this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2024
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American gen Z voters share how they feel about Kamala Harris’s presidential bid, why they like or dislike her as a candidate and whether they think she could beat Donald Trump, as the vice-president races towards winning the Democratic nomination for November’s election.

‘I think she’s just what we need’

“I think [Kamala Harris] is the only one that makes sense. She will get the votes Biden couldn’t. She could get the Black, Asian, Latino, women’s, LGBTQ+ and youth votes. She stands more for progress and equality than an old white dude and if she wins it will be historic. The Democrats need a bold move and I think she’s just what we need.

“I hope the Democrats realize what an opportunity this is for them.” Will, 22, construction worker from Portland, Oregon

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[–] [email protected] 225 points 4 months ago (5 children)

Good to hear, but if you weren’t voting to oppose obvious fascism before, you’re not a very good/informed citizen.

[–] [email protected] 132 points 4 months ago

Most Americans aren't good citizens, so if you actually want to beat fascism, being able to win over disconnected voters is a huge deal.

[–] Guy_Fieris_Hair 42 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Yes, most people are not informed. But they sit back and watch an old, crooked, politician call another dude an old, crooked, politician. It was a joke. And while us nerds sitting here in a political sub can say that's dumb, even though we know Biden wasn't ideal hes better than the other option, the truth is most people were just sitting back and laughing at how ridiculous the situation was.

I hope everyone gets that. I have voted every election for the last 20 years but I was struggling to get myself to vote for a guy that couldn't even talk. I was pretty pissed off at the DNC for trying so hard to hide his medical problems and just say "Well, at least he's not Trump! If you don't vote you're a fascist!" ". Taking action to correct it gets rid of that bitter taste in my mouth and I am sure it does for a LOT of people that were NEVER going to vote. While Kamala doesn't inspire huge waves of grassroots support, at least she isn't embarrassing and she returns legitimacy to the office.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 4 months ago (4 children)

Shaming people is an absolutely awful way to convince them to change their ways.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago (3 children)

When the threat of fascism isn't enough -- what else is there?!

[–] Ensign_Crab 26 points 4 months ago

Recent events indicate that "better candidates" is the answer to your question.

Like progressives have been saying for years.

[–] jpreston2005 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

People want to vote FOR something, not against something. We want hope for a better future.

Just look at how popular Bernie Sanders and his policy proposals are. People were excited to vote for him, because he was proposing to actually help the average American.

[–] assassin_aragorn 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

And look how far that went. How Bernie was still unable to turn out massive numbers of young people.

It's absolutely incorrect to say that voters are blameless. Bernie had a platform that was the dream for young people, and they didn't show up -- and I say that as someone who was 24 at the time and did vote for him in the primary.

[–] jpreston2005 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

It's a question of priorities... is it more important to be right or to defeat fascism - if the later is your priority then shaming people for still being wrong makes the fascism more likely.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago

This is why they stopped teaching 'civics' in middle school.

[–] Bye 0 points 4 months ago (4 children)

Yeah really like who are these people who weren’t going to vote for Joe? Are they stupid?

[–] [email protected] 58 points 4 months ago (15 children)

uninformed/misguided apathetic "i don't care about politics" kids who saw nothing but ancient white men and can't/won't distinguish between them

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (5 children)

It's because of those people that you now have another, better, more winnable option. You're welcome.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago

And for this I am very thankful!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (4 children)

On the other hand, if more people had turned out in 2016 we wouldn't be here.

Politics shouldn't be a popularity contest.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 4 months ago (3 children)

You could also say, if the Democrats had nominated a more likeable candidate in 2016, we wouldn't be here.

Clinton got less votes than Obama in 2012 and 2008, even though the population had grown during that time.

And it wasn't the Bernie bros who stayed home. Polling revealed that the Bernie bros showed up.

Blaming the voters is like having your bakery go bankrupt and trying to blame people for not buying your shitty cake.

First, bake a better cake.

[–] ikidd 4 points 4 months ago

"Where are all those advertisers I told to fuck off last year?"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

What part of "I like soldiers who didn't get captured" and "grab them by the pussy" confused voters?

Count Dracula should have beaten Trump.

I totally blame the voters.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The voters are literally the ones who picked Biden though.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

I know, but we were having a conversation about 2016 and the voters didn't pick Clinton then.

At least, not enough of them in certain swing states.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (3 children)

It also shouldn’t be a duopoly game but here we are.

The shorter election cycle is appreciated. This should be a thing. Say, on July 5th of an election year, then it begins.

[–] WhiskyTangoFoxtrot 4 points 4 months ago

Keep the primary results a secret until a couple of weeks before the convention. It'd also help the states with late primaries to not feel irrelevant.

[–] Wrench 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

We're celebrating the apparent increase in voters that aren't even following the duopoly policies enough to recognize literal fascism vs imperfect but generally good faith politicians.

If they're not informed enough to see the face eating leopard party for what it is, adding more parties to the mix won't improve anything.

I agree that ranked choice voting is desirable. But it won't help with these kinds of voters.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

I don’t get that. I still have relatives trying to tell me trickle down economics works, that it is the way. Really? You think successful trickle down economics is why we all feel squeezed right now? You think that’s why Amazon workers go through hell while Bezos flies around in a penis rocket?

Reality isn’t tracking as reality. I’m not sure how one gets to that point where a confident person in a suit announces that x is the truth and so you just start repeating x is the truth and actually believing it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

"If wishes were horses then beggars would ride."

[–] Ensign_Crab 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

If more people had thought they were being listened to, perhaps they would have.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

If you want politicians to listen to you, try voting in the primaries.

People need to educate themselves. Look at how Jerry Falwell and his 'Moral Majority' took over the GOP. They had one simple trck; if the local Republican clubhouse got 20 people at the regular meeting Falwell's folks would show up with fifty. They got the little jobs, like county clerk and sheriff, and then the bigger state positions and finally were in a position to control who got the white House.

[–] Ensign_Crab 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

If you want politicians to listen to you, try voting in the primaries.

Please don't gloat that the primaries have had a preordained winner for every presidential race since 2012. Particularly not when the most recent preordained winner had to step down, to the acclaim of the vast bulk of the party.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

and BotH Sides aRe ThE SAme, right?

If you're going to tell people not to vote, try coming up with an actual alternative action.

[–] Ensign_Crab 1 points 4 months ago (5 children)

I did not say that people should not vote, or that both sides are the same. You lost the argument and you're strawmanning. The shitty preordained candidate you wanted stepped down. We have a better candidate now.

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[–] TokenBoomer 0 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

In a democracy. Politics is absolutely a popularity contest. The population votes. If you want better outcomes, do more for the population. When you don’t give the population what they want, you get totalitarianism which is the course we are on.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago

Yes they are also #StopfacismVoteHarris