this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2024
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“Florida Democrats don’t know why Taylor Swift is naming an upcoming song on her new album ‘Florida!!!’ or the reason she chose to hold three concerts in Miami less than a month before the November elections,” Politico reports.

“But their excitement around the news is less about ‘why?’ and more about leveraging Swift’s celebrity status to fill the blank space for beleaguered voters tired of losing to Republicans.

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[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 83 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (5 children)

It's weird how moderates think Taylor likes Biden and doesn't just hate trump.

It's the only reason most Biden voters are Biden voters, which is why he's polling so terribly

There's no reason we have to be running such an unlikable candidate again, just because trump is even more unlikable. It's only worked 50% of the time now.

Edit:

Wow. A lot of people don't seem to know many Dem politicians...

Biden himself said over 50 Dems could easily beat trump.

I think this guy would be a good option, but there's lots of others

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Ossoff

[–] CountVon@sh.itjust.works 65 points 9 months ago (18 children)

I'm not exactly a fan of Biden, but he's on the ballot for two reasons:

  • Incumbents historically have an advantage, and it would be crazy to throw that advantage away.
  • Who else would run in his place? It's not like there's some other obvious candidate. I can think of lots of progressives that I'd personally love to see on the ballot, but the reality is that none of those candidates are seen as being electable in swing states. Be nice if it were otherwise, but it ain't.
[–] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Incumbents historically have an advantage, and it would be crazy to throw that advantage away.

In lower offices maybe, but since 1980 (Carter) we've only had 4/7 incumbents reelected. People may talk about how Carter/Bush/Trump all had something uniquely terrible that caused them to lose their reelection, but Biden's got a 38% approval rating, is tied to an unpopular foreign war, and has record low numbers with critical voting blocs. He's not riding high and doing fine.

[–] Weirdfish@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

And yet I'll still go out and vote against Trump instead of staying home in november.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Who else would run in his place?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Ossoff

That guy's 36, but ran the most funded US Senate campaign in America's history.

So he's got the money neoliberals say they care about.

He was an investigative journalist going after corruption, his positions line up with what Dem voters want...

And he's really popular with gen z voters.

Why not him if all that matters is "not trump"?

[–] lennybird@lemmy.world 36 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

The most funded in America's history isn't because of him; it was because it was a special election with the entire nation pouring money in for the sake of winning a Senate majority. It could've been Joe Manchin and the same outcome would've happened. That's not a reflection of Jon's campaign prowess.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 15 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Did someone stop him from putting his hat in the ring? Because otherwise, I think the problem is that he doesn't want to run in Biden's place and I don't know that voting for someone who isn't running in the first place is an especially good strategy to beat Trump.

[–] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)

The issue is no one wants to challenge Biden, not that no one would want to run in his place. Biden shouldn't have run for reelection, but if he doesn't step aside a challenge is likely to just blow up the party (at least unless Biden has some major senior movement that causes people to abandon him en masse). But that's an actuarial gamble, and if it doesn't happen you've got a split party and a weakened candidate. We're seeing the in Republican party how well challenging the presumptive nominee goes when you're simultaneously not trying to say anything remotely negative about him.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That doesn't really change the fact that he has expressed no interest in running. For whatever reason.

[–] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 3 points 9 months ago

Expressing an interest in running is challenging Biden, they're the same thing.

[–] nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 9 months ago

Dens also spent a ton of money getting him into the senate majority. They’d have to risk doing that again if he left to be president (not that they couldn’t, but it could be pressure against running).

The real problem is that most of the people smart enough to run, are too smart to want to be president.

[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Ossoff would be great. I'd also be up for Jeff Jackson, who has a pretty solid social media following due to his "I'm a newcomer in Washington, here's what it's like" videos.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I don't know why people act like there aren't other options.

Biden himself literally said he could think of 50 other Dems who could beat trump.

[–] Pronell@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

Because they aren't running?

