this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2024
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politics

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[–] FMT99@lemmy.world 174 points 5 days ago (6 children)

I don't like Harris very much. But the fact that half the country is willing to choose a deranged con artist over her is just beyond any rational thought.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 77 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Rationality has nothing to do with it.

[–] return2ozma@lemmy.world 61 points 5 days ago (6 children)

It's all fear based. They think the migrants coming across the border are coming to take their job, rape them, break into their home, shop at the same Walmart as them, etc.

[–] Veedem@lemmy.world 19 points 5 days ago (2 children)

I want to commend you for how well you did that. Absolutely beautiful ending with “shop at the same Walmart as them”

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[–] Vilian@lemmy.ca 27 points 5 days ago

That's what happen when you fuck your education system for money

[–] bay400@thelemmy.club 29 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Half the voting population, more specifically

Or I guess in this case, half of those polled

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[–] distantsounds@lemmy.world 16 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Everything is fear based and not rationale.

Trump voters fear immigrants; Fear their guns, religion and identity are somehow being taken away. They fear and refuse to understand the world is constantly changing and that we need to adapt along with it.

Harris voters (rightly) fear trump and all the bigotry, racism, and misogyny he has enabled and emboldened.

Most of the American people don’t have something to vote for, only something to vote against. The ruling class is further detached for the working class by stoking culture wars gaslighting on the socioeconomic disparage

[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

They want Trump in because he represents an amoral outsider. Someone who is disenfranchised by the moralisms of the establishment left.

This is how they see themselves.

They like him because he's a shithead who doesn't care to preserve this system. They want change even if it's bad.

In this way pointing out that he's a shithead and a risk to democracy - helps him.

Unfortunately it's the Harris campaigns only option, as the alternative is to say: He's actually a highly connected establishment figure who will pull the same establishment shit we do. This would have obviously blow back for an establishment figure.

They want Trump BECAUSE he's a train wreck.

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[–] espentan@lemmy.world 96 points 5 days ago (10 children)

It boggles the mind that this sack of shit is even in the running.

He has the charisma of a wet sponge (and the appearance of someone you'd think twice before buying a used car from), he can hardly string together a sentence (let alone hold a speech), hi lies, he commits fraud, he's a convicted felon..

That's hardly brushing the surface, yet people go "fuck yeah, this guy should run the country".

Jeebuz fuckin christ.. what's happening?

Unless you got home schooled by Heinrich Himmler, there's no excuse. You can't possibly offer your political support to such a scumbag.

[–] WindyRebel@lemmy.world 39 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

I was at a pumpkin patch 25 minutes out of Chicago on Saturday and there was a man proudly wearing a shirt with Trump on it and the shirt said, “I’m voting for the convicted felon”. His voter base does not fucking care, at all.

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[–] SupraMario@lemmy.world 24 points 5 days ago (3 children)

I don't watch a lot of TV, so I don't see ads much, but just saw an ad from the turnip who was railing against they/them pronouns....the level of hate from the turnips is insane. It's like if Hitler was running and railing against jews. How is this shit allowed on tv...next he's gonna be saying minorities should be hung.

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[–] RufusFirefly@lemmy.world 15 points 5 days ago

30 or 40 years ago he would've been laughed out of politics the moment he came down his gold escalator.

[–] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 14 points 5 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

Idiocracy. We live in Idiocracy... 500 years faster than expected.

[–] zaphodb2002@sh.itjust.works 16 points 4 days ago (2 children)

President Camacho legitimately wanted to find solutions to the problems his constituents faced, AND he had the wisdom and self-awareness to know he needed someone smarter than himself in order to achieve that. He's willing to try things and change his mind when he is presented with new information. Furthermore, when he is successful, he shares the credit equitably with the other people involved.

We're doing much worse than Idiocracy.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Idiocracy was a movie working from the naive assumption that people are greedy and shortsighted, and that these attributes lead to social (and eventually genetic) decay.

Americans have to deal with a much harder truth. That being smart doesn't make you virtuous and lust for power more than simple hedonistic greed is what cultivates the worst social policies. Our story is a story of pure hubris. Its a story of reasonably intelligent and educated people gaming a system that causes pain in order to pay them a profit.

We’re doing much worse than Idiocracy.

America's sins aren't sloth or lust or gluttony nearly so much as they are wrath and pride.

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[–] 01011@monero.town 12 points 5 days ago

When a society puts money above all else Donald Trump is what happens. He was a celebrity failed businessman long before he became president, he knows what gets Americans excited.

