this post was submitted on 29 Feb 2024
333 points (93.9% liked)

politics

18894 readers
3486 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive.
  5. 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.
  6. 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

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Fades@lemmy.world 50 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (4 children)

hmmm, should i vote for an old guy who believes in democracy or should I vote for a useful idiot to the russians who hates minorites whether it be gender or sexual preference and whatnot and would hand ukraine over to putin in a silver platter, undermine nato any way possible for daddy putin and also crown himself king and end all further elections while imprisoning his enemies and all the other things he lied about and said were being done to him.....

damn, I can't really figure it out! I can't stop WaVeRiNg!!!!!!!

GODDAMN MORONS ARE GOING TO KILL US ALL, JESUS CHRIST

[–] kava@lemmy.world 12 points 6 months ago (2 children)

this isn't working anymore. people are getting numb to the "boogeyman" technique

dems have to offer something people want, otherwise the right is going to take over

and i think it's too late by now

[–] blazeknave@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Boogymen aren't real. This is not that. And the Left never had that. Right wing terrorism boogymen fund wars.

[–] kava@lemmy.world 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

whatever you wanna call it, it's not going to work this year. look at the polls. hispanics & blacks are voting for Trump in larger numbers. 5/6 battleground states that Biden won last time he is losing

[–] HipHoboHarold@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I think it's less that they're voting for Trump more, and just that they're voting for Biden less.

[–] kava@lemmy.world 0 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

it's a bit of both. in 2016 around 24% of hispanics said they were gonna vote for trump. 2020 that number was 36%. in this election, we're seeing around 48%

the numbers for black people have also increased, although at lower rates.

then you have a lot of disillusioned democrats who won't vote for Trump - but also aren't going to turn out for Biden

the issue is that he won a lot of battleground states with small margins, so small changes will make or break him there. for example in michigan. the 100k or so people who voted "uncommitted" in the Democratic primary is enough to swing the state.

it's looking grim for democrats right now. i think their only chance is if they manage to get Trump in jail or he has a stroke or something. which are in the realm of possibility

[–] HipHoboHarold@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, at this point I think that's the big thing I'm looking at. Getting rid of Trump. I know who ever is next will also still be the right wing authoritarian the party wants, but they won't have the cult following. They're not a religious leader. It's at least something.

But either way, as a gay man, me and my boyfriend are thinking we might get out if the Republicans do win. He's on his last semester of nursing school. I have an associates in accounting, which isn't much, but I can hopefully still have some leverage with it.

[–] kava@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

yeah it's sad that the country has come to this. if it's any consolation, i think a lot of the countries around the world are shifting to the right. it seems like we're repeating the 1930s step by step.

my advice is to go to south america. in the event of a nuclear war, i think Brazil/Argentina will be safest :P

argentina's also shifted far right with their new president, but the president of brazil is from the labor party

[–] iquanyin@lemmy.world 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

a boogeyman is something fake used to scare people into doing what you want. trump is a real threat. the country got noticeably, objectively worse, our supreme court is now corrupt for decades to come, he defanged the epa and if he gets in again, goodby climate work, hello actually dictator. he’s directly said he will be one “for a day” lol. it’s not a boogeyman if the danger is real.

[–] Dagrothus@reddthat.com 4 points 6 months ago

It is a very real threat that also happens to be a very good thing for the dems. Liberal media coverage is almost entirely about trump and crazy right wingers. Their existence means that dems dont have to do anything to actually help Americans and can stick with the status quo for the next god knows how many more "most important elections of our lifetimes". We cant just be okay with settling anymore.

[–] aphlamingphoenix@lemm.ee 12 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I understand the wavering. I voted uncommitted in my primary because Biden will win that without my help and it's a small way of officially filing my disappointment. But if (let's be honest, when) I get my presidential ballot and I have a choice between Trump and Biden and probably some third party, I'll hold my nose and cast a vote for Biden. As much as I hate it, it's not even a question.

[–] Crisps@lemmy.world -1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

It depends where you live. If you are in a deep red state, it doesn’t matter. If we went blue enough for my vote to swing the state, Biden has already won anyway. I feel safe voting 3rd party and not giving him a symbolic popular vote.

With no electoral college, down ballot matters. Vote blue on those!

Make sure you vote though!

[–] aphlamingphoenix@lemm.ee 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

No doubt I'll be voting. My state has turned from red to purple to blue pretty consistently over the past decade or two, so I do feel pretty safe that Biden will swing the electoral college here. Down ballot does matter, and I'll be doing my research on the more local matters before casting my ballot. The ballot I just filed was for the Democratic primary, and there were no other items to vote on. My city passed ranked choice voting for city level elections, and this year I believe will be the first election where we get to use that system. I'm excited to see how it goes and if that will be used to swing our local politics harder to the left.

[–] petrol_sniff_king@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I'm excited to see how it goes and if that will be used to swing our local politics harder to the left.

Oh, I hope so.

My one worry about ranked choice is that it'll be only marginally better, and the, er, mathematical quirks of it will freak people out about voting reform.

There was a story I half remember about Republicans giving the popular vote in a ranked choice to two of their candidates (a vote split, huge problem with fptp) and accidentally letting in a Democrat or something. It was the thing that made me realize I actually wanted STAR.

Doesn't Australia have ranked choice? They probably like it, right?

[–] LotrOrc@lemmy.world 11 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Maybe instead of always forcing us to vote for the lesser of two evils, the democrats should take a second, listen to their base, and actually run someone competent.

Because right now, there is zero difference between how the republicans would handle this genocide and how the democrats are handling it. Both parties are in the pockets of oil companies and billionaires, and don't want a change to the status quo.

Yes voting democrat is marginally better, but it's not as vast a chasm as people like to make out. The system itself is broken - fucking around in the system isn't going to fix it. It needs to be smashed and then rebuilt back up

[–] dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Because the Democrats are capitalists, and what's good for the gander isn't necessarily good for the goose, to flip the old cliche on its head. They know how to make things happen during an election year, and the other 3 years are spent enriching federal contractors. But again, unless people are prepared to have the revolution today, Biden is the only vote.

[–] Jimmyeatsausage@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

And that would be a powerful argument if the power of the presidency extended only to Gaza. Let's keep doing what Michigan did and show our anger in the primaries. Worst case, they ignore it. In the best case, they get scared and listen.

EITHER WAY, when it's down to Trump v Biden, remember those who don't have the luxury to "watch the world burn for 4 more years." Even if you concede that Biden is objectively as bad at handling Gaza as Trump would be (I truly believe Trump will be miles worse), there are so many more lives on the line.

[–] LotrOrc@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

I've voted in every election that's taken place since I was old enough to. When it comes down to it, I'd still vote for biden, because I agree, having the democratic party in charge is way better than having the republicans in charge.

However, that also gives me pause. Because you shouldn't be able to run on "hey I'm not as shitty as the other guy"

That's what I hate about the two party system. Democrats by and large are not progressives. They prop up the current system just as much as anyone else. There needs to be an actual progressive party, and massive caps/bans on lobbying

[–] vikingqueef@lemmy.world 10 points 6 months ago

Joe Biden had a disapproval rating of 55% before Oct 7th. He wasn't doing well before Israel's retaliation and he is doing worse now. I don't think its really all the fault of progressives protesting in a primary.

https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-BIDEN/POLL/nmopagnqapa/