2018.

[guillaumeb]

It was not that long ago, even though in Trumpland, a week can often seem like a month. A week? Sometimes a day.

2018 was the warning call for the GOP. And they recognize how important it was, and how important it remains.

After the 2018 election, the GOP faced a choice. They could reject racism, and racists, giving that minority nowhere to go, or they could embrace the racist Trump base. We all know which path they chose.

And knowing that demographics are against them, the GOP, if it is to survive in its present form, must do everything to prevent non-whites, and younger voters, from voting.

The only thing that can defeat us, if we let it, is despair and defeatism.

We can do what we all did in 2018.

Everything the GOP does is based on their fear of the truth, and their fear of an energized electorate.

[CalFione]

1. All 40 red seats that flipped blue in 2018 were won by moderates

The 2018 blue wave was fueled by suburban moderates who swung our direction.


Not a single red seat was flipped blue by a Bernie-style progressive.


We aren’t learning the lessons that 2018 showed us.

[guillaumeb]

2. Energy and enthusiasm are the keys.

2 Illinois red seats were won by progressives.

[blm]

4. Katie Porter is an Elizabeth Warren progressive and she flipped a longtime GOP seat.

[Garrett78]

5. And district races are a different animal than national elections.

A moderate can win a district and a more progressive candidate can win nationally. Those aren't mutually exclusive events. See the link in my other post in this thread. A lot of people misunderstand the electorate and subscribe to myths that get reinforced by peers, anecdotes and members of the media.

[CalFione]

6. I should have clarified.

None of Bernie's "Our Revolution" flipped a seat.

Katie Porter was the most left-leaning of the Dems that flipped seats.


But her seat is in danger if Bernie is at the top of the ticket.

[Garrett78]

3. Apparently there are those who think 2018 was the result of Trump voters switching sides.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1287&pid=531564

There's no evidence of that, of course, but that's never stopped people in this forum. See link above. DU is a land of myths.

[guillaumeb]

7. Some few might have switched.

But the key, in my view, is energizing and reaching out to the non-voters. And if our message reaches the persuadable Trump voters as well, even better.

[Garrett78]

8. Inspire youth and non-voters disenchanted with the status quo. And don't alienate POC.

That has to be the focus.

As I posted in that other thread: "The Moderate Middle is a Myth"

Myths have a way of growing. Many seem to think there's this huge mass of undecided, middle-of-the-road "independents" or swing voters who have some well-defined moderate ideology, and that they'll vote Dem so long as we nominate a moderate. But it's simply not true, as made quite clear at the link above. Self-identified "independents," "swing voters" and "moderates" (and the fraction of people who are all of the above) are all over the map ideologically-speaking. And, as I've posted many times before, the vast majority of "independents" are very partisan but dislike partisanship. They are more likely to always vote for candidates from the same party than the average party-affiliated voter of past decades.

A lot of folks severely misunderstand the electorate, and they haven't accepted that the electorate has changed drastically over the years--the likes of Carville can't accept that their formula is outdated. They've been conditioned to subscribe to a false belief, which is reinforced by peers or anecdote, and by members of the media. It's basically a feedback loop run amok. And they're invested in that belief to the point where it's become part of their identity.

[guillaumeb]

9. I agree, and I agreed with your excellent original post.

Many voters in general might refuse to tell others how they will vote, and how they have voted.

And for the GOP, with its foundation of racism, their base is shrinking, which is why they also speak about abortion, and gun rights, and taxes. It allows their supporters to claim that it is these other issues, and not the racism, that is the reason that they vote for the GOP.

And this fixation with "moderates" tells Wall Street that these political moderates will not threaten Wall Street's hold on the economy.

[Garrett78]

10. Republican-leaning independents vote Republican. Democratic-leaning independents vote Dem.

They vote straight-ticket every time, to an even greater extent than the party-affiliated voters of past decades. The studies on this are clear.

But many people just can't get over the idea that independent is not synonymous with swing voter or undecided voter.

Our efforts would be much better spent inspiring young people, doing outreach to non-voters, advocating for labor and worker cooperatives, not taking POC for granted, and beating back the propaganda that tries to claim that very popular policy positions are unpopular. The propaganda is effective because it's relentless, not because it's accurate.

[guillaumeb]

11. Agreed on this.

Propaganda is similar to advertising, and both work because of repetition.