Could Taylor Swift tilt Florida blue? It’s Democrats’ wildest dream.

Rapidcreek@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 338 points –
Could Taylor Swift tilt Florida blue? It’s Democrats’ wildest dream.
politico.com

“Florida Democrats don’t know why Taylor Swift is naming an upcoming song on her new album ‘Florida!!!’ or the reason she chose to hold three concerts in Miami less than a month before the November elections,” Politico reports.

“But their excitement around the news is less about ‘why?’ and more about leveraging Swift’s celebrity status to fill the blank space for beleaguered voters tired of losing to Republicans.

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It's weird how moderates think Taylor likes Biden and doesn't just hate trump.

It's the only reason most Biden voters are Biden voters, which is why he's polling so terribly

There's no reason we have to be running such an unlikable candidate again, just because trump is even more unlikable. It's only worked 50% of the time now.

Edit:

Wow. A lot of people don't seem to know many Dem politicians...

Biden himself said over 50 Dems could easily beat trump.

I think this guy would be a good option, but there's lots of others

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Ossoff

I'm not exactly a fan of Biden, but he's on the ballot for two reasons:

  • Incumbents historically have an advantage, and it would be crazy to throw that advantage away.
  • Who else would run in his place? It's not like there's some other obvious candidate. I can think of lots of progressives that I'd personally love to see on the ballot, but the reality is that none of those candidates are seen as being electable in swing states. Be nice if it were otherwise, but it ain't.

Incumbents historically have an advantage, and it would be crazy to throw that advantage away.

In lower offices maybe, but since 1980 (Carter) we've only had 4/7 incumbents reelected. People may talk about how Carter/Bush/Trump all had something uniquely terrible that caused them to lose their reelection, but Biden's got a 38% approval rating, is tied to an unpopular foreign war, and has record low numbers with critical voting blocs. He's not riding high and doing fine.

And yet I'll still go out and vote against Trump instead of staying home in november.

Who else would run in his place?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Ossoff

That guy's 36, but ran the most funded US Senate campaign in America's history.

So he's got the money neoliberals say they care about.

He was an investigative journalist going after corruption, his positions line up with what Dem voters want...

And he's really popular with gen z voters.

Why not him if all that matters is "not trump"?

The most funded in America's history isn't because of him; it was because it was a special election with the entire nation pouring money in for the sake of winning a Senate majority. It could've been Joe Manchin and the same outcome would've happened. That's not a reflection of Jon's campaign prowess.

Did someone stop him from putting his hat in the ring? Because otherwise, I think the problem is that he doesn't want to run in Biden's place and I don't know that voting for someone who isn't running in the first place is an especially good strategy to beat Trump.

The issue is no one wants to challenge Biden, not that no one would want to run in his place. Biden shouldn't have run for reelection, but if he doesn't step aside a challenge is likely to just blow up the party (at least unless Biden has some major senior movement that causes people to abandon him en masse). But that's an actuarial gamble, and if it doesn't happen you've got a split party and a weakened candidate. We're seeing the in Republican party how well challenging the presumptive nominee goes when you're simultaneously not trying to say anything remotely negative about him.

That doesn't really change the fact that he has expressed no interest in running. For whatever reason.

Expressing an interest in running is challenging Biden, they're the same thing.

Dens also spent a ton of money getting him into the senate majority. They’d have to risk doing that again if he left to be president (not that they couldn’t, but it could be pressure against running).

The real problem is that most of the people smart enough to run, are too smart to want to be president.

Ossoff would be great. I'd also be up for Jeff Jackson, who has a pretty solid social media following due to his "I'm a newcomer in Washington, here's what it's like" videos.

I don't know why people act like there aren't other options.

Biden himself literally said he could think of 50 other Dems who could beat trump.

I will pour my heart, soul and life savings into an AOC for president campaign as soon as she decides she's ready.

I said I'd vote for her as Prez and pretty much all of my coworkers (Trump suckers) nearly had heart attacks.

You realize the DNC went into overdrive to kill the primary this election cycle, right?

Reordering states to favor Biden, keeping candidates off ballots, and some state Democratic parties even effectively cancelled their presidential primary.

Now, if you only consume mainstream media sources, it wouldn't be surprising that you weren't aware, as they have been mostly ignoring it.

Biden wasn’t even on the ballot in NH and easily won via write ins. Presidential incumbents who seek the nomination of their win primaries. Without exception. Always. Biden might not be popular, but he’s much much more popular than anyone who even imagined running an opposition.

