Isn't this what the whole Yglesias or whoever "popularist" thing is? Just poll all the time and only support the things that poll the best, regardless of the merits and completely ignore your ability to CHANGE public opinion a la the Republicans moving the whole country super far to the right on immigration over the last 10 years? I'm no…
Isn't this what the whole Yglesias or whoever "popularist" thing is? Just poll all the time and only support the things that poll the best, regardless of the merits and completely ignore your ability to CHANGE public opinion a la the Republicans moving the whole country super far to the right on immigration over the last 10 years? I'm not surprised that this take has come up and that total scumbags like Newsom have been to ones to take it up i.e. just focus on the one near universally hated aspect of Trumpism, the tariffs, and focus on that to the exclusion of everything else. I'm afraid this is how many Dems will run in 2026
Sure, they've moved the policy further right, but a good deal of people fall into the "they should come here 'the right way'" camp without further parsing the obstacles to "the right way", have for a while, and the prevailing view is still that the GOP is "tough" on the border and Dems are "soft".
I'd go so far as to say they aren't even trying to change public opinion, because they don't give two shits about polling or consensus. They just focus on winning a seat- and with gerrymandering, you don't have to temper your policies once you're out of the primary- then imposing their beliefs regardless of the popularity nationwide. They put enough of a veneer on it to limit pushback by talking about crime and using dead white women as political props, and that's it as far as they're concerned.
Isn't this what the whole Yglesias or whoever "popularist" thing is? Just poll all the time and only support the things that poll the best, regardless of the merits and completely ignore your ability to CHANGE public opinion a la the Republicans moving the whole country super far to the right on immigration over the last 10 years? I'm not surprised that this take has come up and that total scumbags like Newsom have been to ones to take it up i.e. just focus on the one near universally hated aspect of Trumpism, the tariffs, and focus on that to the exclusion of everything else. I'm afraid this is how many Dems will run in 2026
Sure, they've moved the policy further right, but a good deal of people fall into the "they should come here 'the right way'" camp without further parsing the obstacles to "the right way", have for a while, and the prevailing view is still that the GOP is "tough" on the border and Dems are "soft".
I'd go so far as to say they aren't even trying to change public opinion, because they don't give two shits about polling or consensus. They just focus on winning a seat- and with gerrymandering, you don't have to temper your policies once you're out of the primary- then imposing their beliefs regardless of the popularity nationwide. They put enough of a veneer on it to limit pushback by talking about crime and using dead white women as political props, and that's it as far as they're concerned.