This is possibly the right answer to the wrong question. Where candidates position their message on the left-dimension is secondary to the "demonstrated competence - incompetence" dimension, because the public is fundamentally not as much ideological as it wants things to just work, and furthermore - ThreadSky

kwcollins.bsky.social • 45 days ago

This is possibly the right answer to the wrong question. Where candidates position their message on the left-dimension is secondary to the "demonstrated competence - incompetence" dimension, because the public is fundamentally not as much ideological as it wants things to just work, and furthermore

Reposted from Semafor

A plurality of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents — 45% — said they want their party to become more moderate, according to Gallup polling conducted following Trump’s inauguration.

Comments

drkath.bsky.social•45 days ago

I think the right wing media-sphere has successfully gotten the MSM to somewhat denigrate “leftists” and “the Squad.” AOC comes up all the time in my rsch and people from left to center love her BUT always add the qualifier “I don’t agree w her on everything.” (no shit, no one agrees 100% w/ a pol.)

kwcollins.bsky.social•45 days ago

Also, in some ways it's unfair to lump AOC in with the Squad. She is a generational political talent, completely separate from her substantive commitments.

drkath.bsky.social•45 days ago

Yeah people really respond to her transparent, procedurally-oriented public comms! (She is a walking External Efficacy machine.) I just find it intriguing that to a person, people need to *qualify* their appreciation of her vis-a-vis "I don't agree w/ her on everything."

kwcollins.bsky.social•45 days ago

Honestly, if that's what people feel they need to say, I'm okay with it

drkath.bsky.social•45 days ago

I haven't had the chance to directly probe it (my RA's do my focus groups b/c I have no poker face) but I'm really curious *what* they think they disagree with her on! Like, name some policies, explain their consequences, and explain your disagreements! (In a non-adversarial manner.)

kwcollins.bsky.social•45 days ago

... both are downstream from the question "how do I get people to pay attention to my message in the first place?". If no one is listening, the substance of the message doesn't matter at all.

kwcollins.bsky.social•45 days ago

"I want government to just work for the people, not the ideologues and not the billionaires raiding the treasury. But step one is to stop them from stealing any more of your shit. Then we can actually focus on the things that matter like lowering costs and access to good schools and healthcare."

kwcollins.bsky.social•45 days ago

To be fair, there are Democrats who have successfully run and won on the "Just make things work" messages that are neither left nor right but centered on competence. I refer you to Gretchen Whitmer who won her 2018 campaign on "Fix the damn roads", as well as

kwcollins.bsky.social•45 days ago

Josh Shapiro whose oversight of the super-rapid repair of I-95 plays no small role in his current popularity in PA

kwcollins.bsky.social•45 days ago

"They're breaking the government so they can steal from it. I want the government to protect taxpayers and consumers instead" is neither a hard, nor complex, message.

It's totally fine not to be talking about the price of eggs right now.

mav.wtf•45 days ago

the thing that eats my soul is that in America schools and healthcare are absolutely leftist - maybe far-leftist - positions. So what's the centrist version of that? We want schools? Or we want *some* schools for *certain* people?

kwcollins.bsky.social•45 days ago

First, it's how you talk about the policies as much as the substance of the policies. Second, there are legitimately policy positions that (for example) I hold to be the best economically and morally correct ones, like increasing legal immigration caps, that I also know from polling are unpopular

annarompage.bsky.social•45 days ago

Also, what about the 55% that embrace policies considered more liberal

Which of those policies do the moderates support

Is this a case of I oppose Obama Care but love the ACA, where people support a generic policy but oppose it once it’s attached to a faction?

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply