Summary:

Democrats are becoming increasingly concerned about a possible drop in Black voter turnout for the 2024 presidential election, according to party insiders. The worries arise from a 10% decrease in Black voter turnout in the 2022 midterms compared to 2018, a more substantial decline than any other racial or ethnic group, as per a Washington Post analysis. The decline was particularly significant among younger and male Black voters in crucial states like Georgia, where Democrats aim to mobilize Black voter support for President Biden in 2024.

The Democratic party has acknowledged the need to bolster their outreach efforts to this demographic. W. Mondale Robinson, founder of the Black Male Voter Project, highlighted the need for Democrats to refocus their attention on Black male voters, who have shown lower levels of engagement. In response, Biden’s team has pledged to communicate more effectively about the benefits that the Black community has reaped under Biden’s administration, according to Cedric L. Richmond, a senior advisor at the Democratic National Committee.

However, Black voter advocates have identified deep-seated issues affecting Black voter turnout. Many Black men reportedly feel detached from the political process and uninspired by both parties’ policies. Terrance Woodbury, CEO of HIT Strategies, a polling firm, suggests that the Democratic party’s focus on countering Trump and Republican extremism doesn’t motivate younger Black men as much as arguments focused on policy benefits. Concerns are growing within the party that if they fail to address these issues, disenchanted Black voters might either abstain or, potentially, be swayed by Republican messaging on certain key issues.

  • @NewEnglandRedshirt@lemmy.world
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    19211 months ago

    Maybe… Maaaaaayyyyyyybeeeee the Democrats need to nominate someone who is actually worth getting excited about instead of just being not-Trump.

    • @givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      6111 months ago

      Because if voters are excited, they may start voting in primaries…

      Every since Obama beat Clinton 15 years ago, party leaders seem more motivated to make sure their pick wins the primary than a Democrat winning the general.

      “Moderates” seem ineffictive because they’re not trying to just win, they’re trying to win by as little as possible. Like a corrupt pro athlete who’s not throwing the game, but trying to win by less than the spread.

      They know the reason most people vote for moderates like Biden, is if they don’t, someone like trump would win. It’s just the party leaders would rather trade back and forth than let Dems like FDR win every election for decades.

      • keegomatic
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        3511 months ago

        Ever since Obama beat Clinton 15 years ago

        Jesus I thought you were exaggerating and then I did the math

        • @givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          If you think that’s bad:

          Biden’s first presidential primary was 35 years ago…

          He was the expected front runner due mainly to his (at the time) exceptional public speaking but got caught plagiarizing speeches, lying about his grades in law school, and even people finding out he cheated while in law school by plagiarising papers.

          But everyone forgot about all that because he spent 8 years standing next to Obama. And the only reason he got that job was to make old white people less uncomfortable voting for a Black guy.

        • @Elderos@lemmings.world
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          711 months ago

          and millions are claiming the democrats are radicals, little do they know that the country was more progressive on certain fronts 50 years ago. So they have to resort to blaming gays and trans, because everything else about the current staye of the country is kinda right-wingy to begin with.

    • @Excrubulent@slrpnk.net
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      3611 months ago

      Anyone “worth getting excited about” is going to challenge the status quo too much - even nominally - for the DNC to be okay with it. They are conservative in the descriptive sense. “No-one’s standard of living will fundamentally change.”

      • NaibofTabr
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        -511 months ago

        I get that we have many problems that aren’t really being actively solved, but personally I’ve been pretty happy with this return-to-status-quo term as compared to the previous non-status-quo term… and right now the narcissistic traitor is leading the nomination polls.

        • @Excrubulent@slrpnk.net
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          2311 months ago

          You’ve been pretty happy with status quo have you? Great, love that for you. Sounds like being apathetic to the problems is working out for you specifically. I certainly wouldn’t want you to have to think about the enormous numbers of disenfranchised, poor and minority people who overwhelmingly don’t turn out to vote because they don’t see a real difference in their lives between parties and the dems aren’t doing anything to prove to them why they should care. That sounds like it wouldn’t be comfortable for you, and that’s the top priority here.

          • NaibofTabr
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            11 months ago

            You’ve been pretty happy with status quo have you?

            I’ve been pretty happy with this return-to-status-quo term as compared to the previous non-status-quo term

            Context matters. If you take my words out of context, then you aren’t actually addressing what I said, you’re addressing a straw man. Or did you intend to imply that you were happier with the previous president?

            And this is putting words in my mouth:

            Sounds like being apathetic to the problems is working out for you specifically.


            But never mind your flawed approach to debate, let’s actually take a look at what’s been done during Biden’s time in office:

            The bill’s economic-relief provisions are overwhelmingly geared toward low-income and middle-class Americans, who will benefit from (among other provisions) the direct payments, the bill’s expansion of low-income tax credits, child-care subsidies, expanded health-insurance access, extension of expanded unemployment benefits, food stamps, and rental assistance programs.

            “Historians, economists and engineers interviewed by The Associated Press welcomed Biden’s efforts. But they stressed that $1 trillion was not nearly enough to overcome the government’s failure for decades to maintain and upgrade the country’s infrastructure.”

