but I think Americans just aren’t sure which plan will work.
I don’t even think it’s that complicated. Look at the overlap between Trump voters and AOC or Mamdani voters, or Obama->Bernie->Trump guys. From my perspective, it seems like there are a lot of people who want massive change in how things operate in the US, and a good number of them are willing to vote for whoever says they’ll really shake things up in office, regardless of the details of said shaking or the candidate’s political affiliation.
The Democrats’ problem isn’t messaging, it’s their message. They destroy their credibility with voters when they claim they’ll be able to fix things and make life better on the campaign trail, yet once in office, they work tirelessly to maintain the status quo voters are already so unhappy with. And when they do have a candidate come along who promises the sort of change people are looking for, who people actually believe are being sincere when they say they’ll change things and deliver for the working class, the Democrats and DNC have shown they’ll do everything they can to prevent that person from actually winning and sideline them as much as possible in the event they do win. The politically engaged are tired of busting their asses to get people elected or promote their policies, only to see the Democrats shoot themselves in the foot, rolling over and watering down their goals in the name of bipartisanship, often before the Republicans even ask for it. If a Democratic Senator told me they were campaigning on free ice cream for everyone, I’d expect to be brought down to “One cup of skim milk for everyone at or below the federal poverty line, provided they can complete 20 pages of paperwork to prove they really deserve it, and submit this documentation on a website that’s only operating between 1-3pm on February 29th, but closed every other day during leap years and completely inoperable in regular calendar years,” by the time a draft materializes, much less after Republican obstruction and pushback.
I don’t even think it’s that complicated. Look at the overlap between Trump voters and AOC or Mamdani voters, or Obama->Bernie->Trump guys. From my perspective, it seems like there are a lot of people who want massive change in how things operate in the US, and a good number of them are willing to vote for whoever says they’ll really shake things up in office, regardless of the details of said shaking or the candidate’s political affiliation.
The Democrats’ problem isn’t messaging, it’s their message. They destroy their credibility with voters when they claim they’ll be able to fix things and make life better on the campaign trail, yet once in office, they work tirelessly to maintain the status quo voters are already so unhappy with. And when they do have a candidate come along who promises the sort of change people are looking for, who people actually believe are being sincere when they say they’ll change things and deliver for the working class, the Democrats and DNC have shown they’ll do everything they can to prevent that person from actually winning and sideline them as much as possible in the event they do win. The politically engaged are tired of busting their asses to get people elected or promote their policies, only to see the Democrats shoot themselves in the foot, rolling over and watering down their goals in the name of bipartisanship, often before the Republicans even ask for it. If a Democratic Senator told me they were campaigning on free ice cream for everyone, I’d expect to be brought down to “One cup of skim milk for everyone at or below the federal poverty line, provided they can complete 20 pages of paperwork to prove they really deserve it, and submit this documentation on a website that’s only operating between 1-3pm on February 29th, but closed every other day during leap years and completely inoperable in regular calendar years,” by the time a draft materializes, much less after Republican obstruction and pushback.
It’s no wonder people have soured on them.