Have I been out of the loop on politics?
Wasn’t it the Dems who voted to protect Union Pensions? Republicans voted against it.
Dems voted to extend the child tax credit this year. EVERY Republican voted against it.
And didn’t Kamala Harris run on helping with funding for first time home buyers?
When did the narrative of Dems being against the working class start? Was it just because Bernie said it recently?
Democrats in the past 10 ish years have been absolutely horrendous at marketing, allowing Republicans to take up all of the media talking space, traditional or otherwise. TV, news, podcasts, social media influencers, YouTube, etc. are all generally Republican leaning.
Republicans control the talking points and co-opt anything that the Democrats say. Meanwhile, Democrats are either unable or unwilling to do the same.
Republicans’ control of the media allows them to get away with way more things than the Democrats. It allows them to essentially claim that they’re for the working class while simultaneously working against working class interests, especially when heard by people who don’t generally follow political news. Meanwhile, Democrats get called out for relatively smaller issues, and that makes them seem elitist and uncaring of working class issues.
One major facet of the Democrats being unable to control their marketing is their unwillingness to use populist rhetoric, even though by policy stances they should be (comparatively) more closely associated with populism than the Republicans. I’ve heard several takes on why Harris lost the election and the one that I most agree with is that she failed to use populist rhetoric and was unable to differentiate herself from Biden. People wanted change, and Harris offered the status quo.
Remember that the vast majority of Americans don’t pay attention to politics, and so voter impressions are decided by tone and messaging rather than specific policies
I think it’s a lot easier to spread right wing narratives than left wing. The country itself is inherently right wing.
It may be easier. But that’s not why.
If you avoid politicized language, a large majority of the US is quite left leaning, and economically progressive.
One of the Republicans favorite things to hate is the ACA (Obama Care). But if you ask them about the individual policies in the ACA, they approve of each of them by at least 2/3rds. And nearly all agree that the government should prevent people from being forced into bankruptcy by medical expenses.
Agreed, but I feel like Dems and the media have been saying that for YEARS now. And people just don’t care. It’s easier to get behind a loud brash orange man screaming about migrants taking your jobs than driving deep into healthcare. It’s unfortunate,
The Dems just don’t know how to speak to people like Republicans do. They could do it. But they don’t.
Rather than speaking to peoples pain and anger, they try to lecture and teach. You need to talk to people where they are not where you want them to be.
Bernie does it. That’s why so many Trump supporters like him, when they don’t like the rest of the Dems.