Tag: #elections

  • The GOP is Afraid of Their Base

    Yesterday, Reuters/Ipsos released a national opinion survey that found 79% of Americans believe that Biden won the election, with 13% saying the election hadn’t been decided, 5% said they did not know who had won, while 3% said Trump had won. (Remember, more people didn’t know who won, than believe that Trump won. Just, think about that for a second.) In detail, six in ten Republicans surveyed believe Biden won, as compared to all Democrats who believed Biden won. (There is some more interesting information if you want to read more here.)

    It’s pretty clear that most Americans see the election as being over, and Biden won. I even feel that this survey also confirms my belief, which I wrote about yesterday, that 70 million Trump voters are not all hardcore Trumpers. (Here’s my blog if you need a refresher.)

    So, what gives with all the National Republican/Conservatives sticking up for Trump’s election fraud lies? (If you made it this far, then you know the answer, as you must have read the title of this blog.)

    The GOP is still afraid of their base, which is only getting whiter, more conservative, smaller, and this might be the last election where they could possibly win without having to change their ideology. America is getting more diverse, progressive, and people are moving from strong Democrat states (California, and Illinois) into deep Red states; Texas, Georgia, Virginia, and North Carolina. If the GOP base is still hardcore loyal to Trump, (that 3% from the Reuters poll, remember) and if that group makes up of 51%+ of the voters who take part in primaries, then don’t make them angry! Republicans have had 10 years of being primaried, and they have learned their lesson if they want to stay in power within their party. Sadly, this situation has killed off all of the Republican moderates, but I’m not the first to point that out.

    The worst part about all of this is that the National Republican/Conservative leaders are playing a very dangerous game with the integrity of all elections in the future. The longer they support or stay silent about false claims of stolen ballots from Trump, they will be giving more oxygen to it, the harder it will be to walk it back.

  • 70 Million Trump Voters; Not a Monolith

    This seems to be a big talking point in the news and online right now; Biden got 75 million votes, the most ever for a winning candidate, but Trump got 70 million votes, the most ever for a Republican. The context seems to be that Biden’s 75 million are a fractured group that will come apart at any moment, while Trump’s 70 million are solid as a rock.

    I have to disagree, with that take.

    What I am reminded of is a research study that was part of our curriculum in a Sociology class I took in college. The study was over punk rocker membership and social strata, and how that reflects on society as a whole. Follow me on this…

    In the punk rock world, at the center were the hardest of the hard-punk rockers. These people dressed punk 24/7, lived it, and worked in it. Punk rock was their identity, and nothing could shake them from it, and though hard core and the most visible, it was a small group. Then around them was a larger ring with more people, but they were not as hard core, listened to the music and adopted the ideology, but also might have had a job and paid bills. Then outside of that ring was a larger group, who liked the music, and maybe had tattoos, but worked normal jobs, and dress punk out of work and on the weekends. (I think you get the point.) Finally, after several rings, you get the final group that likes the music, but does not have anything else to do with the punk scene, but those people do consider themselves to be “punk” on some level.

    This is how I see Trump’s voters. Trump’s people want us to believe that all 70 million voters are the tight hardcore at the center, but to be honest that’s the smallest group. The majority of Trump voters make up those final two “soft” outer rings. They consider themselves to be Republicans/Conservatives, but aren’t Trump people. Now, if you give these two rings the binary choice of Republican or Democrat, they will always side with Republican because that what they consider themselves, but again, they aren’t live or die Trump people. They are the people that are sad that Trump lost, but they don’t see it as a conspiracy.

    My point; relax everybody. It’s not as dire as everyone thinks.

  • The Debate Happened: Yet Another Take

    I was all amped up for a dumpster fire of a shit show last night, but what I got was Trump trying to act like a grown up, and it was boring. Sure there were a few weird moments, espically the “I’m the least racist person you will ever meet,” moment. Like I joked last night, whenever a person uses that phrase, they are actually the most racist person you will ever meet.

    As is the game the next morning, we all ask, who won the debate?

    Well, I have to go with Biden, and to be honest, Biden wasn’t that good. He was playing not to lose, instead of trying to get a win. I can’t blame the guy, I would do the same thing if I was in his shoes.

    As for Trump, his “Bull in a China Shop” schtick from last time caused him to be pinned in and constrained due to the rule change. Hopefully this will be the last debate with the Trump Rule will be used; the mute button. Trump was forced to behave, which gave Biden the advantage because it turned into a real debate, or at least a half-assed policy discussion. In that situation, Trump is pretty boring.

    In the end, each camp will claim their guy won, so no real surprise at reading the news today.

    Will this debate cause people to change their minds? I doubt it. Most people are already locked in to who they support. I just hope people vote.

    What I would really like to see is a 64% voter turn out for this election. That would be the highest turn out in 100 years. That to me would say people are taking this serious.

  • The Vote

    Is anyone out there voting?

    I will be, and I hope more people out there do as well. I also hope that this becomes a habit, and that we start getting to a level, let’s say 80%-90% of the voting age public starts to show up.

    But what can we do to change things? I don’t care about the cause, I just want to make things better.

    First of all, let’s change Election day to a weekend. Two days of voting when just about everyone will have access. Or, make Election Day a national holiday that everyone gets off.

    Next, why don’t we make voter registration automatic when you turn 18? Or, treat it like the selective service act, and make it the law that everyone has to register to vote. I could even see that there would be an option to opt out, because I am sure there will be people out there that just don’t want to vote no matter what.

    What if we encouraged parents to take their kids with them to polling stations? Or provided some form of childcare at polling stations so parent could vote.

    I also wonder why there isn’t some sort of app that is out there that lets you register to vote, or telling you what district you are in, the candidates that are running, issues up for a vote, and where your polling place is.

    The other thing I know is that none of these changes will happen unless we, the public, go out there and demand these changes.