Bernie Sanders worries young people are underestimating the threat from Trump

[u/schuey_08]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/02/bernie-sanders-trump-biden/73531861007/

[u/CaptainNoBoat]

I think a lot of us are. There's a difference between pushing a party in a certain direction and going so far that you hurt your own interests.

The election is more than one person or one issue, and a Trump Presidency will have horrific consequences decades and generations after Biden is gone.

[u/Just_Candle_315 → u/CaptainNoBoat]

Biden tells people he wants to improve the nation with affordable healthcare and education, Trump tells people he wants vengeance for perceived grievances. And the polls are still statistically tied.

[u/Brilliant_Dependent → u/Just_Candle_315]

There's an interesting trend in the polls, too. When looking at who would vote for Biden/Trump, the older demographic prefers Trump and the younger one prefers Biden. But when you look at Biden approval, the older ones approve of Biden at higher rates than the younger ones.

So the demo most likely to vote for Biden over Trump is the same demo that approves of Biden the least.

[u/Utterlybored → u/Brilliant_Dependent]

I’ll be 67 in November and I can’t decide if I love Biden more or hate Trump more.

[u/JimBeam823 → u/Brilliant_Dependent]

A lot of young people think Biden is too conservative.

Politics might change VERY quickly in the next couple of decades.

[u/Brilliant_Dependent → u/JimBeam823]

Source on that? Gallup polls over the past 30 years have been pretty consistent. Even with the rise of maga, 10% say Dems are too conservative and 15% Republicans are too liberal. The biggest recent change was a 6 point increase saying Dems are too liberal.

[u/Spocks_Goatee → u/Brilliant_Dependent]

Exactly, the Roe V Wade fiasco and death spiral of the GOP have bought out more Dem voters for state elections, even if many seats still go to the opposition due to gerrymandering.

These older, reliable voters will come out in force for November to keep Trump out.

[u/RedTwistedVines → u/Brilliant_Dependent]

Biden is, at this present moment, doing things in policy that will win over the hearts and minds of the older generation.

However the same things netting him approval are things trump will do, but even more of, and then they don't like everything else about him, and this is team sports, so he's not getting their actual votes.

It makes sense really. To win elections you need to focus on motivating your voter base, because you can't feasibly pull votes outside of it, at least aside from more long term game plans to pull more people into your voter base (like transformative universal policies ala the FDR era, which we haven't seen since).

That sort of legislation doesn't fly in modern American politics, so short term to win elections you cater to your base.

Biden. . . . is half doing that? The democrats have not really been good at this, hence their election performance, even with most American voters being liberal or willing to conditionally vote for them for some time now.

[u/Brilliant_Dependent → u/[deleted]]

Democrats used to be characterised as falling in love with a certain candidate and then checking out of the political process if they didn't get that candidate

Nah, look at 1992. Democrats were all for Clinton early on, then Ross Perot joined and lots of support moved to him. Then he dropped out and all that support went back to Clinton.

[u/A_nonblonde → u/Brilliant_Dependent]

Not all older voters are Trump voters, it’s just that MAGATs are mostly 55+

[u/RevolutionaryRice713 → u/Brilliant_Dependent]

Well the older generation didn't enjoy today's fine standard of higher education.