this post was submitted on 30 May 2024
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[–] Tagger@lemmy.world 132 points 5 months ago (5 children)

Yeah, but sometimes that really is enough

[–] Hildegarde@lemmy.world 45 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Not enough for voters who are undecided about whether to vote or not.

Democrats win when turnout is high. It's not enough to be better than the opponent, to win they must beat apathy.

[–] RealFknNito@lemmy.world 36 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The two current candidates are so far apart the people who claim to be undecided are ignorant or stupid, willingly or otherwise. I'd understand riding the fence between Biden and Bernie, even if I've made my choice between them, but between Trump and Biden?

That's the kind of person who is undecided if they want to drive to work or walk down the middle of i-95

[–] Tagger@lemmy.world 12 points 5 months ago

Well I hope that goes the right way for you over there.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

then they should be doing something to make voters want to turn out.

[–] deweydecibel@lemmy.world 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

The only Democrat with the power to do anything at the moment is Biden, and his power is limited.

But he's been doing a lot within that limited power.

And I genuinely don't care whatever some asshole from hexbear with their Lemmy World alt is about to pop in here and reply with, because the fundamental issue is not Biden, it is Congress and the Supreme Court. Congress is absolutely fucked, and that is not Biden's fault, it's the Constitution's fault, and the fault of Red State conservatives that have completely gerrymandered their states to hell, and the Supreme Court that did not stop them. It is not biden's fault at the Supreme Court is now stacked with corrupt conservative justices that will strike down anything he does that they think they can make a case against.

It is very, very convenient to forget that the other two branches exist when you're intent is to make Biden look like he hasn't done anything or committed to his campaign promises.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

i think you are heavily subestimating the power of money here.

[–] danc4498@lemmy.world 20 points 5 months ago

What’s your position?

“Not a fascist dictator that openly wants to kill democracy.”

[–] menemen@lemmy.world 14 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (4 children)

Honestly, no. In Turkey the opposition used that strategy since 2002 and lost every single vote, except the last local elections where they finally decided to do things a little differently (+ the financial crisis). If your only selling point is "not being the other guy" then your whole election campaign is basically an advertising for the other guy.

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 10 points 5 months ago

In Canada at the federal level the Conservatives are on their way to have a majority using this exact tactic, they're voting against anything the government tries to do (even stuff they asked for in the past) and they're promising to make everything better once elected, no one knows how, not even them.

[–] crusa187@lemmy.ml 4 points 5 months ago

Exactly this. It just boils down to manufacturing consent for the other guy’s terrible policies, and results in hopelessness leading to voter apathy. Braindead strategy with 0 concept of leadership.

[–] Zink@programming.dev 1 points 5 months ago

I think it depends on the context and the details.

If your sell is “I’m not Mitt Romney,” that is pretty weak, even if you don’t like Romney.

If your sell is “I’m not Donald Trump,” that is a much more compelling thing to consider. I mean the fucker is on trial for and got impeached for some things that are truly heinous to see from a random schmuck, never mind the freaking President of the US.

[–] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 0 points 5 months ago

It's a losing strategy politically because people are too fucking dumb to vote against someone holding a gun to their head unless someone else is promising them a unicorn, but as a potential voter, it's an exceptionally good reason to get off your ass and actually vote for a candidate who can win.

[–] Trent@lemmy.ml 6 points 5 months ago

This. I've never voted for 'not the other guy', but I will this time. Honestly, the democrats could run Vinny the Wino and I'd vote for him over Trump.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

It's really not if you're a wage earner in 2/3 of US states, where it's still perfectly legal to pay you $7 an hour. Since Idaho got away with criminalizing abortion, 2/3 of the states will soon follow.

Hell, homelessness jumped 12% in 2023 alone. I'm guessing, for those people, "I'm not Trump" isn't going to be as persuasive an argument as you might think.

[–] crusa187@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

What about “the economy is actually doing great Jack!” ?

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

It blows my mind how often people try to argue that someone should be elected on the strength of the economy when said economy isn't doing jack shit for the poor and working class.

[–] Zink@programming.dev 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Unfortunately I don’t think we collectively vote to help the poor and working class in the first place.

[–] crusa187@lemmy.ml 3 points 5 months ago

Wish we had a party who gave a shit in order to vote for this, and that it were a much bigger plank of their platform. It’s a disgrace that anyone is unhoused in the richest nation on Earth.

I can’t even begin to describe how much more I would prefer we do this, than to continue fattening the wallets of boomers who own multiple homes and only live in one of them. We literally don’t invest in building new housing in order to maintain this status quo, and it’s absurd.

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

It's really hard to vote if you don't have a home address, so those unhoused people don't matter in our system.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 0 points 5 months ago

It’s really hard to vote if you don’t have a home address,

And you'd think after 2016 the Democrats might have realized that they need those votes, but they're too busy getting wealthier to care.