And? Just because I am not a fan of how the democratic party is run doesn't mean I'm not going to vote for them.

There are a lot of problems... But this argument is awfully close to apologetics for Trump.

Maybe you missed the part where I was responding to another comment that casually mentioned there's no other viable Democratic candidates.

Stating objective facts isn't an argument, they're just facts. The DNC did those things, and worse. It's not up for debate, and there was no point being argued.

It sounds like you believe anyone saying anything critical of the DNC, is actually secretly a Trump supporter, or Trump apologist?

Well... golly gee, you got me there. Good work!

Keep it up, and don't worry, there's definitely no way that approach to political discourse will ever spectacularly backfire on you.

Again. And?

It still sounds like you are one of those "it's broken so don't vote" assholes.

Twice now you've invented positions for me, based off nothing that I've actually said i.e. straw man.

Lame dork.

See. This is the big where your argument seems insincere.

The only one who seems insincere is you since you keep making shit about this person

I haven't made up shit. I stated what it looked like and they failed to repudiate it followed by calling me names.

What argument????

argument /är′gyə-mənt/

noun

  1. A discussion in which disagreement is expressed; a debate.
  2. A quarrel; a dispute.
  3. A reason or matter for dispute or contention

Please, tell me what I've actually said that qualifies as an argument.

Not what you've imagined or mystically determined using tea leaves or tarot cards, but my actual words.

Exactly. The points you put together made no argument. I asked "so what?" And indicated that the points as presented appear to be the same points people use/put together to say: "so don't vote." / are used by the same group of people who are trying to disenfranchise or discourage voting. This is a common propaganda technique.

Maybe they could have held a preliminary contest to pick a candidate.

You'd be moving that advantage to 2028 most likely. It sure would be amazing to get 12 years of democratic presidents.

I would love to see President Elizabeth Warren

I respect Warren a lot, but she's 74 and I'd really like to see a US president who isn't well past retirement age.

Omg is she really? She doesn’t look that old to me I wouldn’t have guessed. Is she single? What’s her story? Asking for a friend

Would you believe she also doesn't drink caffeine? There are some people who just have unbelievable amounts of energy.

Well, Warren is the one person I’d like to see in office right now. I don’t like Biden. I hate that he is running for reelection. I only voted Biden because I would vote a steaming bucket of literally dog poo over Trump.

I really, really hate our two party FPTP system but I realized in 2016 that third party is a waste. I just want someone I’m excited to vote for and not someone I’m voting for because it’s not Trump.

Polling indicates among democrat voters that LITERALLY ANY OTHER DEMOCRAT IS PREFERRED OVER BIDEN.

It’s so bad that next presidential election (if we have one) the democrat can candidate can say “at least I’m not Biden” and probably win on that alone. That’s basically all Biden is doing.

You have to be incredibly popular as a named candidate to beat an unnamed candidate.

I wish I knew what sound and Ostrich makes because I would make that sound right now.

Keep your head in the sand bro. No fascists here! It’s all good.

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Literally anyone under 55 could probably beat Trump.

Seriously.

People act like a candidate has to be perfect, if oring that Biden has been polling terribly and failed multiple times at becoming president before narrowerly squeaking by trump.

Yeah it would be really nice if there was a D that folks liked.. I'd love to see a landslide election. But those days are gone I'm afraid.

THO.. has there been a Democrat or Republican in the last.. 50 years that folks really liked?

Maybe Obama... But other than him...idk

Yeah, both parties seem to just be running on "I'm not the other guy" recently, and it's getting old (though admittedly the Republicans have been running on it a lot harder). Obama was the last candidate to be nominated on a platform that tried to make the case for a future.

Bill Clinton was popular for a while, which is a shame since he contributed heavily to the deregulated economy we have now

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Ossoff

I'm not a huge supporter of the guy, but he's young, progressive, really popular with the youth, and just raised more money for his Senate run than any other politician in American history.

Sounds like he's going to be president anyways eventually, why wait 30 years before it's "his turn"?

Like, remember all the talk about the Georgia runoffs and no one expected Dems to win?

Ossoff is one of the Dems that won that

Didn't recognize that name at all. After reading his wiki I recognized that he was one of the Georgia run-off Senate races. Maybe he'll do some stuff and gain some popularity in the future. From what I saw in wiki the only thing he has done so far is vote with the party and help get a college re-accredidated. The reason his campaign was somhighly funded was because he was running in one of the most contested races in the country that was flooded with cash from all over.