[–] Dadifer@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago

He tells people it's ok to be angry. That's all they want to hear.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Running the country again...

[–] sandwichsaregood@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

I'm willing to believe someone could have voted for Trump the first time in good faith. Voting for him again after seeing the shitshow of his first term, however...

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[–] KnitWit@lemmy.world 10 points 5 days ago

I was talking with my mom the other day and apparently their neighbors, who up until now had never shown any political affiliation at all, put up a Trump flag. They’ve been neighbors for like 20 years haha, my mom was shocked.

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[–] ConHoliousDonFrankle@lemmy.world 18 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Why is the generation born because we fought the Nazis so into this shit?

[–] Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee 12 points 4 days ago

They are the weak men created by good times. We are living through the hard times they created.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 56 points 5 days ago (7 children)

Maybe the neoliberals should stop trying to throw the race to suck up to corporate donors.

Again.

[–] eugenevdebs@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 5 days ago (6 children)

Money from donors/SuperPACs > winning against Neo-Mussolini

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[–] YeetPics@mander.xyz 21 points 4 days ago

I got worried at first, but upon further inspection this is a return2ozma post.

Nothing here is truthful or holds any merit.

Good day

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 11 points 4 days ago

Dementia donnie is trying to thwart efforts to help Americans in the wake of two hurricanes. He wants to end democracy as we know it, and there are still people stupid enough to think he should run the place.

SMH.

[–] MdRuckus@lemmy.world 50 points 5 days ago (4 children)

The media wants a race. That’s the only way they get viewers.

[–] return2ozma@lemmy.world 71 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Or... it really is THAT close of a race. When we shrug it off as "the media just wants a race" we get complacent.

www.vote.gov make sure you're registered and double check even if you think you already are. Early voting is happening in some states. Get active

[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 27 points 5 days ago

Always vote like your vote will make a difference. It might, especially local races. If we accidentally turn the election into a sweep by everyone voting, oh well.

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[–] ThatOneKrazyKaptain@lemmy.world 30 points 5 days ago (4 children)

538 has Trump's support at his 2016 final levels. This is relevant to note because, in both prior elections, the polls were extremely good at predicting the baseline margins from diehards and registered, and the error came from badly guessing the undecideds wrong.

Unless this is the first election in a long long time to actually get the baseline wrong or literally 100% of the undecideds go to Harris, Trump's got above 2016 in raw percentage totals basically locked in(in 2016 a ton of people went third party so neither he or Hillary actually crossed 50 percent, Hillary was 48.2 and Trump 46.1). In 2020 it was 46.8 for Trump and 51.3% for Biden. If things continue to trend that way Trump will be close to his 2020 total percentage locked in and thus will almost certainly be higher in the final count. The people genuinely leaving Trump will mostly be former undecideds, not the people locked in, so this number isn't being shifted as much. That does suggest that, even with his general ceiling region not shifting a ton, he's probably set to break 47% in the final number if not more (Trump was polling sub-45 in both 2016 and 2020 so 48 is also plausible).

This matters mostly because not every undecided is going to break for Harris or Trump, there will be people sticking third party who most polls lump in with them or at least contribute to the 'Not Harris or Trump' number, and this is one of the few areas where the general trend is not in Harris's favor. Just broadly speaking this is the most left-wing Third Party batch we've had since 2000.

As much as people love to say voting third party helps Republicans, that hasn't been the case in a while, the Libertarians have been the strongest for a long while and they usually siphon off more Republicans, especially Anti-Trump Ron Paul types. They probably cost Trump Georgia in 2020. But the Libertarian party has been in a state of collapse since 2022, there was an attempted takeover by a hard right clique, which lead to a nasty party schism that left the party not cooperating, then a ton of Hardliners defected to Trump when the Moderates got control of the primaries, and then to make matters worse RFK joined in around that time taking most of the right wing moderates and leaving the Left Libertarians to put Chase Oliver on the ticket. So a ton of Libertarian voters either left with the hardliners for Trump a year ago or left for RFK who in turn endorsed Trump likely redirecting some more of them to him, and what's left is the most Left-Wing Libertarian the party has run since the 1970s.

Then there's the fact the Constitution Party has been steadily weakening for years, they lost their status as the Number 3 Third Party in 2020 to the PSL, and this year they had a schism between the Mormon and Protestant factions. They also mostly take Republican Votes. Or the fact the usual coalition of small right wing parties all working together to back one candidate(Rocky De Le Fuente last time) are all gone. Why? They all hitched to RFK Jr, and he dropped out too late for any of them to pick new guys. (That I honestly suspect was the real goal of his candiacy. Wipe out the small right wing third parties and weaken the Libertarians).

