‘We’ve got to stop fooling ourselves’: Enthusiasm gap keeps getting worse for Dems

[HikerGuy83]

50% of Senate is not controlling anything. then you have Sinema and Manchin who are basically republicans. So as usual, you people have no facts other than lies and moronic one liners. Republicans never vote with dems, ever, the GOP won't allow it. only time is if someone is not running again.

Anyway, all you posts are moronic trolling void of any actual argument. Typical of traitor trolling

Mitt Romney and Susan Collins never voted with the democrats ?

You feeling O.k.

 

[Surrealistik]

‘We’ve got to stop fooling ourselves’: Enthusiasm gap keeps getting worse for Dems

The last time the voter enthusiasm deficit was this wide, Democrats lost more than 60 seats in the House.

www.politico.com

--

I do indeed believe the Dems will lose the house, and I'm going to cite a component that I believe is a prime aspect.

My point is quite simple: There is no Boogeyman to motivate the Dems!

Today we seem to vote against the other guys, rather than vote for our guys. It's easy to be unhappy with and criticize those running the place, than it is to actually run the place with your guys.

--

Well, that's my take on it. It's not an all inclusive rationale, but I believe it is a prime component.

Reason for the enthusiasm gap is pretty obvious; less about the lack of a boogeyman (we still got one, and I don't particularly support fear motivated politics over goal motivated politics and find it generally unsustainable), more about turncoats like Manchin and Sinema that keep blocking big Dem legislation which has been utterly discouraging to say the least; the GOP has had no greater gift than the corrupt and almost certainly donor motivated intransigence of these two (it ain't about fiscal discipline given Manchin's reflexive and hypocritical approval of historic military spending that utterly dwarfed BBB). Biden definitely shares some culpability in not using his executive orders aggressively to advance Dem priorities ( https://www.vox.com/21557717/joe-biden-executive-order-student-debt-climate ). Meanwhile, the Republicans are still outraged over losing every branch of government and are plenty motivated.

Personally I think that discouragement in the face of Manchin and Sinema's treachery is exactly the wrong response, and we need more, not less, representatives in government (and more specifically ones that will actually vote for Dem legislation rather than cockblock it given half an excuse; traitors should be primaried), but human beings of course aren't necessarily rational.

 

[Chomsky]

How many times do I have to say it: Politics of fear, division and tribalism are pretty much antithetical to core liberal values, but are meat and drink to many conservatives, nationalists and evangelicals. Using right-wing tactics is and always was going to be a long-term losing strategy for a party drawing many of its votes from left-leaning folk. As others have pointed out, that has been one of the main approaches of Democrats since at least 2016 and especially since 2020, and it's just not working; it's just not enough to make left-leaning voters enthusiastic about a center-right party, even if they're sometimes willing to hold their nose and vote for the 'lesser evil.'

The fear technique did work for the Dems in '20, though we can very much thank Trump for that.

But yes, I don't think it will regularly work. Conservatives and Liberals seem to not always react similarly, IMO. That's why fear will likely not regularly work for the Dems.

It may work in '24 again, though, if Trump is on the ticket!

 

[Moon]

Actually, Biden just did both items above, and I started a thread on it:

Biden announces historic oil reserve release, along with other steps, to reduce gas prices

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/30/politics/strategic-petroleum-reserve-release-oil-joe-biden/index.html (CNN)President Joe Biden is announcing an unprecedented release of oil from US reserves and taking steps to punish oil companies for not increasing production from unused leases on federal land...

debatepolitics.com

Releasing oil from the reserves is just for the headlines so it looks like he’s doing something and will have a negligible impact on gas prices.

 

[ataraxia]

Of course you won't. You're going to try and scare the hell of voters claiming this guy is going to the Speaker of the House if the REpubs win.

View attachment 67383232


And the voter is going tell you "Dude it's costing me $100 to fill up my Toyota, I don't give rat's ass about January 6th."

