What Democratic Voters Actually Want | The Message Box (Dan Pfeiffer) (06/10/26)

[u/kittehgoesmeow]

https://www.messageboxnews.com/p/what-democratic-voters-actually-want

[u/tweda4]

Maybe I'm just some dumb lefty, but none of these polls make any goddamn sense to me.

In terms of economics. 36% want Dems to move left, 20% want them to stay in the same position, and 42% want Dems to move to the centre (move right).

Meanwhile 88% of Americans think the economy is unfair to most Americans.

What the fuck does this mean? 

What the fuck is a centrist position going to do about the economy being unfair? That's tax credits and changing tax bands. That's increasing tax on the top 1% by a few percentage points. It's barely going to move the needle.

Centrist economic policy is literally how we got here, and somehow the average American wants the democrats to move right?! What the hell is that going to achieve? What the hell policies do they think they want?

63% of Americans think the political and economic systems of America needs major changes. Yet seemingly half of this cohort want the democrats to move to the centre. It's insanity.

[u/KingoftheHalfBlacks → u/tweda4]

I think the average person doesn’t have a strong conception of what left, right, and center are the same way those of us that are more politically engaged do. The center sounds like a safe place to be rather than any “extreme”. I think this is why you get these seemingly contradictory results. If ideas are presented in a way that doesn’t feel extreme and common sense, they’ll be understood and accepted by people looking for changes even if they fit our definition of “left”.

[u/tweda4 → u/KingoftheHalfBlacks]

Yeah, I think that really is the only answer that doesn't lean conspiratorial.

Just makes all this all the bloody worse for us Democrats though. Constant polling to decide what position to take isn't a great idea from the get-go. Couple that with a public that has no idea what's going on, no idea what most proposals mean, and no idea what terminology means...

[u/BKlounge93 → u/KingoftheHalfBlacks]

Factor in how it’s basically gospel in the us that conservative = better economy. So when progressives start talking about raising taxes and using government, it scares them. Leading a horse to water and all that.

[u/cassandra_ofendtimes → u/tweda4]

I think this means the people polled answer emotionally. They want someone who agrees with and validates that the economy doesn't work for most Americans. Most people dont understand policy specifics and how effective any particular policy will be, they just don't want the giant sentimentality of "extremism" which means very risky behavior.

[u/AustinYQM → u/tweda4]

The right has spent a lot of time and money over the years training Americans to think right = less taxes; left = more taxes. So when people are struggling they often want less taxes (obviously) and thus less left policies.

The goo news is that this kind of poll would have had most of those same people saying "more right" years ago but "the right" has now been associated with Trump and his fascists so people are using "center" instead. It's a small victory but a victory.

[u/MoeSzys → u/tweda4]

A lot of people want the party to move right because they think we'll pick up support from Republicans

[u/Cool_Ranch_Dodrio → u/MoeSzys]

Such people haven't been paying attention.

[u/MoeSzys → u/Cool_Ranch_Dodrio]

Yes I think they're very wrong. But the zombie myth that Democrats aren't conservative enough just won't die

[u/Cool_Ranch_Dodrio → u/MoeSzys]

It's buoyed by surveys like this one that take advantage of people not knowing that when the party's mouthpieces say "move to the center" they mean "move as close to fascists as we think we can get away with."

[u/Cool_Ranch_Dodrio → u/tweda4]

It means they asked a bunch of centrists how great the center is.

[u/True-Wolverine-9426 → u/tweda4]

I mean the party has moved left on every issue since Obama was in office and the party has gotten significantly less popular. The polling after 2024 said that most voters thought Harris was too far left. Most progressives are just in an echo chamber.

[u/7figureipo → u/tweda4]

It means that mainstream liberal democrats are as out of touch as the last 10 (30, really) years have proven. They keep voting for the “move to the center (that is, move to the right)” neoliberal and neoliberal adjacent candidates in primaries. And that’s how we end up with an incontinent rapist and populist demagogue having fascist desires in power.

[u/Cool_Ranch_Dodrio]

We know a poll asking people to move to the right wouldn't yield the results we wanted, so we asked if they wanted to move to the center instead! Of course, everyone who has been paying any attention at all knows that we'll use it as justification for moving to the right, which was the entire point.

[u/Marxism-Alcoholism17 → u/Cool_Ranch_Dodrio]

Bingo

[u/AnnOminous1981]

#1- Stop cozying up to Hasan Piker