One pollster sees “flashing red” signs on youth turnout as Gen Z and millennial voters, who are not satisfied with either party, could again play a decisive role in the next election.
In fairness, 6 years ago plenty of Gen Z were not of voting age yet. The oldest portion of that generation is 26 this year. Also, back then there was a level of apathy to politics that really allowed plenty of shenanigans. Until COVID, that was the general consensus that politics were for their parents or for their grandparents. The last 6 years have shown otherwise, and recent voting turn outs in red states show a swing of younger activism.
I do think dragging millennials into this conversation does weaken that argument though as that generation has been majority voting age for over a decade. They’ve been shown to have an intense outrage culture but the lack of commitment to do anything about it, which thankfully the activism and general “fuck the establishment” attitude the tide pod kids have might actually make a difference this time around.
Also, Bernie dropped off the ballet before anyone could vote for him when the Democratic party didn’t consider him their primary pick. I like the guy and did write him in myself (and most likely he would’ve won had he remained on the ballet), but the removal of him as a “default” candidate in our system is why so few voted for him, thinking their votes would either ultimately not make a difference, or that they would allow the opposition (whichever side) to win by not voting within the lines.
Add in that many younger voters and many of us who are independent aren’t allowed to vote in the Democratic primaries at all. Not to mention that the media have also been actively lowering visibility of any Democratic presidential candidate who hasn’t been a decade+ dedicated fall-in-line Democrat.
Clinton was basically sold as the only candidate running for months before the primaries started and presented as much to fight Bernie’s popularity through most of the primary season. Marianne Williamson, who is supported by a large percentage of younger folks for the 2024 elections, isn’t even mentioned while Biden is listed essentially as having no competition. Just like the gerrymandering propping up Republicans in many locations, the deck is stacked against anyone who isn’t already backed by the established parties. Trump broke through, though using a combination of what nearly helped Bernie break through but also fully supporting the angry activists that didn’t think the Republican party was ddoing enough at the time.
Seriously, unless you have open primaries in your state don’t do the dumbass thing that my contemporaries did back in the day and play the “I’m edgy, I’m an independent” act.
You know you aren’t going to be voting Republican, just register Democrat and vote in the damn primaries and help the rest of us get these crappy moderates out.
Being registered doesn’t tag you with a scarlet letter, you just get some annoying texts every once in a while, nothing like being a registered Republican which is both a blessing and a curse, and mailers your get anyways. So please do the rest of us a huge favor and get your and your friends to register and participate in the primaries so we can push back on the narrative that moderates are the only ones that can win.
She’s also a horrible person. She promoted woo woo alternative medicine and said diseases were just a “psychic scream” from our body because we didn’t love it enough. Gay men dying of AIDS stopped taking their medicine because they thought taking it meant that they didn’t trust their body. They died thinking they just didn’t love themselves enough.
And when she was asked about this, she became super defensive and abrasive. A normal person who finds out their words have inadvertently caused suffering would be horrified by it. Instead, she claims she didn’t say what she directly wrote in her book.
Fair point, but she is getting a lot of notice and support from the younger crowd and the fact that she doesn’t even get listed in the mainstream media (while Trump and RFK Jr get publicity), which adds to why the younger generations are just completely disillusioned by the media and both parties. Remember how Hilary’s mocking of Sanders’ supporters was normalized by the media and even publicity since then, which makes many think that we dodged a bullet with Hilary losing, even though Trump was far far worse because both look like narcissistic jerks that gave us no real options in 2016 to anyone under 50 (and quite a few older than 50 at this point, I suspect). Having one side seem so far right that they make them look like part of the Nazi party doesn’t help the Democratic party get away from clearly being to the right of Reagan Republicans of the 1980s in most cases. We just have a much slower descent to corporate rule instead of at least trying to reverse it.
On the one hand, that’s just how primaries work. The field winnows down to 2-3 candidates, and then the others drop when it becomes mathematically impossible. Democrats also have a system that tries to award delegates based on performance, not winner takes all. There typically can’t be an insurgent candidate unless they are the clear favorite.
But on the other hand, and more importantly, why do primaries have to work this way? It makes no sense to me that we space out primaries like this, and let the results influence votes. Bernie probably would’ve done better in '20 and worse in '16 if we had all the votes the same day. Trump wouldn’t have been a thing. There is some value in having drawn out races, because it lets you learn about candidates you didn’t know beforehand and they grow a base of supporters.
I think the best path is to have multiple rounds of voting, over time, for each state. Hold a debate week 2, over multiple nights if the field is large, and then every state votes on week 6. Candidates below X% total are removed from the race. Have another debate with those who remain, and then another vote, and drop the lowest candidate(s). This should capture the best of everything.