I'm very glad he won, but also would someone who barely won their district really be a great possible push for a national candidate?

Also, "not a huge supporter" and have now posted him as a name/possibility all over the thread lol.... You campaign for him? Are you him?

Because just saying:

Biden himself said there's over 50 other options.

Just gets me Biden supporters doing their best owl impressions until I start blocking them for sea lioning.

Which it's probably time for by now.

I mean, by the time the fifth person asks the same question instead of scrolling down... I don't think I'm gonna be missing much. Especially since I edited Ossof into my top reply now.

You've said the same thing five times and you're surprised you're getting the same response five times?

What?

You really thought I was talking to all the people who kept asking:

Who?

I gave the same answer each time...

I just don't understand how someone wouldn't have understood that

FPTP needs to go before we can have earnest conversations about how milquetoast a politician Biden is.

Then people who love milquetoast candidates will find a new arbitrary criterion that must be met before we can criticize their candidates.

Who is a likable candidate, with experience but younger, who has name-recognition, can offset incumbent advantage, and not be an easy punching-bag for right-wing propaganda? Maybe Gretchen Whitmer? I don't know.

Unfortunately Democrats don't have great candidates at least for another election cycle or two. They're between two generations with nobody in the Goldilocks zone.

I was concerned a while back that Republicans would rally behind someone like DeSantis or Haley and the age difference alone, let alone being a "fresh face" would be enough to put them over the top. Fortunately, the same match-up goes in our favor right now — especially with the backdrop of (a) the economy, (b) women's rights, and (c) corruption trials (based on independents polling).

It looks like the Senate is going to be much harder to keep than the White House.

Jon Ossoff

But Biden himself said there's over 50 other Dems who could beat trump.

Why are you acting like that's not true?

I mean, maybe? But Jon Osseff is untested. A brand-new US Senator whose background hasn't been scrutinized to the degree Biden's has (and who largely remains clean). Quite a gamble. And before you mention Obama, Obama wasn't hijacking an Incumbent presidency. Entirely different situation.

And before you mention Obama, Obama wasn’t hijacking an Incumbent presidency. Entirely different situation.

He ran against Hillary...

She had more party support than most incumbents.

And suddenly we've switched to Joe Biden fighting to win a primary from him begrudgingly taking the nomination because no one else can.

Giving voters a say in who they have to vote for in the general is never a bad thing. People feeling like they have no say in the primary are less likely to vote in the general

I don't know what to say. Biden won; Hillary didn't. And Ossef is no Obama. We're in a shitty situation with no good data-backed solutions.

At the end of the day, nobody stopped anyone from running a primary against Biden.

At the end of the day, nobody stopped anyone from running a primary against Biden.

Lol, yeah, the blacklisting stopped when the DNC stopped publicly announcing it.

Biden himself said there's a bunch of other options, so if I'm wrong so is Biden.

Stop defending someone by disagreeing with them, listen to what they say instead of just rationalizing with whatever you assume

And do t expect me to try and help you understand anything else.

There's a hefty amount of cognitive dissonance if you're saying I'm disagreeing with Biden, and yet, Biden chose to not step down and run for a lack of anyone else throwing their hat in the ring. So how, exactly, am I disagreeing with Biden? These are not mutually-exclusive.

lol ok. You continue speculating on blind hypotheticals and I'll just focus on reality of what is. Nobody of substance threw their hat in the ring; Biden chose to continue running despite also saying others could beat Trump. These are facts. Don't expect me to help you understand anything else.

Who?

You need name recognition to win.

You didn't hear about the Georgia runoffs?

You didn't hear about the Senator who raised more money for a campaign than any other Senator in US history?

One of the handful that Gen Z voters not only know but genuinely support and follow?

The youngest Dem Senator since Joe Biden's first term?

Mate, just because you don't recognize a name, doesn't mean no one does.

And it should be common sense that we should go with a name that non-voters know. Because they're the votes we need. We're talking about politics on social media, we're both voting anyways.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Ossoff

So yeah, name recognition is important, but we're not the demographic Dems need to focus on, so it doesn't matter if we recognize the name. We're voting D regardless

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God damn was that refreshing to read! I appreciate your enthusiasm! 🥂

GOPers are seriously unlikeable motherfuckers to start with

I dunno, the racism and simplistic explanations seem to be pretty likeable among a certain crowd

The majority of that demographic is dying in the next couple decades. That's why the GOP is so desprate.