            The Inflation Reduction Act is the largest piece of federal legislation ever to address climate change.

            Since the May 2020 onshoring of TSMC used by Under Secretary of State Keith J. Krach as a catalyst for the bill and to secure the U.S. semiconductor supply chain, a significant number of companies and a list of ecosystem suppliers have committed or made announcements for investments and jobs in the US.

            “Nine months ago, President Joe Biden signed a sweeping bipartisan gun law, the most significant legislative response to gun violence in decades.[…]Several months in, the law has had some success: Stepped-up FBI background checks have blocked gun sales for 119 buyers under the age of 21, prosecutions have increased for unlicensed gun sellers and new gun trafficking penalties have been charged in at least 30 cases around the country. Millions of new dollars have flowed into mental health services for children and schools.” [reference]


            In fact, Biden’s track record is pretty good overall. So every single problem hasn’t been solved in 2.5 years, at least there’s been progress. And did you forget that Biden inherited the country in a crisis which Trump massively bungled? You’re like a poster child for letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.

            • @Excrubulent@slrpnk.net
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              11 months ago

              I could compile a similar list of their failures if I cared to. This is just a gish gallop.

              Here’s one: Hillary’s campaign directly promoted the extreme far right leading directly to Trump’s victory in 2016.

              In its self-described “pied piper” strategy, the Clinton campaign proposed intentionally cultivating extreme right-wing presidential candidates, hoping to turn them into the new “mainstream of the Republican Party” in order to try to increase Clinton’s chances of winning.

              https://www.salon.com/2016/11/09/the-hillary-clinton-campaign-intentionally-created-donald-trump-with-its-pied-piper-strategy/

              That’s not “good”, that’s “enabling fascism”. Absolute clown shit.

              If you have to compare them to outright fascists to say they are comparatively “good”, that’s not a great look, but even then you can’t ignore when they do shit like this. You can’t hide behind their supposed good intentions either. They nearly threw 2020 by pushing Biden into everyone’s faces like a wet fart and saying, “At least it’s not a torrent of diarrhea! Vote for the wet fart please!”

              I never told anyone not to vote as far left as was practical - which in the US means voting Dem. I am simply pointing out the reality that the most disenfranchised people in the US don’t even vote. Not voting isn’t a sign of privilege, thinking voting will change anything is a sign of privilege, because it means you’re in the increasingly small minority that might see any change from it.

              You say I’m letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, but you actively defend mediocrity from any and all criticism because you can’t see past the false dichotomy you’ve been presented with. If I want my kids to leave the park, I don’t say, “We’re leaving now,” I say, “Do you want to leave in 5 minutes or 10?” and they respect the results, even though I invented the entire spectrum of possibility for them. The two party system has done the same thing to you.

              It doesn’t matter why you’re happy with the status quo, what matters is that you are defending the status quo. That makes you functionally conservative. Just because there are other conservatives that are worse by comparison doesn’t change that.

            • queermunist she/her
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              -511 months ago

              Some of those accomplishments are worth celebrating, but:

              A competent response to COVID-19

              lol are you kidding? The only countries on Earth with a competent response to COVID were New Zealand, South Korea, and China.

              Supporting domestic manufacturing of semiconductors

              This is just tradewar bullshit with China. I work in manufacturing so I’m not against seeing more investment in my sector, but like, this isn’t about making good American jobs. It’s only about preparing for the inevitable war over Taiwan.

      • @SCB@lemmy.world
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        -611 months ago

        Also for Democrat voters. I don’t want a Bernie/Williamson/RFK candidate. I want the candidate I voted in as President in 2020

    • @conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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      2711 months ago

      Sorry, the do-something machine is broke. Best we can do is partially fossilized C-Suite moderates.

      Well, what if we put RFK Jr beside them, does that make them seem any better?

      Well, now you’re just being unreasonable.

    • @Pratai@lemmy.ca
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      2111 months ago

      Not being trump is enough for me. Sure, I’d love someone better. But I’d vote for a wooden brick if it meant america wouldn’t turn into a dictatorship.

    • @HurlingDurling@lemm.ee
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      1311 months ago

      This shit right here. Both times I was exited for a candidate he got thrown out because the party leaders didn’t like him, first with Hillary, and then with Biden. I’m just going to continue to vote for not-trump because I know how bad it will be but I don’t want any centrist democrat almost as much as I dont want trump.

    • @tidy_frog@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Or maybe you need to understand that the down ticket races are more important than the presidency?

      Change in the US starts at the bottom. Not the top.

      Fuck the presidency. Just vote for the candidate that isn’t going to burn the country down.

      You want real change? Real progressivism? Vote progressives into local offices. Your young, progressive education board member today is your congressional rep tomorrow. Your congressional rep today is your presidential hopeful tomorrow.

      Let the status quo dems toss whatever geriatric they want at the presidency and vote them in so we don’t get another trump, or worse, a president desantis or something.