In fairness, 6 years ago plenty of Gen Z were not of voting age yet. The oldest portion of that generation is 26 this year. Also, back then there was a level of apathy to politics that really allowed plenty of shenanigans. Until COVID, that was the general consensus that politics were for their parents or for their grandparents. The last 6 years have shown otherwise, and recent voting turn outs in red states show a swing of younger activism.
I do think dragging millennials into this conversation does weaken that argument though as that generation has been majority voting age for over a decade. They’ve been shown to have an intense outrage culture but the lack of commitment to do anything about it, which thankfully the activism and general “fuck the establishment” attitude the tide pod kids have might actually make a difference this time around.
Also, Bernie dropped off the ballet before anyone could vote for him when the Democratic party didn’t consider him their primary pick. I like the guy and did write him in myself (and most likely he would’ve won had he remained on the ballet), but the removal of him as a “default” candidate in our system is why so few voted for him, thinking their votes would either ultimately not make a difference, or that they would allow the opposition (whichever side) to win by not voting within the lines.
Add in that many younger voters and many of us who are independent aren’t allowed to vote in the Democratic primaries at all. Not to mention that the media have also been actively lowering visibility of any Democratic presidential candidate who hasn’t been a decade+ dedicated fall-in-line Democrat.
Clinton was basically sold as the only candidate running for months before the primaries started and presented as much to fight Bernie’s popularity through most of the primary season. Marianne Williamson, who is supported by a large percentage of younger folks for the 2024 elections, isn’t even mentioned while Biden is listed essentially as having no competition. Just like the gerrymandering propping up Republicans in many locations, the deck is stacked against anyone who isn’t already backed by the established parties. Trump broke through, though using a combination of what nearly helped Bernie break through but also fully supporting the angry activists that didn’t think the Republican party was ddoing enough at the time.
Seriously, unless you have open primaries in your state don’t do the dumbass thing that my contemporaries did back in the day and play the “I’m edgy, I’m an independent” act.
You know you aren’t going to be voting Republican, just register Democrat and vote in the damn primaries and help the rest of us get these crappy moderates out.
Being registered doesn’t tag you with a scarlet letter, you just get some annoying texts every once in a while, nothing like being a registered Republican which is both a blessing and a curse, and mailers your get anyways. So please do the rest of us a huge favor and get your and your friends to register and participate in the primaries so we can push back on the narrative that moderates are the only ones that can win.
She’s also a horrible person. She promoted woo woo alternative medicine and said diseases were just a “psychic scream” from our body because we didn’t love it enough. Gay men dying of AIDS stopped taking their medicine because they thought taking it meant that they didn’t trust their body. They died thinking they just didn’t love themselves enough.
And when she was asked about this, she became super defensive and abrasive. A normal person who finds out their words have inadvertently caused suffering would be horrified by it. Instead, she claims she didn’t say what she directly wrote in her book.
Fair point, but she is getting a lot of notice and support from the younger crowd and the fact that she doesn’t even get listed in the mainstream media (while Trump and RFK Jr get publicity), which adds to why the younger generations are just completely disillusioned by the media and both parties. Remember how Hilary’s mocking of Sanders’ supporters was normalized by the media and even publicity since then, which makes many think that we dodged a bullet with Hilary losing, even though Trump was far far worse because both look like narcissistic jerks that gave us no real options in 2016 to anyone under 50 (and quite a few older than 50 at this point, I suspect). Having one side seem so far right that they make them look like part of the Nazi party doesn’t help the Democratic party get away from clearly being to the right of Reagan Republicans of the 1980s in most cases. We just have a much slower descent to corporate rule instead of at least trying to reverse it.
On the one hand, that’s just how primaries work. The field winnows down to 2-3 candidates, and then the others drop when it becomes mathematically impossible. Democrats also have a system that tries to award delegates based on performance, not winner takes all. There typically can’t be an insurgent candidate unless they are the clear favorite.
But on the other hand, and more importantly, why do primaries have to work this way? It makes no sense to me that we space out primaries like this, and let the results influence votes. Bernie probably would’ve done better in '20 and worse in '16 if we had all the votes the same day. Trump wouldn’t have been a thing. There is some value in having drawn out races, because it lets you learn about candidates you didn’t know beforehand and they grow a base of supporters.
I think the best path is to have multiple rounds of voting, over time, for each state. Hold a debate week 2, over multiple nights if the field is large, and then every state votes on week 6. Candidates below X% total are removed from the race. Have another debate with those who remain, and then another vote, and drop the lowest candidate(s). This should capture the best of everything.