It is not only the Republican Party that is out of touch with reality. Democratic leaders are too. If they weren’t, a Democrat would be in the White House today. End of story. Party due to Bernie Sanders’ leadership, younger progressive voters are starting to take on some of the mythology. One of the most prevalent myths in the Democratic party is that the only way to win a “tight” district (which means a rare district in which the registration between Democrats and Republicans is relatively evenly split) is to run a Republican-Lite–A centrist Democrat who roughly aligns with Republican voters but is just less scary and vitriolic.
This myth is layered on top of an even more pernicious myth: most voters, generally, are more conservative than we think not less conservative. So, the wise move politically is always move right, move right, move right–right?
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| Right Wing |
Wrong. A study done by Vanderbilt University found that there is “a striking conservative bias in politicians’ perceptions.” The study found, “Conservative politicians systematically believe their constituents are more conservative than they actually are by more than 20 percentage points on average, and liberal politicians also typically overestimate their constituents’ conservatism by several percentage points.” Link to Vanderbilt Study
When an upset like the Presidential election happens, you would think it would be time for the losing party’s leaders to re-examine their basic assumptions and find out what their constituents ACTUALLY want rather than what they fantasize that they want. To the me the energy and excitement generated by Bernie Sanders, even though he didn’t win the primary shows that this is what voters actually want. I could be wrong of course, but that’s what I believe. I think a candidate with Bernie’s beliefs and tenacity who brushes his or her hair could electrify voters at any level.
That’s why I’m excited that the organization called Our Revolution is running progressive candidates in local and state races all over the country. I just donated to it. You can do the same. Click Here to Donate to Our Revolution. My guess is that even in these tight districts, an exciting progressive may be the better bet to energize Democrats and attract independents who are want someone who is not part of the status quo. I also do not see a lot of point in Democrats “winning” the House of Representatives if the Democrats who are elected do not vote like Democrats.