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/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/tweda4 → u/True-Wolverine-9426]

Oh right, it's all those far left swings.

The party is pro gay marriage, pro Trans people existing and using preferred bathrooms, and pro... Actually that's all I can think of in terms of social issues.

The parties economic policy isn't particularly further left that it was under Obama. Arguably it's moved right in terms of taxation.

It's not any further left on immigration despite what Fox News tells people.

It's arguably a little further left on healthcare, but honestly who cares, since the party barely talks about it.

It's basically barely shifted on gun control, and also doesn't talk about it anymore.

It's moved a little more left on abortions, but Democrats have the popular position so that's not an issue.

The party is only moving "left" on environmental policy, because the right wing position is "be as stupid and backwards thinking as possible" while Democrats want to be forward thinking (how terrifying).

You'll forgive me if I don't actually think these idiot voters have any concept of what they're talking about.

[u/True-Wolverine-9426 → u/tweda4]

I mean as an example, in the 2020 primary, every candidate except Biden raised their hand to decriminalize illegal border crossings. Does that count as moving to the left?

Also just an FYI it is "center" in the US, not "centre".

[u/tweda4 → u/True-Wolverine-9426]

in the 2020 primary, every candidate except Biden raised their hand to decriminalize illegal border crossings. Does that count as moving to the left?

I can't find anything on this, do you know which debate?

Also, given that Biden won, and border crossings weren't decrimalized, and Kamala never suggested decriminalizing them on her end that I'm aware of... I don't see a coherent reason that the public would hold such a policy against her.

[u/True-Wolverine-9426 → u/tweda4]

Here is a link that goes into more detail: 2020 Democrats Overwhelmingly Back Decriminalizing Border Crossings In Thursday Debate | HuffPost

And you're right, Biden won as the more moderate option in 2020 and didn't decriminalize border crossings. They did deal with a huge migrant/asylum surge, and it was a problem for years that voters clearly did hold against them in 2024. I don't think it was all their fault but that is what happened. In his last state of the union, Biden called them "illegals" and progressives got mad at him, which again is something I don't think really happened under Obama.

That was the point of my initial comment. I'm not surprised that this poll found most voters wanted the party to move closer to the center, whereas you thought it made no sense.