Biden is fixing Trump's mess. It needs serious reconstructive surgery. America after Trump is like a victim of trauma after a mugging- with a broken face. It's in surgery, and the patient doesn't like the pain associated with reconstructing their broken face. So they want to kick the surgeon to the curb and go back to their assailant?

 

[Chomsky]

The last 2 presidential elections have been a wild ride.

2020’s have been next level of “things I couldn’t have imagined”.

The midterms this year will also be a wild ride.

I think they'll be more pedestrian than the Presidential's, though.

Who knows what 2024 will bring, at this point, flying monkeys could show up and I wouldn’t be surprised.

If Trump's on the ticket, it will be mania on both sides! If Trump loses, I expect all hell to break loose; I'm not looking forward to it.

I'm not sure if it is enthusiasm - or if it is just who is most disgusted at this point. The pendulum has been swinging all over the place for years. Time for things to settle down. That might have been what some "thought' was going to happen under Biden, but it hasn't really played out that way.

Agreed!

I believe the metric measure the motivation to vote, and calls it 'enthusiasm'.

 

[Helix]

I'm enthusiastic to vote against Republicans. As for Democrats, not really. They couldn't even figure out a way to pass voting rights. That was crucial, and it's probably going to bite them in the ass. However, they're the only way that I can vote against Republicans.

 

[Chomsky]

I am no expert on this but given that I never voted in my entire life until 2020

Please tell me this was due to being too young!

(when I felt the need to vote against Trump and against all Republicans across the board) and since I will continue to vote against all Republicans at any time they are up for a vote, I have a feeling you might be wrong in your assessment. Like me, other people who now are strongly against the Republicans, will get up and vote.

I too felt an overwhelming patriotic need to vote, even though I never miss a cycle, and I even joined the Democratic Party in support.

 

[Chomsky]

the dumbest thing that sane people do (once they're regained power from the extremists) is relax, play defense and not brag about their own accomplishments.

hell, TFG was separating families and ignoring a pandemic while comparing himself to Washington and Lincoln.


that ever repeating merry-go-round will never work.

I think the bolded is a great point!

 

[Lloyd Christmas]

Mitt Romney and Susan Collins never voted with the democrats ?

You feeling O.k.

more moronic one liners. is that enough to get 60 votes? or even filibuster proof which is limited on what can be used for? No, so as with every right winger, you throw our moronic one liners with no argument.

Why any asshole votes republicans is beyond me, they do nothing, they pander to racists and bigots and idiots (I guess if you are one of those perhaps I can see why one would l like voting for them) and the country always gets worse when they are in charge. At least democrats platform addresses real problems, and of course, they have all the facts

 

[Chomsky]

My only question is: how many more boogeymen do the dems need before they get interested in voting? I mean you have a party whose head is a lying, corrupt, criminal insurrectionist, and whose members blame Jewish space lasers as the cause for the increase in forest fires.

Liberals are often motivated by idealism, which Conservatives are often motivated by fear.

It appears fear is a better motivator, and even Dem's proved this in '20!

 

[Chomsky]

Not much to vote for on either side.

Fair enough point.

 

[Surrealistik]

Liberals are often motivated by idealism, which Conservatives are often motivated by fear.

It appears fear is a better motivator, and even Dem's proved this in '20!

You can't have idealism when your representatives constantly fail to deliver; that is the fundamental problem.

 

[Mach]

Today we seem to vote against the other guys, rather than vote for our guys. It's easy to be unhappy with and criticize those running the place, than it is to actually run the place with your guys.
Well, that's my take on it. It's not an all inclusive rationale, but I believe it is a prime component.

It's true that Obama energized the party and was worth voting for proactively.
It's also true that Biden for me at least, was not my first choice, and was definitely all about stopping Trump, who was a calamity.

Not sure what this means for the next presidential, but if it's Trump again, I'd like to think people would be just as energized about keeping him out, as before.

 

[Integrityrespec]

‘We’ve got to stop fooling ourselves’: Enthusiasm gap keeps getting worse for Dems

The last time the voter enthusiasm deficit was this wide, Democrats lost more than 60 seats in the House.

www.politico.com

--

I do indeed believe the Dems will lose the house, and I'm going to cite a component that I believe is a prime aspect.

