Summary

Following the Democrats’ recent election losses, some, including Senator Bernie Sanders, argue that the party failed by “abandoning” the working class.

However, critics counter that Democrats under Biden implemented one of the most pro-working class agendas in decades, passing union-supportive policies, job-creating infrastructure bills, and increasing wages.

Despite these efforts, Democrats saw little electoral benefit, especially among nonwhite working-class voters, as cultural grievances took precedence for many working-class voters.

Analysts suggest that the party’s best path forward may be to focus on college-educated suburban voters rather than attempting to win back working-class Republicans.

  • @Telorand@reddthat.com
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    1824 days ago

    Her messaging still sucked.

    It was this. I was really engaged this season. I was fully on board to support her, but towards the end, I had to remind myself why I was excited. I was already going to support her, and I had forgotten what made me excited more than once.

    If that happened to me, a fervent supporter of what she represented, everybody else who was more lukewarm forgot completely. She was the candidate of change at the beginning and was Joe Biden 2.0 by the end.

    If Dems don’t figure out how to capture excitement in their next attempts, if they can’t energize the young who are so naive they follow Instagram influencers without a second thought, they’re gonna keep losing to these terrible but charismatic Republicans.

    • @treefrog@lemm.ee
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      1424 days ago

      She was a prosecutor and was mostly using court room style arguments that appeal to reason.

      And that works great in court and for high information voters, but doesn’t connect with people’s emotions.

      Trump connected with people’s frustrations and grievances and basically argued that Harris and Biden were to blame. There’s no rational argument that can counter an appeal to emotion.

      • @vividspecter@lemm.ee
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        24 days ago

        This is pretty much it. The disengaged public needs simple, three-word slogans and they need to stick on message, relentlessly (and it needs to connect emotionally as you said).

        And while it goes against every instinct of those who are college educated, you need to say things with over the top confidence. Hedging makes sense in the academic world, but average people trust people with excessive confidence.

        • @orclev@lemmy.world
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          524 days ago

          They needed a blend of both. Explain in detail your plan, but pair it with simple slogans and sound bites. That way you cover all your bases, the low information voters get motivated by the sound bite and the high information voters by your detailed plans (assuming they’re good). You can of course have a terrible plan that loses the high information voters even if your sound bites are keeping people engaged.