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If they vote....
You know the most common reason?
If the party moves left, that disappears and Dems donate, up and down the ballots.
But we don't do that, when it happens the party fights it as much as possible
The incredibly large segment of possible voters who think both parties are shit and don't fight thru red state voter suppression regularly...
But will turn out for a charismatic dem who runs a progressive campaign...
Neoliberal moderates tho. Can barely beat trump...
You legitimately don't understand the difference between a campaign like Obama's to Biden and Hillary's?
This is a good lesson. My understanding is that the fewest people ever voted in 2016, when the GOP won, and the most in 2020, when the GOP lost.
So definitely need to encourage eligible folks to get out and vote, and it goes without saying that a platform that attracts voters is a must.
One key difference is that Obama was first elected in 2008, before the GOP's plan in 2010 with redistricting was able to take effect - https://billmoyers.com/story/in-2010-republicans-weaponized-gerrymandering-heres-how-they-did-it/
(I know he did win re-election 2012, but he had the incumbent advantage back then and the GOP had only had two years to take advantage at that point, instead of the six years of experience they had later in 2016.)
Obama was one of these. Remember how in 2008 he wasn't for gay marriage, but he eventually supported it after his views "evolved" while he was in office?
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/evolution-obamas-stance-gay-marriage-flna763350
The other thing worth pointing out, is that while record numbers voted in 2020, there were some who voted an otherwise straight GOP ticket but for Biden-Harris, as per https://www.texastribune.org/2020/11/16/split-ticket-voting-texas-republicans/
Also check out these charts https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/10/PP_2020.10.21_split-icket-voting_0-01.png from https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/10/21/large-shares-of-voters-plan-to-vote-a-straight-party-ticket-for-president-senate-and-house/
4% of voters split R/D. I can't imagine anything more than a negligible amount were from Dems who voted for orange voldermort. Therefore, that 4% can be attributed to Republicans who voted for Biden.
So even with record turnout, the difference was small. 42 vs 38? Give that 4% back to the GOP and, with their Electoral College advantage, they'd have won in 2020.
All this goes to show that while you are correct about needing to encourage turnout, and keep ahold of the Dem voters, you're wrong about not needing Republican votes.
Obama was economically right of Reagan.
Whut?!
I understand that the people you want the party to cater to don't vote no matter the options presented to them (as is proven by every free elections in other countries, I know some people have a hard time understanding that other countries exist, but make an effort here) and that even if they did, gerrymandering and voter suppression makes it so they can't flip their State.
A lot has changed since Roosevelt believe it or not.
Wait...
So you think we should ignore voters on the left unless they already want to vote D?
What does gerrymandering have to do with the electoral college?
Do you think they're redrawing state lines?
Or do you just not know what that word means?
Nothing directly, but it'd be naive to say it has no effect whatsoever.
I believe OC is talking about gerrymandering within a State to ensure all of that's State's electoral college votes go to the GOP.
So normally gerrymandering doesn't apply since the electoral votes in a State are awarded based on the popular vote within the State - so if the GOP wins Texas 51% to 49% for Dems, all of Texas's votes go to the GOP.
Gerrymandering could only has a direct effect in States like Nebraska and Maine, who distribute part of their votes by congressional district.
Where it might have an indirect effect is when people get confused and end up voting in the wrong place because of redistricting. Combine that with stricter rules on voter id and voting in general, and it's easy to see how some votes can be justified as being thrown away.