#electability

Mainstream Democrats flipped their wigs when Abdul El-Sayed said that the Israeli government was evil for its genocide just as Hamas was evil for tis actions. They once again started raising the disingenuous “electability” argument. It’s all; just a cover to forestall the progressive change that Democratic voters overwhelmingly want. Watch on YouTube

— Author and podcaster Leon Neyfakh in an op-ed at the New York Times last May.

While I'm not 100% on board with the points Leon's essay, he does have a number of excellent points.

When Democrats win presidential elections, it's usually with candidates who are either entertaining (in some way) or rather atypical for politicians. Yet we aren't learning from that pattern.

Perhaps we should look for potential candidates who are entertaining but also good at politics rather than the other way around.

In a fantasy presidential election where Matthew McConaughey ran as a Democrat, he would wipe the floor with pseudo-hillbilly J.D. Vance.

Common Ground Between Bill Clinton and Lindsey Graham on Women in Politics Former President Bill Clinton and Senator Lindsey Graham, a prominent Republican from South Carolina, have often found themselves on opposing sides of the political spectrum. However, they recently shared a surprising consensus regarding a question that has lingered quietly in the political arena for nearly two decades:…

From the August 1, 2024 analysis:

Some Americans may not support female candidates or candidates of color not because of overt sexism and racism or even implicit bias, but because of more complicated fears about whether candidates with these identities can win. This is a concept known as "strategic discrimination," which explains that women and people of color are underrepresented in U.S. politics because voters hesitate to support nonwhite, nonmale candidates based on concerns about whether other voters will support them. Of particular note for Harris's candidacy, the linked paper found Black women to be perceived as less electable than either white women or Black men, demonstrating the unique challenge she faces as a candidate with multiple marginalized identities.

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Still, there is some reason to think that the effectiveness of racialized and gendered criticism could be stunted this cycle.... Research shows that racial resentment among white Americans toward Black Americans has remained stable since the '80s, but these attitudes are now more closely correlated with political beliefs and partisanship. Similarly, beliefs about women in the workplace are increasingly polarized along partisan lines. In other words, these beliefs are largely already baked into partisanship, meaning that those likely to be dissuaded from supporting a candidate like Harris based on her race or gender were already unlikely to vote for any Democrat in the first place.

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