That one of the problems our party has is that our message is more or less shaped by Twitter and TikTok activists. I've seen more than a few times this cycle where politicians were like, "I never campaigned saying I support X" - and they didn't. But the online slacktivist brigade repeated X so often in so many places - including in the MSM - that voters just kind of assumed that's what the candidates supported.
There has to be some way for the Democratic Party to wrest away the bullhorn from the terminally online who are very, very far away from what voters want or are willing to put up with.
The least controversial issue in this regard I can think of is LatinX. Everywhere you looked, activists online (mostly white, btw) used that term. It started seeping into the media. And the Latino community hated it. The politicians who were foolish enough to use it backed off immediately once it became evident it was counterproductive.
But it was just nonstop LatinX LatinX LatinX disseminated all over the place to where voters were seeing it often.
And even candidates who weren't using the term got hit by the blowback.
As you said, if it shows up on Libs of TikTok, take heed. Because while they are horrible people, they also have a keen sense for what's going to piss people off. Every time some teacher shows up there and brags about what they're going to teach their students about some controversial issue whether parents like it or not, I keep saying, "Shutupshutupshutup, juststoptalkingnow, youarenothelping, pleasestoptalkingnow"
We get plastered with that shit all the time. The people who live on social media all day are not the typical voter. And we need to stop making that mistake, which I think has been a big one in recent years.
What plays well to the terminally online settles much, much differently with the average voter. And this is an issue, whether people recognize it or not.
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