If that worked, it would have happened a long time ago. There's always been a certain group of people who are attracted to authoritarian narratives. Perhaps we won't be locked in battle with them forever, but we can't take it for granted that they'll just die out.

It's happened many times before, the old guard dies out and the party shifts further to the left just enough to win elections again.

I mean, look at all of the conspiracy theories swirling about now.

whoever has the most likes wins

Well, whoever spreads the most hates wins. I don't think even the Trump fans like Trump. They just think that Dems eat babies, want to turn them into femboys, or replace them with blacks and Jews or whatever.

If Taylor Swift saves democracy by getting a bunch of her fans to vote... I would buy at least one of her albums. I wouldn't listen to it, but I'd be thankful just the same.

I wouldn’t listen to it

I’m not a Swiftie. My sisters were big fans growing up, but I couldn’t care less about her music.

But when Midnights held all ten of the Billboard top 10 slots, and people were talking about it, I decided to listen to it on a walk with my dog.

The music isn’t amazing or anything, but it isn’t bad, either. It’s pretty standard modern pop, I would assume. But her lyrics are amazing. I’m not exactly sure why, but that album resonated with me, a man in my thirties (who admittedly prides himself on finding things to like about stuff). I listened to it twice that day, and I still listen to some of the songs on it on occasion.

I can understand why people get really into her music.

Anyway, all I’m saying is that if you do buy her album to thank her for saving democracy, it might be worth a listen. There is certainly better music out there, but also MUCH worse.

I’m not a Swiftie

when Midnights held all ten of the Billboard top 10 slots, and people were talking about it, I decided to listen to it

music isn’t amazing or anything but her lyrics are

resonated with me

a man in my thirties

still listen to some of the songs on it on occasion

Are you me?? Like I genuinely could've written this drunk and forgot. That's literally exactly what I did with that album and how I feel about it.

I listened to it several times for a month even, so much that I got a good chuckle when Spotify informed me in the yearly review that Taylor Swift was my most played artist in 22, which is admittedly easy when all you hear normally is radio stations and playlists with various artists. Still, hilarious to see her on top of my usual metalcore bands.

Some lyrics still randomly pop into my mind these days and then I have that song stuck in my head for a while. I then sometimes put it on while cooking. It's fun music to sing loudly and awkwardly to when you are alone, lol.

Another man in my 30s here, generally listen to stuff like 70s punk, hard rock, classic blues, outlaw country, alternative rock and post punk, prog and folk.

Haven't quite reached this point yet, but listened to folklore a few times when it came out and liked it quite a lot. Checked out Midnights for the first time the other day, and... Yeah. It might be happening to me too.

If you mix some Veritechs into this plotline, I think you have the makings of the next Macross series, and I'd go out and buy that for a dollar.

I think you may be onto something. I'm more interested, though, in giant transforming robot airplanes than a music and dance number

That's the weird part about Macross; all the series somehow involve both being central to the story. But I would definitely be more into a Taylor Swift show if there were transforming mechas involved.

Good luck getting the Latino voters in Florida vote blue. There's been a generational effort to convince the Cuban and Puerto Rican voters that anyone left of Mussolini is Fidel Castro incarnate.

I love my Latino brothers and sisters, but Florida is not the place to hope for a blue wave.

Actually Latins in Florida are not a block. Young Latin voters tend to vote Democrat- older Republican.

I thought Latinos in general, not just in FL, tend to lean more conservative? For years there was the narrative that Dems would just wipe out Republicans if they got the Latino vote on board, but Latinos tend to be more conservative-leaning in general, are themselves against illegal immigration, probably trend more religious, and really haven't come out to help Democrats.

Democrats in general tend to try to pull in alot of groups that don't turn out to be very reliable voters. Oftentimes I think they're trying to do the right thing for these various marginalized groups, but then those groups just don't have their back when they're really needed. Youth voters might be getting a bit better in recent years, but that hasn't always been the case.

I thought Latinos in general, not just in FL, tend to lean more conservative?

In 2020, Latino voters voted Biden 2-1. They've been reliably Democratic, but just not to the extent of Black voters. They have recently trended more Republican, but that doesn't make them conservative (at least in the big picture everything falls on a single political axis).