My point is quite simple: There is no Boogeyman to motivate the Dems!

Today we seem to vote against the other guys, rather than vote for our guys. It's easy to be unhappy with and criticize those running the place, than it is to actually run the place with your guys.

--

Well, that's my take on it. It's not an all inclusive rationale, but I believe it is a prime component.

Don't ignore the horrible job Biden is doing. His favorability is waning by the day as he makes one blunder after another. You are right there is not Trump in the midterms, although the dems have been trying to bring up Trump whenever they can. Biden is an opposing politicians dream. Had the left media been at all honest in 2020 Biden would never have won. All of a sudden the Hunter laptap is now recognized as fact even though the left claimed it was Russian disinformation in 2020 to protect Joe.

 

[Lloyd Christmas]

You can't have idealism when your representatives constantly fail to deliver; that is the fundamental problem.

how can they deliver when they never have filibuster proof control and the other side will never allow anything good to happen for the country or during a Dem administration? And then they have members that are basically republicans? While the other side acts like terrorists and anybody who dare goes against the GOP is primaried out, censored, and funding cut off? Even with laws that can't be filibustered, its hard to get anything because you have dems in red states so have to pander to the morons

Maybe they don't actually want to do what their base says, but we will never know until we get filibuster proof control, and as long as moron Americans keep flip flopping and constantly going back to do nothing but harm republicans into power, nothing will change.

This is the stupid shit with liberals whining about dems not delivering, its republicans that prevent it constantly. And the only way to possibly get a republican or a few on board is to put in stuff they want to allow for them to vote.

it's stupid to whine about dems not doing anything and not realizing its because republicans are basically political terrorists. the only answer would be for dems to act like the scumbag republicans do, however, most of the democrats base are not assholes that would want them to go low and act like the shitty republicans do.

 

[RaleBulgarian]

The House Dems and the Biden pukes are trying real hard to create a boogeyman with all that Jan 6 nonsense.

But yeah...I don't think that will work for them, either.

The historic violent attack on Congress by crazy Trumpsters wasn’t “nonsense”. It was a national tragedy/disgrace belonging to Loser #45 and all those that enable and support him.

 

[Deuce]

You funny
'I'm not blaming REpublicans'

'REPUBLICANS WILL BURN DOWN THE CAPITOL'

I said neither of these things

 

[Luckyone]

Please tell me this was due to being too young!

You know that I am 76, don't you?

I never voted before because there was never a candidate (or a party) that I considered so good or so bad that I needed to vote. In all cases with all previous candidates and nominees, I did not feel that any would cause permanent damage to the country. As such, I never voted because in 4 or 8 years whatever was done (good or bad) would likely be erased.

In this case and under the present situation, I do believe that Trump was going to do irreparable damage to the country and I have come to believe the same of the Republicans. I am an independent as I always liked some of the things in each party platform. In the same format, there were always things that I disliked about each Platform (Republican or Democratic). Nonetheless. now I will vote against the Republicans, each and every time. I no longer trust any of them with the exception of Romney. The Republicans were clearly shown and given proof of wrong doing by Trump and they chose to ignore it. They have shown that none of them have the balls to stand up for what is right.

I too felt an overwhelming patriotic need to vote, even though I never miss a cycle, and I even joined the Democratic Party in support.

I am not a Democrat but I will support them fully now as there is no other good choice

 

[d0gbreath]

Trump rally goes are enthusiastic. They go vote. We do too. Many Democratic Party voters will be out in force just to see if they can still cast a vote.

 

[Surrealistik]

how can they deliver when they never have filibuster proof control and the other side will never allow anything good to happen for the country or during a Dem administration? And then they have members that are basically republicans? While the other side acts like terrorists and anybody who dare goes against the GOP is primaried out, censored, and funding cut off? Even with laws that can't be filibustered, its hard to get anything because you have dems in red states so have to pander to the morons

Maybe they don't actually want to do what their base says, but we will never know until we get filibuster proof control, and as long as moron Americans keep flip flopping and constantly going back to do nothing but harm republicans into power, nothing will change.