      Presidents don’t often push new laws anyway. You want to change the country? Help take the House and the Senate. As long as the president is the same party they’re not going to veto progressive legislation.

      • SpaceBar
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        511 months ago

        I was about to write something like your comment.

        You want real change? Real progressivism? Vote progressives into local offices

        Show up to every local election. Pay attention at the local level. Use your passion against the two party system to get third-party candidates elected to your state house.

    • Azal
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      1111 months ago

      Maybe… Maaaaaayyyyyyybeeeee the left voters need to actually show up to vote.

      Now everyone is going to say they voted in a presidential election, possibly even a primary which makes them a rarity! Those aren’t what we’re talking about. The right has made it a point to vote on everything even as small as schoolboards so the only people voting in the tiny little races are the right wing rage crowd or the centrists who are being pulled to the right. Yes, the presidential vote matters, but frankly those lower down votes mean a lot more and if you watch how the Republican primaries are going, shows exactly how much power that batch that will show up has over a party.

      • @hark@lemmy.world
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        211 months ago

        This is some real “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” energy. If “just vote” actually worked, they’d change the system just enough so it doesn’t. Assembling establishment voltron in 2020 during the primaries is just a tiny taste of the lengths that democrats will go to in order to prevent a progressive candidate from winning.

        • Azal
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          211 months ago

          Thing is, it isn’t “Just vote”, it’s being absolutely active every step of the way. Dunno what your territory is but my state we’re having an absolute route of the ultra-right wing going for every local position with the Republicans national conference funding them, the Dems have considered the entire state a lost cause.

          So kinda, yea, it is a pull yourself up by the bootstraps, and anyone else who you can pull up as well because we’re sure as hell not getting help from the top, but it’s either that or sit on our fucking hands and go “whelp”. Remember, whether you like her or not, AOC primaried the supposed “2nd in command” Democrat. If you don’t like the establishment, you root it out from the bottom.

      • @InvaderDJ@lemmy.world
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        2811 months ago

        I don’t think that was the main reason.

        IMO, Biden was nominated because he was a fairly uncontroversial (by mainstream sensibilities anyway) white male candidate who also isn’t that attached to many positions that would threaten the powers that be.

        Biden is a weather vane that swings in accordance to the winds. Which is all that was needed to beat a historically unpopular candidate like Trump. Thankfully, Trump is such a bad option that even Biden can be a palatable candidate.

        Why this fossil didn’t bend the knee and allow another younger, more exciting candidate step up for 2024 is beyond me though. But I guess seeing the average age and mental capability of Congress, it shouldn’t be surprising. IMO, everyone over the age of 65 should be ineligible for elected office. They are at retirement age, and have no real, justifiable stake in the future. They should retire with the knowledge they won life and can live out the rest of their days in comfort and leave running the country to people who have skin in the game and the energy/mental faculties to actually play it.

        • @Upgrade2754@lemmy.worldOP
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          1511 months ago

          Biden joining + everyone else dropping out was the last hope the establishment had to kneecap Bernie, and it fucking worked

        • @kbotc@lemmy.world
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          611 months ago

          Biden won because black women liked him and they actually go out and vote in the primaries, unlike the louts in this thread who are literally talking about how they won’t vote.

          • @InvaderDJ@lemmy.world
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            511 months ago

            Biden won because black women liked him and they actually go out and vote in the primaries, unlike the louts in this thread who are literally talking about how they won’t vote.

            I think that goes with him being uncontroversial. Black people in America are fairly conservative, and politically they like to go for people who can win that aren’t too radical. Biden was that candidate.

        • @tidy_frog@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Why this fossil didn’t bend the knee and allow another younger, more exciting candidate step up for 2024 is beyond me though.

          Probably because the geriatrics fucked two whole generations of politicians by not stepping down when they should have.

          Gen X and millennials don’t have enough horses in the race with the experience necessary to run for president because they got fucked by the boomers.

          We’re going to be in for an exciting ride over the next two decades as something like 40% of Congress retires or dies in office without anyone with experience available to replace them.

          And this is on both sides.

        • @themeltingclock@lemmy.world
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          811 months ago

          Your dream is Harris?! Shit, no. No, no, no.

          My hope is that Biden is staying in the race until the 11th hour to be the lightening rod and the dems have someone better to step in.

          Of course, that would require some intestinal fortitude and a few brain cells and I don’t think the dem leadership has that.

    • @Techmaster@lemmy.world
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      111 months ago

      It will only last a few more years, but in the near-ish future the problem will take care of itself. (They’re both very old)

      • @hark@lemmy.world
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        211 months ago

        Spoiler alert: The problem doesn’t end with some old people. Greed is eternal and has to be actively fought the entire time.

    • DarkGamer
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      -511 months ago

      I’d rather we nominate someone who is electable, i.e., palatable to centrists, even if they’re not as exciting as someone who would move the Overton window leftwards.

      • @jimmyjazx@lemmy.one
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        1211 months ago

        What if is instead of focusing on a vanishingly small number of centrist swing voters, you focused on the 35% of non-voters by improving their material conditions?