Jonathan Chait has finally admitted what most of us have been saying for a long long time … the Left has gone so far to the Left they are no longer polling well with Moderates, Centrists, or Independents (which they will definitely need if they think they’ll have any chance against Trump next year). From pushing the Green New Deal to Medicare For All, it’s just a little bit too ‘socialist’ for a lot of Americans.
Thank goodness.
I think Chait has been right about this for a while—as much as I might agree with the unpopular policies the candidates support. https://t.co/A7bpfeOi9y
— *Palpatine voice* UNLIMITED DADPUNS? (@AdamSerwer) November 4, 2019
Some people are apparently AOK with socialism, but the majority of Americans … not so much.
From New York Magazine:
The Democratic presidential field has largely abandoned that model. Working from the premise that the country largely agrees with them on everything, or that agreeing with the majority of voters on issues is not necessary to win, the campaign has proceeded in blissful unawareness of the extremely high chance that Trump will win again.
The primary has not doomed Democrats. Warren and Sanders are still close enough to Trump that they can compete, and new events, like a recession or another scandal, could erode Trump’s base. But the party should look at its position a year before the election with real fear. The party’s presidential field has lost the plot.
Democrats have lost the plot.
Yup.
They’re worried … they should be.
One of the frustrating things about primary coverage is people failing to distinguish i like politician/policy x from politician/policy x is popular/unpopular or effective/ineffective.
— *Palpatine voice* UNLIMITED DADPUNS? (@AdamSerwer) November 4, 2019
We think he’s complaining about generalities here.
Chait, Silver and others keep pushing the idea that “left ideas are unpopular.“ But maybe they’re unpopular because media frames things like single payer healthcare as extreme and implausible, despite their being the norm throughout the non-US world.https://t.co/GqfwNVmXht
— Jeff Yang (@originalspin) November 4, 2019
Right? Because the media so often comes out against the Left.
Also, if Jeff here wants single payer healthcare there are clearly more than enough non-US countries out there where it’s an option.
It is not a question of whether they are unpopular broadly, it is whether they are unpopular with the small subset of conservative leaning american voters who can decide elections within a dumb system that substantially increases their influence relative to the majority.
— *Palpatine voice* UNLIMITED DADPUNS? (@AdamSerwer) November 4, 2019
Don’cha love it how progressives think a system that gives people of all political ideals a voice is dumb?
Their shift to extreme Leftism aka socialism isn’t the only thing that hurts them in elections but we digress.
Meanwhile, ideas on the right get repeated as normal/sane even when they’re wildly out of keeping with what other countries do, or what we’ve done in our own history—like slashing taxes for the ultrawealthy and spending multiples of what the rest of the world spends on defense.
— Jeff Yang (@originalspin) November 4, 2019
This idea of the media helping the Right promote policies is hilarious.
It’ll be hard given how the right and the enabler media have made normal policies seem extremist. But electing a progressive POTUS and getting some of these changes into effect and actually helping people is the only way to break this country’s fever.
Dumping Trump isn’t enough.
— Jeff Yang (@originalspin) November 4, 2019
Enabler media.
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
But single-payer healthcare is absolutely not the norm. Only three countries have single-payer healthcare, and if you include the Beveridge model as "single-payer," that's still only five. The norm is a multi-payer system, which is what the moderates are arguing for.
— St. Anna Platz (@truedichotomy) November 4, 2019
I think it’s funny libs argue we can pay for Medicare for all while WE DON’T PAY FOR MEDICARE NOW! What a joke.
— Thomas Adams (@nyc_8585) November 4, 2019
And not a funny joke at that.
-Follow Sam J. on Twitter @politibunny–
Related:
Join the conversation as a VIP Member