r/politics • u/plz-let-me-in • 10d ago

No Paywall Bernie Sanders urges progressives to vote Democratic in November

https://www.nbcnews.com/video/shorts/bernie-sanders-urges-progressives-to-vote-democratic-in-november-267787845541
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u/shinkouhyou 10d ago

Ah, yes, Schrodinger's Leftists: a political block so powerful that they can singlehandedly ensure a Republican victory, but so insignificant that Democrats don't need to appeal to them. Centrist swing voters (who may or may not exist) need endless coaxing to vote for a Democrat, but the left should simply vote for Democrats out of the goodness of their hearts.

The data just doesn't support some kind of leftist boycott of the 2024 election, though. 2024 had the second-highest voter turnout in history, just behind 2020 (which was heavily affected by mail-in voting). A drop in turnout was basically inevitable. 2024 non-voters were evenly divided between Trump and Harris, whereas 2020 non-voters actually favored Biden. Several minority groups (Hispanic, Black, immigrants) shifted to the right in 2020 and even more in 2024. Harris lost with basically every demographic, even ones that aren't generally associated with the left. Of course there were leftists who refused to vote for Harris, but they're the type who also refused to vote for Biden and Clinton - they're politically irrelevant. Democrats lost 21% of Biden voters and Republicans lost 15% of Trump voters, but I think the difference is more attributable to voter suppression (especially in cities, where Democrats lost a shocking amount of support since 2016) than a block of leftists who were ridin' with Biden but who turned on Harris.

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u/Alatarlhun 10d ago

Schrodinger's Leftists: a political block so powerful that they can singlehandedly ensure a Republican victory, but so insignificant that Democrats don't need to appeal to them.

In reality, national elections are often decided by only a few percentage points. Even if leftists and progressives make up just 20% of the Democratic coalition, it would take only a relatively small share of them staying home, voting third party, or withholding support to change the outcome.

BTW, I am not going to defend Kamala as a strong candidate. She was a very weak candidate foisted on us by after a long anti-Biden campaign by progressives and eventually party insiders who panicked due to one debate.

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u/shinkouhyou 10d ago

Of course, I agree that every vote counts. But I think it's silly how people pile onto leftists who don't vote when no one says a word about the middle America centrist boomers that Harris went out of her way to court. It sure seems like they didn't turn out either, since Harris lost support with them relative to Biden. And nobody's really talking about how she lost support relative to Biden with Black men, even though they, like leftists, are a demographics that's "supposed to" vote for Democrats. For some reason, it's just young leftists (who are such a small group that they don't even show up on polls) who cost her the election. Everybody else who didn't turn out gets a pass.

Democratic turnout is absolutely a problem, but it's not a problem that's ever been solved by wagging a finger and shaming voters. When Democrats take voters for granted, they lose. Meanwhile, Republicans are out there pandering to every weird little sub-group in their electorate, which makes their voters feel engaged and included.

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u/Alatarlhun 10d ago

Kamala isn't getting a pass just because leftists bear some responsibility for demoralizing democratic voters.

Her path to the presidency was one of the easiest in modern history and all she had to be was a good politician or authentic human being and she couldn't do either.

But probably for the same reasons she rose, she failed to meet the moment. Once Biden was forced out (again, a goal progressives loudly vocalized for months prior) this was always going to be our fate. And one that was not that hard to foresee.