We're Not Going To Win If We Keep Saying We're Losing

[Just_Vote_Dem]

You know what? I'm tired of polls.

I'm tired of polls that are not taking account of a political season that hasn't yet truly begun.

I'm tired of polls that are not taking account of January 6 committee public hearings that have not taken place yet.

I'm tired of polls that don't take into account the multiple investigations that are happening right now into 45.

Folks, Republicans/Right Wingers/Conservatives try every day to bring us down, to make us think that it's hopeless, that we're about to lose, and lose big. They're trying to shape our future, in an ugly and hopeless way. DON'T LET THEM.

If we can get out the vote, if we can inspire our base-and grab the independents-and maybe even a few Republicans who still have a shred of morality-we can make the last two years of Joe's first term a real positive step ahead for all of us.

So, take what polls say with a grain of salt right now AND DON'T GIVE UP.

[pwb]

2. I have not heard we are losing anything?

I expect the Blue wave to build. Cable news might say that but that is just cable not news.

[NurseJackie]

4. There are quite a few gloom-and-doomers who post here too.

Keep an open eye, they're easy to spot. (Fortunately, they get well-deserved pushback from more rational and reasonable folks.)

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

14. They seem to be hunting in packs lately.

That's why I suspect many of them are a coordinated attack attempting to demoralize.

[Kingofalldems]

15. Exactly.

[KS Toronado]

30. The blue wave is going to be HUGE!

[live love laugh]

35. Me either. What "we"?

[gab13by13]

3. No doubt that GOTV wins all fair elections,

[FM123]

5. Yep.

It ain't over til it's over.....

[XacerbatedDem]

6. Everyone must get out to vote, not just for midterms, but for democracy.

That's what's on the table these days, don't fool yourself.

[Just_Vote_Dem]

7. Exactly! n/t

[brooklynite]

8. This is a political blog...

Polling is a information gathering technique in politics.

Reporting on polls is something that happens.

You are entitled to give them as much confidence as you choose to.

You are also entitled to decide what to do with the information in them.

[Just_Vote_Dem]

9. Yes, I agree

I'm mostly trying to inspire those who feel that's it's already hopeless. It's not.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

10. Minnesota caucuses were last night; the political season is off and running here.

[Just_Vote_Dem]

12. Thanks

Fingers crossed for a strong Dem candidate.

Candidates, LOL

[uponit7771]

11. Don't assume everyone knows what the problem is, humans don't see what's in front of them a LOT

... of time.s

[Just_Vote_Dem]

13. ain't that the truth n/t

[johnthewoodworker]

16. So tell me, how many Republican/Nazi politicians have started court hearings?

[CrackityJones75]

17. Right?

Way too much doom and gloom

[Ford_Prefect]

18. And the job of the MSM in all this is???????????????

It seems to me they have been challenging each other to find new measures of failure and doubtful future to broadcast in denial of the facts which don't fit that prejudiced narrative.

They do 2 jobs. One is selling groceries, beer, drugs, and the excessive debt life-style as the American Dream. The other is attempting to persuade American viewers that the MSM is telling the important parts of the truth about life in America (and the rest of the world) and who shapes it for them.

Oops... I left out the part about cheerleading our feelings regarding what is good or bad in American politics and culture.

[Fullduplexxx]

19. Ignore the polls and vote like your life depended on it

[Butterflylady]

22. Because it does.

[NoMoreRepugs]

20. Read this disturbing story.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, 54% of Americans ages 16 to 74 now rank below a sixth grade reading level.

Remember - the US doesn’t make the top 15 in Educational performance world wide.

So many morons, so little time.

[getagrip_already]

21. we may not win that way, but that is not why they send out those emails and releases...

They bring in yuuuuge dollars. This is all about fundraising. Winning is almost counter productive. Happy people donate less.

[gab13by13]

23. I ignore polls, but I don't ignore facts.

The facts are damn clear; Republicans are cheating. Marc Elias had 36 law suits filed against their corrupt voter/election laws.

I'm just a peon, so if I say I believe that the GQP is rigging the game so they win, it means nothing, I can be called a doom and gloomer.

I just have one thing to say, when Marc Elias says they are rigging the next election, when Marc Elias says he can't fight them alone, when Marc Elias says that he needs Congress to pass voter protection laws then we had damn well better listen to him.

It is a fact that long time Democratic Rep from Nashville, Jim Cooper, is resigning. Why? Cooper won his election for decades in landslides. Jim Cooper is resigning because the GQP has carved up Nashville in 3 parts and extended those parts out into red districts. Jim Cooper is resigning because he said, he doesn't have a chance to win. Guess what, this is happening all across the country. The GQP in Texas moved Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Greene into the same district, who should we GOTV for, Lee or Greene?

