My brief diagnosis of the problem with Democratic Messaging

[TheReckoning]

Interestingly enough, I feel like the main problem that Democrats have with messaging and their brand isn’t talked about here. I guess it’s because as this forum is mostly comprised of Democratic partisans, they have a hard time thinking about issues from a more swingy viewpoint. The problem with Democrats isn’t being too far left, or too far right. It’s not that their policies are unpopular. It’s not that they have unlikable candidates. It’s not that they spend too much time talking about Trump.

It’s that they talk a lot about issues that most swing voters don’t care very much about.

For example, one of the main attacks that Democrats have been lodging at Trump recently is that Trump isn’t pro-Ukraine enough. A brief look at opinion polling would indicate that this would be an effective attack, right? Most independents support Ukraine aid, and they overwhelmingly prefer Ukraine over Putin. So if Democrats are popular here, what’s the problem with the attack?

It’s that people don’t care about Ukraine, or foreign conflicts more generally, anywhere near as much as they care about issues that directly impact them. Put simply, Independents care much more about their pocket books than either side getting their way in Ukraine.

But Democratic partisans, who are strongly pro-Ukraine, can’t see that. They feel strongly about that issue, so they talk about it a lot, because it emotionally excites them. There’s a reason why the Trump vs. Ukraine thread has way more posts than the DOGE thread, despite DOGE having far more potential impact on Americans lives as opposed to the Ukraine war.

Meanwhile, when Trump was campaigning last election, what was he talking about? The border and inflation. People say trans issues as well, but that barely registered compared to those other two talking points. He hammered on those points not just because Biden was unpopular on them, but because they really mattered to people.

You’ll note that relatively speaking, his didn’t even attack Biden much for his age, despite that being an issue that worried a lot of people, even Democrats. Why? People most people simply don’t care about how old their president is, as long as he can deliver. Trump attacked Biden for failing on the latter, not the former.

This doesn’t mean that Democrats can’t support Ukraine aid, or any other policy, for that matter. But don’t those message on those kinds of issues as your priorities.

TL;DR Democrats need to spend more time talking about issues that matter to swing voters, not what issues excite them most.

[ProgressiveModerate]

I think there is some truth to this - I'd also add that people who view something like Ukraine as an important issue are probably already very politically engaged and unlikely their vote is truly up for grabs.

However, I'd also argue the 2024 election had a unique dynamic where Trump wasn't really running on specific issues, but moreso a general anger - and issues like immigration and trans sports are great outlets for that.

[OSR stands with Israel]

DOGE is also a dumb attack by Dems as voters are generally not that sympathetic to federal government employees in general . This is a case of keeping your powder dry would be more effective as if people start to actually get negatively impacted cause do the downsizing of those agencies then that’s when democrats should start to attack doge.

The most effective attack would be the tariffs as Trump’s tariffs do raise prices for people and is an indirect way for the gop to impose a national sales tax ( since actually doing it straight up would be very unpopular)

[GeneralMacArthur]

Democrats have talked plenty about pocketbook issues as well, but people don't care.

We spent pretty much the entirety of the 2010s hearing that the only thing that mattered was jobs, jobs, jobs.  Then Biden created tons of jobs and brought the unemployment rate historically low and average wages historically high.  And nobody cared!  We talked about it non-stop, jobs jobs jobs, people didn't care.

The big problem is that Democrats just get drowned out on social media.  The right-wing has a huge messaging machine and zero ethics whatsoever in using bots, bribery, boosting, fake accounts, fake news website, false flags, buying Justin Bieber fan accounts with 10M followers and rebranding them with right-wing content, even just straight up buying social media companies, etc. to get their message out.  Democrats have none of that.  And what left-of-center messaging is out there is dominated by the far left, who hate Democrats even more than Republicans and constantly humiliate the party and associate it with extremism and unpopular positions.

So, Biden could give 10,000 speeches on jobs, and it wouldn't matter because none of it would make it onto social media.  Instead social media was dominated by wah wah waaaaaah my DoorDash McGriddle cost forty-nine dollars!  Meanwhile if Trump gave a speech on jobs it would be all you heard about for a week -- the right-wing machine would boost it like crazy while left-wingers would use it as an opportunity to attack Democrats for never talking about jobs.

[The Ex-Factor]

^ The reason that didn't work is that the economic issues of the 2010s were different from those of the 2020s. In the aftermath of the Great Recession where there was high unemployment, a slow recovery, as well as a ZIRP environment, it made sense to be focused on jobs. But in the 2020s when prices went up due to the aftermath of COVID, supply shortages, and a loose monetary/fiscal policy, cost of living became a way bigger issue than it had been previously. That's why Biden talking about how many jobs were created in 2024 was so ineffectual. The economic concerns of people changed, and Democrats were still messaging as it it was the 2010s.

[america is tariffied]

Trump says he will make life more affordable.
Makes life less affordable.
Trump voters don't care

Trump says he will put out groups in their place.
Trump does things to put out groups in their place.
Trump voters celebrate.

[Hindsight was 2020]

Democrats are talking about Ukraine because that’s one of the biggest issues going m right now. Heck Trump himself is mostly talking about Ukraine these days so the idea is ignore the biggest political issue going on right now? As much as he’s a party suck up the argument GMac raised probably has far more truth to it that the democrats don’t have a media arm like the right does

[freepcrusher]

just look at the text of a speech from the 80s or 90s given by a democrat and make a few changes here or there to get rid of irrelevant information (i.e. the ussr) and that's all you really need

[DrScholl]

Another wannabe peer reviewed essay on what Democrats should be doing and not one word what the party in control should be doing.

[wetris]

Another wannabe peer reviewed essay on what Democrats should be doing and not one word what the party in control should be doing.

When you lose elections, people try and figure out why. This isn't rocket science.

[DrScholl]

Another wannabe peer reviewed essay on what Democrats should be doing and not one word what the party in control should be doing.

When you lose elections, people try and figure out why. This isn't rocket science.

Yeah, OK. There are only so many times you can make the same thread and there are at least two of these a week.

[KakyoinMemeHouse]

[TheReckoning]

Democrats are talking about Ukraine because that’s one of the biggest issues going m right now.

No, it isn’t. Sure, the international media may be talking about it, but only a fraction of swing voters listen to that. The economy, crime, immigration, abortion, etc. matter way, way, way, way, way more than Ukraine War does to swing voters.

[Pericles]

At the moment, certain issues are just being talked about because they are in the news so Democratic politicians respond to them. There is no Democratic campaign right now to set the agenda.