What did Democrats do wrong?

[Trausti]

Here's a Trump voter who bafflingly thinks ICE doesn't deport illegals convicted of sex crimes, so they voted for an anti-vaxxer to be put in charge of public health. If only Democrats had calibrated their messaging on inflation, perhaps they could have gotten this vote.

So the democrats didn't vote to protect illegals convicted of sex crimes?

 

[Trausti]

The joy is gone.

DNC layoffs with no severance leave staffers scrambling, union says

 

[johnny karate]

So the democrats didn't vote to protect illegals convicted of sex crimes?

Here’s a Trump voter who baffling thinks Democrats voted to put protections in place for illegals convicted of sex crimes, so they voted for an anti-vaxxer to be put in charge of public health. Clearly, this is the fault of Democrats for being mean.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

Fundamentally, what Democrats did wrong was not spend the last four years trying to Dictator Proof the US by massively divesting power from the President and putting in more checks and balances.

 

[Donal]

Wait, did you vote for the party the refuses to deport illegals convicted of sex crimes?

158 House Democrats vote against deporting sex offenders

So, you want to set sex offenders free rather than have them in jail? Well, you are thrileld about the one going into the White House. Again.

 

[Donal]

Fundamentally, what Democrats did wrong was not spend the last four years trying to Dictator Proof the US by massively divesting power from the President and putting in more checks and balances.

It's a Catch 22. the only way to get their agenda passed is to use the very power Republicans put in to accelerate their Unified Executive cult.

 

[d4m10n]

These people voted to undermine public health and put all our lives in danger. Whether they voted for that specifically or just simply didn't care enough to not vote for it doesn't matter.

Of course it matters, if we are trying to figure how out Democrats could appeal to swing voters. You keep trying to paint everyone with the broadest of brushes but there are significant differences between the fully subscribed MAGA faithful (who are mostly unreachable) and the millions of Biden-Trump voters who are not fully committed to the incoming regime but were dissatisfied with recent trends in inflation and immigration.

 

[Donal]

We don't need them to be born again as enlightened liberals,

I didn't say we did. But let's not rpetend they were acting in rational self interest or any other Ayn "welfare queen" Randian nonsense.

we need them to vote against the GOP next time around.

So maybe, stop running as a diet version of the GOP.

The data aren't in for 2024 yet, but swing voters were probably determinative in previous cycles.

In 2020, there were even fewer swing voters than in 2016. However, it appears that swing voters favored Joe Biden over Donald Trump by about a two-to-one margin. Moreover, exit poll data confirm that swing voters tilted toward Biden in several key swing states. In Georgia, 6% of 2016 Trump voters switched to Biden while only 3% of 2016 Clinton voters switched to Trump. In Pennsylvania, 7% of 2016 Trump voters switched to Biden while only 4% of 2016 Clinton voters switched to Trump. Finally, in both Michigan and Wisconsin, 6% of 2016 Trump voters switched to Biden while only 4% of 2016 Clinton voters switched to Trump.[2] These differences seem small, but given the closeness of the 2020 presidential election in all of these states, they might have been large enough to shift their electoral votes from Trump to Biden and that would have been enough to change the outcome of the election in the Electoral College.​

Democrat Party strategists cannot afford to write off swing voters who've ever voted for Trump as stupid and/or uneducable, as has been suggested upthread. Those sentiments may feel good when licking your wounds from an electoral drubbing, but giving in to that sort of thinking will make the next drubbing even worse.

They can't keep running to the right and pretending this ◊◊◊◊ is normal. What is the point if they're doing that?

 

[3point14]

You keep framing this like we're talking about tax policy. These people voted to undermine public health and put all our lives in danger. Whether they voted for that specifically or just simply didn't care enough to not vote for it doesn't matter.

I think they were so woefully uninformed that they didn't know what they were voting for or against.

Propaganda wins elections.

 

[d4m10n]

So maybe, stop running as a diet version of the GOP.

Finally we've come around to an answer to the OP: What the Democrats did wrong was to run towards the center during the general election and govern as centrists during the Biden administration. It would have been useful to have these as options in the OP.

