• inv3r510n@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    edit-2
    5 days ago

    Obama also competed against a deep field of qualified candidates in 2008. He went into the general with momentum of a popular mandate and then won in a landslide.

    He would of done nearly as good if he was a white man.

    On the flip side, when the republicans lost with Romney in 2012 they did a whole lot of soul searching (rather than blaming the electorate and moving closer to the center to court mythical ‘moderates’ which is the ongoing failed strategy of the democrats), and in 2016 they had an extremely competitive primary where trump came out on top with a mandate as popular with the base as Obama in 2008.

    • someguy3@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      5 days ago

      rather than … moving closer to the center to court mythical ‘moderate

      Looking back at 2016 I think Trump won exactly because he went for the middle: middle working class. I know we all thought he was going hard right (and he did appeal to them for certain reasons), but he campaigned to the middle class and won them.

        • someguy3@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          4 days ago

          Do you meant that’s not the middle?

          Trump ran on right policy (and "policy) both elections and won

          That’s what I thought for a long time. But when I look back at 2016 and I look at this one, I think he appealed to the center voter with promises of jobs and income. They liked that so much they keep saying/thinking/hoping that Trump won’t do all the nutso right wing stuff he says he will. Go listen to voter interviews, they all say “nah he won’t do mass deportation, it’s all bluster.”, or “He only means the criminals.” It’s unreal but that’s what they think.

          • daltotron@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            4 days ago

            that’s more accurate, yeah. definitely in 2016 he ran as a moderate, and with this more recent campaign, it’s not so much that he ran a great campaign (lost 2 million voters), but more that I think he just had enough raw momentum and low information, working class voters wanted to manifest him into being the “make the economy good” guy, that they really didn’t give a shit about whatever he was doing up in the news cycle. At the most, they can just dismiss that as something he’s saying to get elected because “he’s smart”, or something he’s doing to make the democrats mad, which is funny. beyond that, it doesn’t matter so much for them what his specific platform is.

          • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            4 days ago

            Do you meant that’s not the middle?

            Oh yeah.

            That’s what I thought for a long time. But when I look back at 2016 and I look at this one, I think he appealed to the center voter with promises of jobs and income.

            I mean everyone, no matter their political views, cares about jobs and income. Being left or right wing is more about the way you believe that should be achieved (and how much you hate minorities). Trump didn’t appeal to center voters with promises of jobs and income; he appealed to right wing voters with their version of jobs and income and other policies right wing voters support. Obama promised left wing voters their version of jobs and income. Hillary and Harris promised nobody’s version of jobs and income.

            • someguy3@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              4 days ago

              You know there is this big fat juicy, undecided, independent, center, whatever you want to call it, group that yes Trump did appeal to. You say, right wing version, left wing version, well those are eclipsed by the humongous center of the bell curve.

              I don’t think we’re going to agree. I say center, you say right, I say center, you say right.

    • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      5 days ago

      Primaries also benefit from the same effect that makes every movie and TV show a reboot: Name recognition. The long primary cycle keeps their name in the news so people get familiar with it so they’re more likely to vote for them.