Summary

Kamala Harris’s political skills have transformed a potentially disastrous 2024 presidential election into a competitive race.

Despite initial skepticism and a challenging campaign, Harris has improved her public image and closed the gap with Trump on key issues. Since Biden stepped aside in July and endorsed her, she has shifted from an unpopular vice president to a viable candidate, even matching Trump in polls on economic issues.

Her leadership has given Democrats a chance to prevent a Trump landslide and halt the rise of American authoritarianism.

  • Clbull@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    I’d argue the opposite.

    The fact that Americans are possibly still voting for someone who will bring in the Fourth Reich if elected, over the first female president is a sign of just how badly Democrats have dropped the ball. ESPECIALLY after Jan 6th.

    • Zess@lemmy.world
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      22 hours ago

      It’s not the Democrats’ fault that there are so many cowardly, weak-minded, brainwashed losers in this country who fall for every bit of propaganda the GOP puts out. Politics shouldn’t be about culture wars but that’s how the republicans get votes.

      • GoodEye8@lemm.ee
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        13 hours ago

        You are right about stupid people falling for stupid shit, but that’s not why democrats lost. Trump got less votes than he did in 2020, that 70 million who voted for Trump are just people who love what Trump says.

        What made democrats lose are the 16 million votes Biden got that Harris didn’t get. The GOP didn’t magically make those votes disappear, those missing votes is the failure of the democratic party.

      • PapaStevesy@lemmy.world
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        18 hours ago

        It is the Democrats fault that there are so many cowardly, weak-minded losers in charge of the party though.

      • Tinidril@midwest.social
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        18 hours ago

        The Democrats are responsible for 50+ years of neglecting working Americans that created the culture you’re complaining about.

      • hraegsvelmir@lemm.ee
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        21 hours ago

        You could certainly say the Democrats should have been able to come up with a better outreach plan rather than running the same old plan that hasn’t penetrated into this group for the last several elections. It’s not as though the culture war nonsense and insane rightwing elements of the party are novel factors, such that the Dems can shrug their collective shoulders and say “Hey, we did our best, be we were flying blind into the unknown.”

    • tacosplease@lemmy.world
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      22 hours ago

      I 100% agree except why is it that “Democrats dropped the ball”?

      Democrats aren’t voting for a fascist. Their politicians are not enabling a fascist. The Democratic voting base hasn’t been bamboozled by 30+ years of obvious propaganda pretending to be news.

      Christians dropped the ball. Conservative immigrants dropped the ball. Legit news media dropped the ball. Large corporations and wealthy individuals dropped the ball… on purpose.

      Democrats work on harm reduction because we don’t give them enough votes to make meaningful changes. A 1 or 2 vote margin isn’t enough to vote around the moles like Manchin and Sinema.

      • Quadhammer@lemmy.world
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        20 hours ago

        Christians dropped the ball. Conservative immigrants dropped the ball. Legit news media dropped the ball. Large corporations and wealthy individuals dropped the ball… on purpose.

        There is a literal industry built on lies

        • frayedpickles@lemmy.cafe
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          17 hours ago

          To be fair, just being a corrupt industry full of scumbags is actually progress when it comes to religion. Go back 100 years let alone 500 and it was more like its own authoritarian political party. now it’s just hobby lobby with more private jets, and…well, that’s a good thing. I don’t ever want to have to expect the Spanish inquisition.

        • hraegsvelmir@lemm.ee
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          20 hours ago

          It’s really tiring seeing you guys trot out the “it’s all leftist’s fault for not voting for us!” line again and again when the actions of your candidate give it away for the lie that it is. Leftists cannot simultaneously be the cause of every Democratic defeat, yet too insignificant a group to merit any consideration in party platform.

          Go back to your handlers for better propaganda, this one doesn’t work on anyone with a pulse.

          • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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            3 hours ago

            They actually can be the cause of defeat while still not having power in the party. There’s not enough leftists to win the primaries, but there are enough that if they don’t vote in the general it can cause a loss.

            Then again, with the sheer number of Democratic voters who voted in 2020 but not 2024 I don’t think it’s just the leftists.

    • nfh@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      I think both can be true. That she cleaned up the situation is a testament to her skill as a candidate, and the fact this situation happened is in no small part an indictment of the Democratic party, in which she’s among its most senior leaders

      • jatone@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        23 hours ago

        no she didn’t. she had a window of positive energy she just tanked. jesus did we watch the same candidate running? lol

        • blakemiller@lemmy.world
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          21 hours ago

          What evidence are you using to support your belief that she tanked? That’s a surprise to me and I’d like to understand more.

          • jatone@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            11 hours ago

            Gestures at map of results. Do I need more?

            How about the fact her campaign was mired (sp?)not in what the her admin would do for Americans but instead of how shes not trump and how shes willing to silence a minority group just asking her to enforce american law? A group supported by a demographic thats very hard to turn out… Young folks.

            How about the fact she repeatedly committed herself to doing the same shit as biden’s admin? An admin with historically low approval ratings?

            Im sorry your candidate lost I truly am. America is officially worse off as a result. But her problem was turnout and the only shit she ran on was shit most people already have in their states that were possible wins for her.

            Look at Pennsylvania weed legalization is basically assured. They have abortion peotections… Etc. so what exactly did harris offering voters in those states?

            • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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              3 hours ago

              Look at Pennsylvania weed legalization is basically assured.

              This is primarily because every bordering state has recreational and they’re losing tons of tax revenue.

              But this did get me to check on my state election results and I found a tiny silver lining in that Democrats won both the state senate and representative races.

              • jatone@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                3 hours ago

                This is primarily because every bordering state has recreational and they’re losing tons of tax revenue.

                yes and what did it bring harris’ campaign as an incentive? seriously think about this. every campaign issue she put forward were all things most states that care already have or were getting this election what voters would it bring to the table for her if they were going to get them anyways why show up for harris. fuck this isnt hard.

      • Clbull@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        Bernie Sanders

        Pete Buttigieg

        Or if they could have approached a very popular celebrity such as Dwayne Johnson or Taylor Swift and asked them to run.

        Even Andrew Yang could have produced a better result if he made a better campaign pitch than focusing his solely on leftist pipe dreams that will bankrupt the country such as UBI.

      • Aoife@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        19 hours ago

        Look blaming the democrats is done not because the republicans aren’t to blame, but because blaming them is sort of pointless. It’s like blaming terrorists for the shit they do. Yes, it’s their fault. Yes, they’re morally reprehensible. So what? Are you going to spend time trying to come up with detailed arguments for what they could’ve done better? No, you look to the material conditions, people, and organizations responsible for fighting them, and for making sure people aren’t desperate enough to join them, because their job at least in theory is to do better. I blame the democrats because I believe they could have done better. I do not have even that small grain of hope when it comes to the republicans.