this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2025
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How was Kamala Harris not the perfect candidate then? Why did so many Democrats stay home, when Harris was supported by Darth Cheney's daughter? It doesn't get more drawn to the "middle" than that. No one I have talked to said they wish Democrats were more conservative, anecdotal at best, but seems pretty suspicious to me.
This sounds like "of active voters" which are more right leaning than the average citizen.
Maybe if they appease right-wing extremists even harder, they'll finally find some middle ground. Oops, the middle moved. Oh well, just reach across the aisle and--huh. It moved again.
I spend a lot of time talking to people all across the political spectrum (mostly the US, but also globally). The "normal" left from 15-20 years ago are now considered moderate lefts.The moderate left people I know now used to be firmly left but they were abandoned as some went even farther left. The centrist/moderates from before now seem to lean slightly right again as the left has gone farther left. The old moderate right leaning people now seem to just be regular rights and the extreme right is still the good ol extreme right.
Of course this is my very limited sample size of friends and family. Most of which live in very blue cities in very blue California, but I have friends scattered across the US and some globally. I do somewhat often sicuss politics with my friends in India, The Netherlands, Germany, the UK, Australia, Ireland, Sweden, Norway and some other places I'm probably forgetting. While their own political landscapes are vastly different than our own they do seem to generally agree that the American left has gone farther left than the American right has gone farther right.
Nobody liked Kamala. Not even her own party liked her. She was polling at something like 5% in her own party back in 2016. Once you add the lack of a primary election and her politically sterile speeches into the mix it's not hard to see how she lost.
So in their, and your estimation, the resurgence of Nazis in the US specifically is less of a shift to the right, but people who want equal rights and to not be targeted by police and corporations is far left? Wanting healthcare and an end to homeless, war, and to stop the persecution of LGBTQ+ for what are obviously biased religious reasons.
I agree, no one liked Harris, she was the first out in the 2020 primaries. Her politically sterile speeches, by another name would be moderate. Not pissing off either side. Do you think she lost both primaries because she was TOO left? Or more likely because she was too in the middle, like this poll is claiming people wanted from her.
Personally it seems more people want someone who "says it how it is". We don't need a polite president that never steps on any toes and only uses the most luke warm approved language of the politically correct.
Why do you think so many people voted for Trump but also AOC down ballot? What do those two people who do not get along have in common? They have no problem speaking their mind and calling shit out.
I think Kamala was the Luke warm soapy water from yesteryears politician. People don't care about the same things they used to. They don't care if their politicians are "proper". They want a "real" person who "calls it like it is". Kamala was not that.
The second she got on stage and started talking about how she was a black woman running for president she already lost. Not because all of America is sexist and/or racist (we certainly have our share of those people not going to deny that), but because the average American doesn't give a flying fuck who is in office as long as their life isn't miserable. Most people heard her talking and just thought "Great. More of the same identity politics that doesn't do anything to improve our daily quality of life".
Sometimes people are so desperate for change they don't care which direction it takes them as long as it gets them outta whatever rut they feel they are stuck in. For many voters they viewed the Democrats as the same slowly sinking ship vs Trump who is potentially going to cause the oceans to dry up, but hey at least the ship isn't sinking anymore.
Edit: removed half a sentence idk where I was going with that I never finished
I agree. Decorum has gone out the door. I don't give a fuck what color, or sex you are, just do the job. I agree most people didn't care she was black or a woman, it was her terrible platform and the people behind her pushing for her instead of some kind of abbreviated primary for the Democrats to pick a better candidate.
I am just waiting for an American party. One that is literally for the people, by the people. I think some major union rep could make a good candidate. The UAW boss for example.
You think the Cheney's are/were popular within the Republican rank and file? She lost her primary for Wyoming's house seat in 22. She didn't make it to the general. She only won her primary with a majority twice in 18 and 20. The only Republicans she would have brought to the table were the Never Trumpers, who were already never voting for trump.
Who is popular with the republican rank and file? A significant number of his own cabinet members from the first term said he shouldn't Return.
You're moving the goal posts for this article as well. Who could Harris have cozied up to that was close to center? Who in the republican party can even be considered the moderate centrists? I imagine the reason Cheney lost her seat has much more to do with faux news dragging her through the mud because she had the audacity to investigate the obvious insurrection that happened and go against an orange turd than her not being "conservative" or popular enough to win.
Who she would've cozied up to wouldn't have made a difference. The issue that she didn't have a primary and probably her record as AG in California was the biggest turnoff for the base and generating turnout. The best thing she had going for her was she wasn't Trump.
And yes, the pushing the investigation was incredibly unpopular with the GOP rank and file. They get their news from Fox and the like. GOP friendly news sites that have turned on Trump aren't as popular anymore. It's why nobody talks about sites like Drudge Report. Going anti-Trump didn't win themselves more Democratic readers, it just lost them their base. Both sides should view going across the aisle as essentially political suicide.
Nowhere in this article does it state what questions were asked or how many people were surveyed. I'm sure you could look it up, but I think it's almost irrelevant.
FTA:
Now how is it that Joe Biden, who was a very centerist candidate/president one of the least popular presidents? I suspect that Harris' biggest problem is that she was a no change from the Biden administration and just not trump. It's funny, I totally agree she should have never been anywhere near the Cheney's. Walz was a great choice for VP, and I think the only smart decision of her "campaign". Maybe if she had courted the same people that supporter Bernie or even AOC she would have had much better results.
I think the biggest factor missing from this discussion are the people that voted for both Obama and Trump. This is where the fallacy of reaching across as a good thing comes from. Both sides want to win that voter and both sides misunderstand why both voted the way they did. Or if it is understood, getting the getting the entrenched base who is the party's power to buy in turns them off.
Taking Biden as a centrist as fact, he wasn't portrayed that way in the media by both sides. And that goes in favor for my argument as trying to be centrist is or playing favorable to the center is political suicide.
Seeing as trump got about the same amount of votes as the last election, the deciding factor was the amount of "Democrats" that stayed home. I doubt there is much overlap between those who voted for Obama and then saw what trump did the first go around and said yeah, they want some more of that.
I'm taking biden's voting record as proof he was a centerist. The media plays whatever makes them the most money. 24hr news networks need to die off. It's painfully obvious when articles like this.
I agree being a centerist is suicide. The left needs to pull the right back to the middle a lot more than the other way around.