LogFAQs > #978696227

SecretBase posted...

The whole Democratic socialism thing is an odd case. On one hand mainstream Dems became more tolerant of it as continued exposure established it as harmless, yet still weren't willing to take up that fight while the focus was on beating Trump. And on the other hand, a lot of the populist whites who were originally fine with it backed off after persistent propaganda from Trump, Venezuela's economy collapsing reaffirming it, and the very socially liberal young women of the Squad becoming a public face of the movement (it was never gonna last with these guys once the debate expanded beyond class issues).

Basically the only real gain over those 4 years was more young voters, but they don't vote lol. (at least not in primaries)

Yeah I'm skeptical of outright socialism as someone who did a political science - economics bridge major, but there's more and more reason to oppose unregulated capitalism as negative externalities become undeniably apparent. But I'm pretty sure most people are still looking at which party is going to look out for their own economic interests.

And also a lot of moderate voters who previously didn't vote were energized specifically to toss out Trump after 2016.

The 2018 midterms showed a smaller progressive awakening in blue states and a larger moderate awakening in purple states. Just looking at those numbers observant pundits could determine the moderate end would have the advantage in the 2020 primaries.

Bernie himself probably did, hence why he went for a plurality strategy; there was no way ever he was getting a majority with that electorate.

With that kind of breakdown of the populace, it's impressive that two progressive candidates even held their ground so long.

Based on conventional wisdom it's understandable. Additionally Bernie constantly being at war with his own party was another liability to consider. Biden was considered safe in part because his party actually liked and supported him. Nobody's bothering with a revolution when they just want everyone united against Trump.

Unfortunately, political connections seem to play a big part when it comes to actually getting things passed through a divided government. And stopping corrupt Republican schemes really should take priority above all other squabbles, honestly.