Why Chasing Lost Democrats Is a Fool’s Errand
Simply put, because that’s not where the votes are. Those voters tend to be older, a pool shrinking faster than the Aral Sea.
Pew Research Center has released a report that found younger generations outvoted Boomers again in 2018, after doing so for the first time in 2016. Those younger voters were also the reason for the 2018 turnout surge.
Millennials and Gen X together cast 21.9 million more votes in 2018 than in 2014. (The number of eligible voter Millennials and Gen Xers grew by 2.5 million over those four years, due to the number of naturalizations exceeding mortality.) And 4.5 million votes were cast by Gen Z voters, all of whom turned 18 since 2014.
By comparison, the number of votes cast by Boomer and older generations increased 3.6 million. Even this modest increase is noteworthy, since the number of eligible voters among these generations fell by 8.8 million between the elections, largely due to higher mortality among these generations.
Democrats have been banking on demography for years now and been disappointed, because they don’t seem to realize that they have to work for those votes. What younger generations prioritize differs a good bit from what their elders prize. If Democratic politicians won’t get with the program, younger voters won’t get off the couch.
People want change — that’s why Trump appealed to just enough disgruntled independents to win, and it’s why Bernie almost won the Democratic nomination despite not even belonging to the party. Trying to sell people craving change a return to the “normalcy” of the Obama era, when the GOP wasn’t running things but still prevented anyone else from doing it either, is not only the work of fools, it’s like peddling space heaters in Dubai.
The downside of chasing moderate voters is that it waters down the brand and drives off actual voters.
The people that STILL don’t get it have some stake in Dems losing.
“…Bernie almost won…”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Results_of_the_2016_Democratic_Party_presidential_primaries
He has a big problem where a lot of Dems live. It will loom larger in the current field of candidates.
The fact is we need everyone voting. EVERYONE!
No, we don’t. We don’t need Republicans voting, for example. And in the primaries, I would particularly like centrist old people to stay home. So pound that shit where the sun don’t shine. The enemy of my enemy is not my friend.
Anyway, this isn’t about Bernie. It was an example. I’m in Warren’s corner. So why don’t you get over it? Personally, I’m glad we aren’t living through a Hillary Clinton presidency, because the Republicans would be even more apeshit than they already are if she were in office.
But if you want to relitigate, feel free to point out to me a closer nominating fight. See how far back you have to go.