 

[johnny karate]

Of course it matters, if we are trying to figure how out Democrats could appeal to swing voters. You keep trying to paint everyone with the broadest of brushes but there are significant differences between the fully subscribed MAGA faithful (who are mostly unreachable) and the millions of Biden-Trump voters who are not fully committed to the incoming regime but were dissatisfied with recent trends in inflation and immigration.

The swing voters bought into the same lies and propaganda as the MAGA faithful. They may not make it their identity like the MAGA faithful but they were clearly influenced by it.

There is no rational pathway from “I have concerns about inflation and immigration” (most likely fueled by right wing propaganda) to “I’m going to vote for the ‘They’re eating the pets’ guy who’s going to put an anti-vaxxer in charge of public health”.

For some reason, you want to pretend that these people made a rational choice and are therefore open to rational counter messaging.

 

[Ziggurat]

So, you want to set sex offenders free rather than have them in jail?

That's... not how it works. The bill in question would not deport anyone in place of putting them in prison. What it would do is make them automatically deportable after they serve any prison sentence or not admit them into the country in the first place if they have a past conviction, even if they have already served their time.

 

[Ziggurat]

Of course it matters, if we are trying to figure how out Democrats could appeal to swing voters.

He doesn't want to appeal to swing voters. He wants to feel like he's right. That feeling is more important than actual success. Don't try to take that away from him.

 

[Donal]

That's... not how it works. The bill in question would not deport anyone in place of putting them in prison. What it would do is make them automatically deportable after they serve any prison sentence or not admit them into the country in the first place if they have a past conviction, even if they have already served their time.

oh, so continue to punish them for a crime they already served their time? Can we do that to citizens too?

 

[theprestige]

So, you want to set sex offenders free rather than have them in jail? Well, you are thrileld about the one going into the White House. Again.

Presumably you agree that jailing convicted sex offenders, and deporting them if they are in the country illegally once their sentence is served, is a good thing. You'd support such an immigration policy, yes?

And you'd support a policy that detained illegal immigrants until they could be deported?

 

[johnny karate]

He doesn't want to appeal to swing voters. He wants to feel like he's right. That feeling is more important than actual success. Don't try to take that away from him.

First of all, it’s hilarious that we keep coming back to this idea that it’s up to any of us to appeal to the electorate. Pretty sure none of us are working for the DNC.

Secondly, I don’t see you - or anyone - actually refuting the points I’m making.

 

[johnny karate]

Presumably you agree that jailing convicted sex offenders, and deporting them if they are in the country illegally once their sentence is served, is a good thing. You'd support such an immigration policy, yes?

And you'd support a policy that detained illegal immigrants until they could be deported?

A) We already have a program in place for this. Deporting illegal immigrants who commit crimes is already a thing, so I’m not sure why we’re talking about it in the abstract, other than to carry water for a fellow right winger who lied about it.

B) We’re veering off-topic.

 

[Donal]

Presumably you agree that jailing convicted sex offenders, and deporting them if they are in the country illegally once their sentence is served, is a good thing. You'd support such an immigration policy, yes?

And you'd support a policy that detained illegal immigrants until they could be deported?

I support well thought legislation that tries to button down as many grey areas as possible and is based i nfact and reason and tempered with compassion rather than a reactive bills written i nthe ehat of really big feelings.

So basically, nothing republicans can cobble together.

 

[Ziggurat]

oh, so continue to punish them for a crime they already served their time?

Deportation isn't really a punishment because illegal aliens do not have any right to be in the US.

Can we do that to citizens too?

Obviously not, because citizens have a right to be in the US. Your confusion on these issues is concerning.

 

[theprestige]

A) We already have a program in place for this. Deporting illegal immigrants who commit crimes is already a thing, so I’m not sure why we’re talking about it in the abstract, other than to carry water for a fellow right winger who lied about it.

It's not clear to me that you approve of the thing.

Also, it's not clear to me that you approve of deporting illegal immigrants for the crime of entering or remaining in the country illegally.

B) We’re veering off-topic.

I mean, giving the impression that they're against basic immigration enforcement seems to be perhaps one of the things Democrats have been doing wrong. Even now you're hedging.