Why Liberals Matter In Purple States [View all]

[Exilednight]

I currently live in Virginia, a state that has switched sides from Bush in 2004 to Obama in 2008. Virginia is what is commonly called a "purple" state; but is it really a place of centrist belief?

Short answer: No.

Long answer:
Virginia is a very divided state in terms of political dogma on both the left and the right. No one claims to be a Republican or a Democrat. Instead we label ourselves as liberal or conservative. I have a tea party neighbor whom I barely speak to because we disagree on every position possible. He's pro gun, anti abortion, pro military spending, anti marijuana, pro surveillance, anti Muslim, and pro America is founded Christian.

IF Hillary wants to win a general election, she needs to understand that third way and triangulation centrist policy doesn't work in a state like Virginia. A President, no matter what party, will piss off at least half the population in a state like Virginia; if not more. A centrist policy will piss off even more than half the population in this state. Those that vote Democratic Party will not vote for a centrist, third way, triangulating nominee in the GE. The left in this purple state are what some will call the "loud left" or a handful of other terms that paint us as fringe in our beliefs, but we are the ones who decide general elections, not the middle. Discussions within my group of friends have shown that nearly a 1/3 of what should be the Democratic base will not vote for her and either vote third party or skip the presidential race altogether.

This is not good news for Hillary. Her favorabity has already begun to slide. Yes, she might be sitting high in the polls now, but at this same time in 2008 she was 30 points ahead of Obama and her favorability rating had not begun to slide into what ultatimately went an upside down rating with her unfavorable rating higher than her favorable.

I do believe she can, and probably will, win the Democratic primary, she will more than likely lose in a general election if she refuses to acknowledge and begin fighting, with more than words, for us who are proud liberals.

People need to remember that just because a state can switch sides in an election, it's not because we have centrist positions, it's typically because we are deeply held beliefs in deeply divided states.