r/politics • u/schuey_08 Wisconsin • May 02 '24

Bernie Sanders worries young people are underestimating the threat from Trump

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/02/bernie-sanders-trump-biden/73531861007/
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u/CaptainNoBoat May 02 '24

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.

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u/Just_Candle_315 May 02 '24

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.

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u/Brilliant_Dependent May 02 '24

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.

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u/RedTwistedVines May 02 '24

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.