This is the stupid shit with liberals whining about dems not delivering, its republicans that prevent it constantly. And the only way to possibly get a republican or a few on board is to put in stuff they want to allow for them to vote.

it's stupid to whine about dems not doing anything and not realizing its because republicans are basically political terrorists. the only answer would be for dems to act like the scumbag republicans do, however, most of the democrats base are not assholes that would want them to go low and act like the shitty republicans do.

I largely agree, but I will also say that Joe hasn't been doing everything he can do pass Dem priorities per his stilted and constrained use of executive orders; see my prior post:

Reason for the enthusiasm gap is pretty obvious; less about the lack of a boogeyman (we still got one, and I don't particularly support fear motivated politics over goal motivated politics and find it generally unsustainable), more about turncoats like Manchin and Sinema that keep blocking big Dem legislation which has been utterly discouraging to say the least; the GOP has had no greater gift than the corrupt and almost certainly donor motivated intransigence of these two (it ain't about fiscal discipline given Manchin's reflexive and hypocritical approval of historic military spending that utterly dwarfed BBB). Biden definitely shares some culpability in not using his executive orders aggressively to advance Dem priorities ( https://www.vox.com/21557717/joe-biden-executive-order-student-debt-climate ). Meanwhile, the Republicans are still outraged over losing every branch of government and are plenty motivated.

Personally I think that discouragement in the face of Manchin and Sinema's treachery is exactly the wrong response, and we need more, not less, representatives in government (and more specifically ones that will actually vote for Dem legislation rather than cockblock it given half an excuse; traitors should be primaried), but human beings of course aren't necessarily rational.

 

[RaleBulgarian]

Your guys are certainly trying to create bogeymen out of January 6th - virtually the entire Republican party.

Because “virtually the entire Republican party”, minus a very small number, have been complicit in denying and lying about the events 1/6/21, and their significance.

 

[RaleBulgarian]

Your guys tried to overthrow an election by force so you know what I'm not gonna let it go.

Patriotic Americans won’t ever give those responsible for the events of 1/6/21, or their apologists, a pass.

 

[Chomsky]

You know that I am 76, don't you?

Had no idea. Never gave it a thought, beyond enjoying your posts!

I never voted before because there was never a candidate (or a party) that I considered so good or so bad that I needed to vote. In all cases with all previous candidates and nominees, I did not feel that any would cause permanent damage to the country. As such, I never voted because in 4 or 8 years whatever was done (good or bad) would likely be erased.

Wow.

I grew-up in a highly political neighborhood, where your first vote was a celebrated right-of-passage!

Our pops would follow this up with their sons, by letting us in the back door of the VFW to the back corner of the bar, where we'd celebrate with what was thought to be our first drink in a bar, where we were cheered by the regulars, then quickly hustled back out the rear door!

I'm no longer in that old neighborhood, but we still celebrated with our kids upon their first vote, only in a more family-friendly manner of going out to dinner and eschewing giving the kid a drink. This, after we went down to the polling place together as a family in support of the kid new voter. We make an activity and celebration of it!

In this case and under the present situation, I do believe that Trump was going to do irreparable damage to the country and I have come to believe the same of the Republicans. I am an independent as I always liked some of the things in each party platform. In the same format, there were always things that I disliked about each Platform (Republican or Democratic). Nonetheless. now I will vote against the Republicans, each and every time. I no longer trust any of them with the exception of Romney. The Republicans were clearly shown and given proof of wrong doing by Trump and they chose to ignore it. They have shown that none of them have the balls to stand up for what is right.


I am not a Democrat but I will support them fully now as there is no other good choice

After quite a few years of being an Indie and unaffiliated, I formally re-joined the Democratic Party for many of the same reasons you did.

 

[RaleBulgarian]

And the voter is going tell you "Dude it's costing me $100 to fill up my Toyota, I don't give rat's ass about January 6th."

That’s what you’re hoping for.