On the other foot, the Greens are proportionally stronger as Jill Stein has better name recognition than Howie, the Party for Socialism and Liberation is surging with youth support and is set to break their all time record again, and Cornel West...exists.

It could be far worse, lawsuits kept most of them off of most Swing States, Nevada kept the Green Party off and has the Constitution Party, and Pennsylvania and Arizona only have the Greens and Libertarians. Wisconsin and Michigan also still have RFK Jr on them despite Cornel West and Claudia being there. But it's still way more left leaning than normal just from the Libertarian crisis and lack of small right parties even without those new guys.

Let's say around 1.5% of the undecideds go Third Party. Lower than 2020, way way lower than 2016, about on parr with previous years. It's going to be mostly people who would otherwise vote democrat. The Popular Vote to Electoral College margin is supposed to be quite a bit less this year, but sub-Hillary margins nationally are probably a loss. So Harris wants a 2 point lead and there's around 98.5% available. It's gonna be tight.

[–] ThatOneKrazyKaptain@lemmy.world 10 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

TL:DR The lower number of undecideds also means that less of them need to break for Trump to give a win, even with the gap between Popular Vote and Electoral College predicted to shrink significantly. Polls have been very accurate at predicting the baseline support, it's the undecideds they suck at guessing.

Trump's baseline just hit 46.1%, 2016 final levels(not 2016 baseline that was barely 40%, big difference) and at the rate it's slowly creeping up could be at or close to 2020 final levels, 46.8%. Harris has been stuck at 48 and a half points for a bit. Assuming this trend holds another 4 weeks we're looking at something like 48.8 to 46.8 baseline nationally or in that general area. Some of those undecideds are going for third parties, likely more left leaning ones.

All that accounting for if Trump wins just half the undecideds the final result gap would be around 2 points, similar to 2016 if not slightly smaller, which is probably a Trump win. He's converted enough to diehards he's gone from needing 2/3+ to just half. And Trump won with the undecideds both prior elections. Harris is improving, absolutely, but the changing third party situation is a braking factor absorbing and neutralizing it to a degree(in 2020 and especially 2016 Trump was bleeding more votes to guys like Gary Johnson, Jo Jorgenson, Rocky De Le Fuente, and Evan McMullin. This year the third party composition has shifted left thanks to the rise of the PSL, strengthing of the Greens, RFK Jr killing the small right wing bloc, and Libertarian infighting.). So this change was a net negative and Harris's growth has been somewhat absorbed in neutralizing this. That's also probably why Trump's raw base total is up, among other things a lot of hardliner Hoppean or Rothbardian LIbertarians jumped ship to him when Chase Oliver and the moderates won the party.

Take a swing state for example. Less accurate overall, but just a hypothetical, and it's a clean "get the most votes and it's yours" so no need to guess ratios. According to 538, There's 4 and a half points not locked in, Harris is leading by 0.4-0.7 and it's fluctuating day to day. Pennsylvania isn't a super 3rd party happy state compared to some of the sunbelt, and PSL and Cornel didn't get on, so that's a bit more favorable. Let's say 1 point goes to third party, a bit more Harris thanks to the internal shifts, but not by much. Of of the remaining 3.5, if 63% were to go to Trump, that's it, even with the best case 0.8 point base lead Harris loses. If it's more like 0.4 Trump just needs around 55% of the undecideds. That's it. And this state is better in the third party spread than some others. Trump won more than those numbers from them the last two elections.

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[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 28 points 5 days ago (8 children)

A dead heat in polling is not an even race. We know Democrats need a significant lead to be break even on election day.

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[–] ctkatz@lemmy.ml 8 points 4 days ago (4 children)

nbc had the race tied at this point in 2012. how'd that election turn out?

all gas, no brakes.

[–] BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago (1 children)

A projected blowout is bad for ad revenue.

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What about in 2020?...

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[–] Letsdothis@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago

What a world...

[–] Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de 20 points 5 days ago

Honestly, you can't trust the tv news polls. They want people to watch and Trump gets them numbers.

[–] goferking0@lemmy.sdf.org 19 points 5 days ago (9 children)

quick we must go even further right! - dnc strategists

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[–] DaddleDew@lemmy.world 13 points 5 days ago (6 children)
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