. They tucked their tails and bent the knee.

I will never ever vote for a Republican. I can see clear as day what they are now and it isn't good. They aren't able to hide who they are anymore.

You can have debates in the Republican party. You can in the democratic party. Which unfortunately makes the Dems a weaker party because it isn't a cult you are allowed to have a different opinion. The democratic party is basically all the sane adults that are left. It's not just the "left" anymore it's those in the center or those who didn't go far right with the Republicans. The Dems will spend the next year attacking each other and fighting within the party because they aren't unified and told what to think by one leader. So not all Dems will turn out.

It seems voter like to dismiss everything the democratic party does if they don't line up with them completely on every issue. The voters find one reason to vote for Republicans and ignore the rest of party line.

American politics didn't used to be the polarized team sport it is now.

We're seeing the ultimate culmination of the Southern Strategy: Get with the preachers who run those "god says hate the blacks" churches that the South is full of, pay them to say "God says vote the Republicans in so we can use the government to take it out on the blacks." Fast forward 60 years, and take a look around.

Let me put it this way, anyone who still identifies as a Republican is not worth voting for. If you can look past the fascists, racists, nazis, misogynists, fanatical religious nut jobs and still go "yeah, I'll associate with these people", then there is something irredeemably fucked up about you, and I'm not going to vote for you. Sure, democrats aren't perfect, but they tend to throw out their trash, instead of giving it a megaphone and a fancy committee seat.

Within the Democratic party, there's debate about how to handle climate change. There are people who advocate for slow, cautious changes and still see fossil fuels having a small role to play in the future. There are others within the Democratic party that want more drastic action, and make a huge government spending program to try to rapidly move the US energy to renewables (even naming it after one of the biggest US government programs made during the depression). That's normal politics. And it's all within the Democratic party.

The GOP mostly deny climate change exists. A few GOP members suggest that climate change is happening, but is a natural event not caused by man.

The recent house drama from the speakership battle was caused because 10 nutjobs didn't want to fund any social programs and wouldn't approve the budget. Most GOP compromised and made a TEMPORARY budget proposal that the Democratic reps would vote for. This caused the hardliners to remove the speaker. Because he had the audacity to compromise on a TEMPORARY budget.

Removing policy aside and just looking at behavior, many GOP members do not believe in compromising to get things done. There's attempts to not hold elected officials accountable (unless they are from the other party). It's very little cooperation and more retaliation.

A single GOP senator didn't like that the US military would reimburse a servicemember's travel for medical care if they lived in a state where some reproductive treatments weren't available. This one senator has single-handedly denied 360 military promotions and nominations to military positions. The Senate has historically tried to make it where being the minority party still had some power, so the rules let this happen (the other GOP senators on this committee weren't blocking, just the one guy).

The Democratic senators became so fed up they decided to change the rules to prevent a single committee member from blocking promotions. While most GOP senators publicly condemn this guy, many said this rule change was too much. So it looks like the rule change vote will be along party lines, although the #1 GOP senator has said it might be necessary to vote through to get the military back on track.

The last GOP senator really known for being reasonable and wanting to work collaboratively (McCain) died. He was respected by both parties until Trump came along, and now the GOP don't really hold his legacy in high regard.

Sorry, a lot longer than I intended, but it's a pattern showing no desire to try to govern effectively. Putting all issues of policy aside, I think it's a bad idea to vote for the GOP.

I've done it before. Aka ditched the GOP when they started worshiping a spray tan.

I'm registered NPA. I think, generally, everyone should be represented. I have voted Democrat, Republican and independent. Although the past couple elections I have voted straight Democrat because the Republican party has seriously taken a fascist turn.

As a gay person, let me rephrase your question:

Would you consider voting for the party of people who have always dedicated themselves to hating you and making you suffer as much as they can get away with legally?

There IS some degree of factionalism within the two party system. It is much more pronounced in the Democratic Party. Ever since Reagan in 1980, the Republican Party's factionalism became severely diminished. The Libertarians are kind of their most loosely held affiliation.

The primary system is largely designed help direct and influence the political platforms of the two parties. The two parties have made some significant pivots and switches over its history.

But far more importantly however: What has really happened is the Citizens United and lesser known Speechnow decisions by the US Supreme Court effectively legalized corporate buyout of the American electoral system.

And now we got fascists.

So, the issue we see is that the republican party has often run democrats, and then had them flip to republican after election.

I don't trust most democrats either at this point.

The answer, unequivocally, is "Abso-fucking-lutely." But, you phrased the question wrong because you assume that people that vote Democratic are Democrats. They are not. Something like 20-30% of people who vote exclusively or near exclusively Democratic consider themselves Democrats, whereas Republican voters are around 50-60% for their respective categorization.

This isn't particularly strange if you think about the authoritarian vs anarchical political dichotomy these two voter bases lean to for more than a second. The real problem with that is that Republicans, as a general rule, would never align with socialist values. So, while technically they could, anyone that claims to be a Republican with my values is almost entirely likely to be lying.

But, you missed a big thing in American politics: The moderate voter. We have a large group of people who consider themselves moderate, for reasons that all range within the realms of apathetic ignorance to willful ignorance. These people have either no moral quandaries with either particular side, are general unaffected by politics in a way perceivable to them, or are people who lean one way but do have moral quandaries with that side. Debates between parties are for them, which is why it's about presentation, media sound bites, and moderate views.

Anyway, hopefully that answers your question!

People who go online on sites like Lemmy to discuss politics are usually strongly in favor of one party over the other. However, not everyone who votes in elections is like that. There are many moderate or swing voters. Presidential elections in particular are decided by a few key swing states. There is also an expectation that the Congress and the Courts could be a check on each other and on the President, so sometimes people vote for a candidate that they don't fully agree with. Debates aren't always about which candidate or party has a more agreeable stance on the issues, but rather which issues are the most important.

Right now? Absolutely fucking not. In the past? No, probably not.