Almost by every “poll” we see the Dems would win by a landslide, well be damn’d (Pun intended). They failed to capture the Senate and they lost seats in the House. The blue tsunami never comes. I am no expert, who is? However, based on what I have seen and heard, I’d say the reasons are the following:
- Biden — Biden is a good choice, he is a solid choice, however, the move that made him THE choice by having Pete and Amy drop out abruptly left a lot of bad taste in people’s mouths. There are never-Trumpers, and there are also anti-establishments. That bitterness lingered.
- BLM and other “minorities” — To many “swingable” voters, even when they are left-leaning, the rioting and the negative news cycle about BLM, as well as the defense the Dems put on have driven these voters to #walkaway. They think the Dems have become a party of hating cops, military, religion, and America… Even though it’s not… mostly not. America in these voters’ minds is still being a dominant force with their past accomplishments. They think being white, or straight, or male is to be hated, they feel attacked for not being relatable to other minority. They think religious people, especially Christians, are being attacked and toxic.
- “Socialist” Economics — While I personally don’t think many people in the US understand what Socialism means, overall the word socialism has a bad rep among most Americans, especially people born before the 80s, aka Gen X and older. Having AOC, a democratic socialist, as their rising star is also not helping in this case. Until the definition is clarified, Dems will continue to fail. That said, I do want to say that an online test says I am a Social Libertarian and I believe in UBI.
- Listen — Or the lack of listening should I say. While I’d like to say Dems and Liberals are generally more empathetic, I’d also say the conservatives are more sympathetic. According to Merriam-Webster, sympathy is when you share the feelings of another; empathy is when you understand the feelings of another but do not necessarily share them. What the Dems failed is to be empathetic to the conservatives as well as their sympathetic nature. Many Dems I have interacted with instantly shut out Trump voters and conservatives without even trying to listen to what they care about. I think Trump and McConnell are evil, but most of the people who support them are not. Their media circles are filled with attacks on the Dems and defense for Trump. MANY conservatives who focus on the people in their immediate circle and their [local] community. As long as their community is good and not threatened, they are good. While this is a very simplistic way to put it, they are good people and they want to be heard. While the Dems are trying to battle evil, the Dems grouped the conservatives as part of the evils and ignored the pleads from them. The Dems failed to include them. At the same time, the media, especially Fox and other rightwing media, did an amazing job dramatizing the riot, the tensions, etc, heightening the perceived threats posed by the Antifa, BLM, atheists, etc.
- Minorities Reported — First of all, The Daily Show missed a great pun on the Trump cages as “The Minority Deport.” Jokes aside, while we should be amazed at the record turnout for Biden, over 70mil at the time of writing this, Trump also got over 67mil supports. Many would say it shouldn’t be these close, and honestly, it shouldn’t but it is what it is… So I got to give the GOP credits for two things, record voter registration on their side AND the ability to spin negative news into “positive” lights. In fact, we saw an increase among the minority in those who voted for Trump… I don’t know the reason, but if I were the Dems I would really dig in and figure out why.
Honestly, these are just some of the first things I thought of, look at the difference of focus in the existing poll and you will see why…
I hope the Dems would learn their lesson. Let the House be loud but don’t push too hard into the party agenda, keep the Senate/POTUS policies chanting Center-Left. Why two chambers of congress? So we could keep it cool and ready to consume. Democracy works best when you operate NEAR the average line. While the average is leaning progressive, it is not progressive. Don’t be the hero we deserve, be the hero we need. I think Damon Linker did a pretty clean explanation in The Left just got crushed.
