• Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    11 hours ago

    Why do some voters have to be assiduously courted, and it’s a failure of the candidate if she doesn’t win them over

    Because that’s literally the job of a politician running for office.

    for other voters the blame falls on the voters if they don’t fall in line and vote for the candidate?

    Because of tribalist authoritarianism and gaslighting.

    It’s much easier to get away with ignoring the wants and needs of your constituency when you convince them that it’s about teams, not policies.

    • SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip
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      2 hours ago

      It’s much easier to get away with ignoring the wants and needs of your constituency when you convince them that it’s about teams, not policies.

      This right here.

      Mine was a loaded question. After decades of this stuff, it’s entirely clear to me that the difference is that Democrats do not have policy to offer many voters, so all that they have to fall back on is team boosterism. If Harris did have something substantive to offer these Michigan voters, she and her supporters would’ve offered it.

      But they didn’t, so all that they had left is what we see: Blame and derision.

    • PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      The truth is… it’s a popularity contest at the heart of it. Always has been. If you aren’t popular enough in the zeitgeist of enough people, then you ain’t winning shit.