I’m guessing it’s about saliency and reminding people about this guy and what he’s done and is promising to do.
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I’m assuming that to get at him it would be worth turning Trumps negatives into a positive. E.g. Harris making the point that she will support reproductive rights, contraception, IVF etc.
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The pushing of Trump’s behavior by the Harris campaign has nothing to do with influencing likely Trump voters - its targetted at motivating the Democratic base and pursuading the centre/anti-Trump right that they have to actively vote against him, not just avoid voting for him.
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The problem I have with this is that giving people something to vote against simply doesn’t work nearly as well as giving them something to vote for.
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Last election in the UK could suggest otherwise.
Not sure if that applies in the US with the oddities of the election system there.
That said I get the impression that the Democrats have held onto this until now. It has a tactical feel to it imo.
https://x.com/KamalaHQ/status/1849287830398194047
https://x.com/KamalaHQ/status/1849289221057474855
https://x.com/Acyn/status/1849289866691105230
From reading the comments…
so 3 of the 5 said they would vote for Harris, while the other 2 were stuck on policy disagreements. One of them said she now adored Harris personally immensely but disagreed on tax policy, while the other 1 said he highly respected Harris but he was too staunchly pro-life.
Sometimes just sticking to politics isn´t helpful as well.
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I would argue that runs against about the last 30 years of American politics.
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Yeah but that was an incredibly unpopular government at the tail end of what was seen as 14 years of incumbency. If anything it would work against the Democrats here since they’re the incumbents.
To motivate their base? In an election when they’re the incumbents, and the horrendous alternative has faded out in saliency?
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American politics is outrageously negative, and it is so because over and over again negative framing is what is more likely to get a response from the voters here.
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Since the days of Lee Atwater, the Republican playbook has been at its heart running against an idea of what the Democrats are that they work to make stick. Substantive policy hasn’t really been much of a feature since the Reagan era, with a few exceptions here and there.
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I hope you and @Limiescouse are correct, but I wonder if it would work differently for the Democrats.
I agree with you but Harris’ campaign has seemed to prioritize earning anti-Trump Republicans. I don’t like it but to win them I don’t think discussing policy is the best idea - as they likely hate her policies.
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That is a legitimate question to raise because the two truly successful Democratic candidates of the era, Clinton and Obama, did manage to articulate a vision that created a winning coalition.
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I’m going to vote today. Taking my lad to vote with me too. It’s his first time and he is excited to do it. He’s 18 and a senior at high school, and well informed.
For all the nit-picking about what the Harris campaign might or might not be doing, let’s remember two things:
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Before she entered the fray the Dems were dead in the water. They were trailing badly, and sleep walking to certain defeat. She came in and energized the whole thing to the point where - however you interpret the polls - it is a very close race and they now have a decent chance. (My best guess is a narrow Harris victory that will be litigated by Trump, and possibly - though hopefully not - snatched away by a Trump-friendly Supreme Court).
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There’s no commensurate scrutiny on how Trump is running his campaign - avoiding the fair fight of another debate and the direct comparison that voters can make as they go toe-to-toe (he’s a coward). He continues to lie and spout bizarre things. And we have heard grave warnings about re-electing him from highly qualified people who worked for him before. That alone should be enough to sink him.
Arguably just as the Dems were sleep-walking to certain defeat under Biden, before a change was made; the country is now walking to certain authoritarianism/fascism under Trump unless he is rejected too. It is concerning.
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There’s only one thing for each voter to remember: if you don’t vote for Harris, both the world (not just the USA) and the entire concept of democracy are fucked.
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The Senate does not look like it’s in a good situation for Democrats either. It’s worrying to think that in a few weeks time, there might just be a Republican trifecta.
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Isn’t it already so regardless of the elections, according to the Gospel of Cynnie?
It’s a very clear vote for me. Harris all day long.
I see all the dangers of Trump, but the concerning thing is that about half the electorate here either want to embrace it because they want him to do everything he has said, or a portion of that half downplay what he says, shrugging their shoulders and saying “What’s he like?”
It will be close, and that in itself is alarming.
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And they’re so poorly educated that they don’t understand that he can’t do everything he has said.
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