It's really hard to see that Latino's just can't see that they're voting against their interest when they vote conservative, at least in this country.

How about the florida democrats don't run shitty ex republican candidates and actually manages a decent campaign for once in their fucking lives? Nikki Freid is right there and they did her dirty. We don't need Taylor swift, we need someone who gives some modicum of a shit about florida. For being a huge "swing state" they sure don't seem to think we're worth the effort

Every year, it gets tougher and tougher to take a stand on the coastal states. Literally. And, Florida's gonna be the first to pull an Atlantis. 🤷🏼‍♂️

What do you mean? It's harder to justify improving the political situation in coastal states because of global warming?

Um. Florida's coastline is literally dredged back from the ocean onto the beach by heavy machinery nearly every night. The state is slipping into the ocean so fast, the local government is literally clawing it back in impotent denial.

Ok, so we aren't worth the effort because the collective shittiness of everyone on the planet is destroying the coastline. Cool. Fuck you. I didn't choose to be born here and I can't afford to leave. I'm glad there's people like you out there that are so quick to flippantly dismiss the lives of 21 million people

That's not how I interpreted their comment. It seems to me that they were making a statement about the broad political climate of Florida being somewhat of a lost cause, using the example of ineffectively trying to stop the ocean from reclaiming the land while simultaneously railing against efforts to combat climate change.

You specifically are not the problem, but a majority of your neighbors are. The problem isn't going to be fixed by national political forces, y'all need to organize and fix it yourselves.

"Flippantly dismiss"? Ironic, while you do the same to 2,610,726 Floridians in your juvenile tantrum. FFS, Florida's population has been above 21 million people for over five years, you nonce.

The census info from 2020 puts the population at 21.78 million. I'm not going to scour the web for realtime population updates for a fucking comment on the Internet. And if we're going to be that pedantic, your numbers are wrong too. 25 people are born every hour in Florida. Better hope those numbers you pulled are up to date!

My juvenile tantrum? Thats hilarious coming from some dipshit that came in from nowhere to hurl insults at me and insinuate that I'm a sexual predator. Just wanna be angry cause I got a number wrong? Does your diaper need changed too? Is mommy weaning you off the teat and that's why you're grumpy? Fucking pathetic

Waaah. It's Wikipedia and took 30secs to find, cupcake. Jog on and stay in Florida. Please. 🤣

No, he means literally, it's physically difficult to stand

Because the coast is sinking

Not improving your political stances, but just benefiting from a popular artist? It's the Democrats wildest dreams!

Offer nothing of substance, get more votes!

remember on election night in 2016 when HRC was doing a preemptive victory lap in BlUe TeXaS while PA, OH, MI and all of the other "firewall states" that were supposed to guarantee her an easy win turned red? Let's not go looking for treasure up our own assholes and instead let's ensure that the easy wins actually happen.

How long until Republican gun nuts inadvertently end up supporting Taylor Swift by buying a CD album of her music just to shoot it?

Oh right. Now she needs to go on the list with Bud Light and whatever else.

Damn. Never imagined a world where Taylor Swift could influence politics. Every little bit helps I guess.

"Gee, we never considered how toxic Republican politics are living in a state where you can't even mention Black History Month until Taylor Swift told me to register to vote!"

Meh. Imagine having such a weak political stance that you need to rely on artists to do your political campaigns. The dems need to pick themselves up if they want some real gains, not these half assed attempts.

Imagine having such a fucking weak-minded electorate that some trendy twat (or a career criminal who spray paints his face orange) sways the course of politics.

Celebrities have endorsed and platformed for candidates since we’ve been holding elections. This isn’t a sign of a weak campaign. It’s a sign of anything that will help.

Yeah. But claiming that "It's the democrats' wildest dream" makes it sound like they're relying on this shit instead of actually properly going in the offensive and attacking the GOP for the shit they do. The dems just sit around and hope shit falls out of the sky half the time

Nobody said they were relying on it.

Then what the heck are they doing. Because to me it looks like all the democrats are doing is laying a red carpet for republican populist/extremist propaganda all the damn time. They never go in the offensive, they just do weak ass defensive damage control.

Any excuse to run to the right.

If they keep screwing around with that window, it's going to break.

4chan loves Taytay. Use this mememagic to your advantage.

Frankly I don't give half a shit what 4chan loves, personally, because 4chan also loves producing and distributing CSAM.