Harris only received five percent of Republican votes — less than the six percent Joe Biden won in 2020 when he beat Trump, as well as the seven percent won by Hillary Clinton in 2016 when she lost to him. While Harris won independents and moderates, she did so by smaller margins than Biden did in 2020.

Meanwhile, Harris lost households earning under $100,000, while Democratic turnout collapsed. Votes are still being counted, but Harris is on pace to underperform Biden’s 2020 totals by millions of votes.

  • orclev@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    I don’t agree with him, but I think he’s expecting them to support liberal progressive policies. Seems to be taking the stance of “if we can’t improve things it’s better to watch it all burn rather than slowly rot”.

    • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Tell him that not voting to convince them to run liberal progressive policies won’t work. You can’t play Mexican standoff because the Dems have an out: the center voters.

      • orclev@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        I’m not OP so I don’t actually know him so I can’t tell him anything, although I do know one person like that. As for your point I’m not sure that actually follows since those center voters didn’t show up to save Harris this time. If the DNC keeps losing elections at some point, assuming we’re all still here and we even still have elections, they will have to try something different. It’s a very risky play but I also can’t say it won’t work.

        • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Harris relied on the left showing up for their rights and for democracy. That was a ton of her campaign. And the left didn’t show up. If they don’t show up for that, they won’t show up for anything. They will try something different and that’s going all in on the center voter, who actually show up.

          • orclev@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            I replied to your other comment where you said basically the same thing, but the short version is there clearly isn’t enough center voters for that to be a winning strategy. If they try that next election (If there even is a next election) it’s going to be an even more lopsided victory for the Republicans.

            • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              See my other response. It’s the other way around, there isn’t enough left (or rather, if they can’t show up for their own human fucking rights and mfing democracy, they will never never never show up for literally anything). The center is the big juicy middle that exists, that Trump appealed to, who actually show up, whose votes are worth double (because it’s a vote for you and a vote taken away from the other party), and where elections are won.

              • orclev@lemmy.world
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                1 month ago

                There’s left wing economic policies as well. Running on anti-monoploy and increased taxes on the rich, would be an excellent way to go further left and is exactly I think what a lot of people were looking for this election. Ignoring the economy is never a winning strategy unless the economy is already doing really well which it very much isn’t.

                • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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                  1 month ago

                  Yes, but the left never shows up. If they can’t show up for their own human rights, they will never never never show up. The Dems will never, ever put themselves into a situation where they rely on the left voters ever again, because they never show up. Harris said she’d tax the rich, and the left didn’t show up.

                  Ignoring the economy is never a winning strategy

                  I have no idea how you are missing what I’m saying. The economy is center policy. Yes yes yes. The Dems will go hard on the economy for the center voter. They will follow Bill Clinton’s “it’s the economy, stupid”. That’s how Bill Clinton won, by going to center. That’s what the Dems will do in the future, focus on the economy to win the center voter. Again, that is center policy, not left.

          • UsernameHere@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            You’re right. I don’t buy this narrative that the dems lost because they were left enough. The polls show voters were motivated by inflation and thought Biden’s progressive policies were to blame.

        • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          So no one is ever allowed to think otherwise. Gotcha.

          *The better answer is that she needed to win over center. That is different than Republicans.

          • Zaktor@sopuli.xyzOP
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            1 month ago

            What exactly do you think should have been done differently for Harris to activate this “just win with centrists” option? Because it very much seems like that was just tried and failed miserably.

            • orclev@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              Was just in a very long thread with him, but he seems to think economic issues are exclusively centrist.

              • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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                1 month ago

                Not exclusively no lol, but it’s the center economic policy that will win. UBI for example is a left economic policy and i sincerely doubt UBI will win an election. It will be seen as too much.

      • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        They tried that this time. They basically told the left to fuck off and die. Moving to the right has very publicly failed.

        • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          They literally told the left to come out for abortion rights and to save democracy. If the left doesn’t come out for that then 1) they will literally never show up, or 2) they don’t exist. Take your pick. Either the dems will never rely on the left showing up ever again. Kiss any left policy goodbye. They will go hard to the center. Clinton was right “it’s the economy stupid”.