[–] winky9827b@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I will pour my heart, soul and life savings into an AOC for president campaign as soon as she decides she's ready.

[–] harry_balzac@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

I said I'd vote for her as Prez and pretty much all of my coworkers (Trump suckers) nearly had heart attacks.

[–] circuscritic@lemmy.ca 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (10 children)

You realize the DNC went into overdrive to kill the primary this election cycle, right?

Reordering states to favor Biden, keeping candidates off ballots, and some state Democratic parties even effectively cancelled their presidential primary.

Now, if you only consume mainstream media sources, it wouldn't be surprising that you weren't aware, as they have been mostly ignoring it.

[–] ImFresh3x@sh.itjust.works 0 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Biden wasn’t even on the ballot in NH and easily won via write ins. Presidential incumbents who seek the nomination of their win primaries. Without exception. Always. Biden might not be popular, but he’s much much more popular than anyone who even imagined running an opposition.

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[–] hglman@lemmy.ml 4 points 9 months ago

Maybe they could have held a preliminary contest to pick a candidate.

[–] Serinus@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

You'd be moving that advantage to 2028 most likely. It sure would be amazing to get 12 years of democratic presidents.

[–] NataliePortland@lemmy.ca 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I would love to see President Elizabeth Warren

[–] CountVon@sh.itjust.works 12 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I respect Warren a lot, but she's 74 and I'd really like to see a US president who isn't well past retirement age.

[–] NataliePortland@lemmy.ca 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Omg is she really? She doesn’t look that old to me I wouldn’t have guessed. Is she single? What’s her story? Asking for a friend

[–] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 2 points 9 months ago

Would you believe she also doesn't drink caffeine? There are some people who just have unbelievable amounts of energy.

[–] hddsx@lemmy.ca 1 points 9 months ago

Well, Warren is the one person I’d like to see in office right now. I don’t like Biden. I hate that he is running for reelection. I only voted Biden because I would vote a steaming bucket of literally dog poo over Trump.

I really, really hate our two party FPTP system but I realized in 2016 that third party is a waste. I just want someone I’m excited to vote for and not someone I’m voting for because it’s not Trump.

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[–] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Literally anyone under 55 could probably beat Trump.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

Seriously.

People act like a candidate has to be perfect, if oring that Biden has been polling terribly and failed multiple times at becoming president before narrowerly squeaking by trump.

[–] 7u5k3n@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago (7 children)

Yeah it would be really nice if there was a D that folks liked.. I'd love to see a landslide election. But those days are gone I'm afraid.

THO.. has there been a Democrat or Republican in the last.. 50 years that folks really liked?

Maybe Obama... But other than him...idk

[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

Yeah, both parties seem to just be running on "I'm not the other guy" recently, and it's getting old (though admittedly the Republicans have been running on it a lot harder). Obama was the last candidate to be nominated on a platform that tried to make the case for a future.

[–] rambaroo@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

Bill Clinton was popular for a while, which is a shame since he contributed heavily to the deregulated economy we have now

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[–] dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

FPTP needs to go before we can have earnest conversations about how milquetoast a politician Biden is.

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 0 points 9 months ago

Then people who love milquetoast candidates will find a new arbitrary criterion that must be met before we can criticize their candidates.

[–] lennybird@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (10 children)

Who is a likable candidate, with experience but younger, who has name-recognition, can offset incumbent advantage, and not be an easy punching-bag for right-wing propaganda? Maybe Gretchen Whitmer? I don't know.

Unfortunately Democrats don't have great candidates at least for another election cycle or two. They're between two generations with nobody in the Goldilocks zone.

I was concerned a while back that Republicans would rally behind someone like DeSantis or Haley and the age difference alone, let alone being a "fresh face" would be enough to put them over the top. Fortunately, the same match-up goes in our favor right now — especially with the backdrop of (a) the economy, (b) women's rights, and (c) corruption trials (based on independents polling).

It looks like the Senate is going to be much harder to keep than the White House.

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