Georgia just purged 60,000 Democrats from the voter rolls, president Biden won Georgia by 12,000 votes.

21 House Democrats are retiring, not a good sign. Call that doom and gloom if you like, I call it truth.

I will walk over coals to vote here in Pa. where a Democrat has no chance to ever win my district, but I can't wait to vote for John Fetterman, Can't wait to vote for Josh Shapiro for governor to vote for other state wide races, for Democratic judges. I will do my part.

We need to have people ready at the polls to stop their cheating, we need to have hot lines set up to report their cheating. We need to do something because Marc Elias is afraid.

[ewagner]

24. MSNBC....

If I see Knoracki with his frickin' white board depicting the demise of the Democratic party I'm going to scream....

actually....

I already have!

[DownriverDem]

25. Not just Cable

is saying it. So is the MSM. They are corp controlled.

[Lucky Luciano]

26. Best to think like a Bayesian and update on incremental information.

Polls are useful for strategizing and trying to improve any outlook instead of going in blind. Head in the sand doesn’t work for me. I agree that the error bars around the polls are wider until the events you say are coming do in fact come. Until then, the polls are our best guess and we need to plan accordingly.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

27. We also won't win just because we say we aren't losing.

I agree that the media as a whole survives based on eyes on screen for ad revenue and that drives sensationalized stories to get people to consume that outlet.

But we also can't just act like we have it in the bag.

[pandr32]

28. This! 100%

[WinstonSmith4740]

29. I encourage those of us who were there...

Remember the off-year election of 1998. We were still slogging through the Lewinsky scandal. Clinton had publicly apologized, but as we all knew at the time, it wasn't good enough for the rethugs and they kept beating that drum. Newt sported his usual shit-eating grin. The House had voted to bring impeachment proceeding less than a month before the election. They were expecting to sweep the election, and see a big increase in their already large leads in both houses of congress. All the pundits said so.

But that isn't what happened. While the Dems didn't change the balance in the Senate, they picked up 5 seats in the House in an election that was supposed to be a huge Republican win. Turnout was really big, because once again, Republicans had over-reached. So they've done this before, but this time is their last, desperate attempt to hold onto power, and they're willing to pull out all the stops.

We've got to stop the hand wringing, and use their tactics against them. We need to make sure we know EXACTLY what the letter of the law is in these bullshit voting laws they're passing, and follow them. Don't know what form of ID you used before? Submit them all...driver's license, birth certificate, marriage license, tax records, whatever. Find them. Go down to city hall to register so you make sure you've got it right. Check before the registration deadline to make sure you haven't been purged. We have billionaires on our side of the political aisle. Why aren't they funding pick-up/transportation services for those that can't drive themselves? We should have voter "confirmation" kiosks set up and manned (just like those insurance & tax services) in every damned business in the country. Remember how Rand Paul defined stealing and election..."Seeding an area heavy with potential Democratic votes with as many absentee ballots as possible, targeting and convincing potential voters to complete them in a legally valid way, and then harvesting and counting the results." To them, the legal act of voting itself is how we "steal" elections from them. The 1998 election had a 51.5% turnout of registered voters. Let's do this again, and make their heads explode.

[KS Toronado]

31. Independents and maybe even a few Republicans

Are the key to winning in the midterms, I see most of them siding with us for the sake of Democracy.

[usonian]

32. GOTV and wedge issues get the job done.

Do what works. The rest is infotainment.

Proclamations of doom and messages of support and positive actions are both self-fulfilling.

I joined DU because it aggregates political news faster than any other source, "social media" be damned. I skip apocalyptic messages in favor of factual, supportive and actionable ones.

Doom filter? Hmmmmmm. Might be a good idea.

Then I switch over to Hacker News (news.ycombinator.com), where it's 99% tech, 95% fluff (IMNSHO ... Maybe 1 article in 20 will interest me) but TBH, I can lower the deflector shields.

In both cases, politics and technology, good ideas are worth sharing, but they take some effort and thought, and are best demonstrated by example.

In a magazine article I saved long ago, Guy Kawasaki said: "Don't Kvetch. Kick Butt".

You can only do one thing well at a time.

Choose wisely.

DKKB!

[Paladin]

33. Tell it to James Carville. (nt)

[Sympthsical]

34. It's just feedback with the purpose of creating content for eyeballs

The amount of ink spilled over every poll ever. Feels like a new one comes out every other day.

It's good to make a note. How are things going? Ok, moving on.

I feel like 50% of cable news content I see involve polls and "What does it all mean?!" and "I need to justify why they're paying me seven figures!"

I can't imagine anyone's learning anything. If there's a poll saying, "70-80% of people think X," yeah, I'll give it a look. but if it's some 55/45 divide, I generally don't care until it's voting time.