politics
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
view the rest of the comments
yes. incumbents have a lot of staying power in elections just because they are the incumbent. there's also a giant coordinated rightwing media propaganda machine that has been driving hatred into the hearts of vulnerable Americans for the past 60 years telling them to vote R no matter what. even if it hurts them.
Also specifically for Kentucky, Kentucky outside of Louisville and Lexington has had little to no growth and instead has been in decline*. Republicans and centrist Democrats(in the case of who ran against McConnell, Amy McGrath) are the only ones who claim to bring jobs back. A lot of rural Kentuckians felt especially alienated by what many saw as a condescending response from who they saw as the Democratic establishment telling them to "Learn to Code". A lot of Kentucky voting is really about jobs rather than ideological issues, you saw the same with the election of Governor Andy Beshear(a Democrat) where he promised to fund the teacher pension where his incumbent opponent Matt Bevin didn't really promise much in terms of economic opportunity. Back to McConnell, McGrath could've had a chance against him but I think also people saw the notoriety and power McConnell has in the party as him being uniquely positioned to negotiate more for the benefit of Kentucky.
This is a very good appraisal of the situation, however (not that you're wrong), I wish I could ask these people how long they plan to keep reelecting the same person before they stop hoping he will fix their problems and start realizing he's a big part of the reason they're still problems.
Like...c'mon Kentucky. At what point do you go from, "We've had enough of this. Let's vote in Republicans to bring us prosperity!" and eventually get to, "Damn, we've been reelecting these people for how long now? It's been long enough. These problems haven't gone anywhere, so either these people are incapable of solving them or are actively perpetuating them. Either way, time for someone new."
That requires critical thinking, something conservatives are critical of. 😂
I'm from Louisville so I can't speak for the whole state, but my interpretation is that Trump was the first presidential candidate in a long time to mobilize Kentuckians into thinking the issues of the state will be addressed nationally, again McGrath and other Democratic candidates recognized that and didn't directly attacked Trump(IIRC Andy Beshear has also never really said anything against Trump). None of the Trump supporters I know care for McConnell at all(and they likely wouldn't mind McGrath that much) but voted for McConnell as hoping it helps Trump's goals basically, rather than a vote for McConnell.
That doesn't explain the votes for him from 1984-2010
I can't really offer a perspective on that because I wasn't alive for half those years.