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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 7th, 2023

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  • I generally agree with you here, and I think we’re expressing a similar point. And the general sentiment that the electoral landscape can shift from one election to another is true, but I think it’s worth underscoring that the changes you’re discussing haven’t yet led to a significant break in the tightness of the 2024 race. The fact that Harris’s lead in Wisconsin has shrunk from 1.8% to just under 1% recently is exactly the point. This shows momentum shifting toward Trump, not to mention the same trend in other swing states.

    You’re correct that the Electoral College advantage may change slightly in 2024, but as of now, the fundamentals we’re looking at are pointing toward a very close contest in the key battleground states. It’s not just the national polling averages that matter here—it’s the state-level dynamics that determine the outcome, and recent polls show the swing states tightening, which is why it’s reckless to assume Harris is in a secure position. Even Nate Silver’s model, which tends to account for some unpredictability, has downgraded Harris’s chances since the end of September.

    National polling averages like the ones you cited (538, NYT, etc.) paint a picture of a close race, and while they show a lead for Harris, the recent shifts we’re seeing in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, among others, indicate that Trump is gaining ground. The fact that Harris’s national lead is shrinking in traditionally blue states like New York and California actually emphasizes her vulnerabilities in the swing states, where the race is most critical.

    Bottom line: There’s no data right now that suggests a significant shift in the electoral college advantage for 2024. In fact, if anything, Trump’s recent gains are pushing the tipping point states even closer. With polls this tight and the Electoral College looking like a replay of 2020’s knife-edge margins, it’s exactly the wrong time to get complacent. Everyone should be treating this as an all-hands-on-deck situation.



  • Harris doesn’t have a comfortable lead in the EC, what are you talking about? Even your own posted article says she’s within the margin of error nationally, and the race is closer in the swing states than in the national polls. That’s by definition not a “comfortable lead.”

    Biden won with 4.5% more of the national vote. Harris currently is polling at about half that. In the EC, Biden won by only 78,000 votes despite his large +4.5% popular vote lead.

    Two different polls in the last two days have flipped two swing states over to Trump. Nate Silver’s polling aggregator reflect the many, many polls that have shown Trump gaining in multiple swing states. Silver’s projections reflect this by indicating a six point drop for Harris to win the EC since the end of September.

    Optimism is fine, hopium is not. No high quality polling shows Harris with a “comfortable lead” in the electoral college.

    These “don’t worry be happy” posts seem like they’re coming straight from the Trump campaign. Harris has a comfortable lead, I guess I don’t have to worry! Even if you say “but you have to vote,” the psychological effect of denying the state of the race with hopium like this is to make people feel less concerned and more complacent about voting.









  • The sad thing to me is that they’ve created six hours a day of time to do something constructive, and they use it to watch movies. That’s the real tragedy of our current society, in my opinion. People want their own time to do something “meaningful,” but very often they don’t honestly know what that is, and instead they just burn their life away being fed the dopamine-hitting, passive consumption that characterizes modern life. I worry the younger generations of millennials and z (of which I’m part) are going to have a serious, wide-spread, paralyzing existential crisis that makes the current malaise and apathy look like the “good times.” People are going to look up from their phones when they turn 50 and realize they spent their whole life waiting for their “real life” to begin.

    Reminds me of The Bell Jar:

    "I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet, and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn’t quite make out.

    I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet."




  • Elitism and wealth, though often linked, are not the same. The term nouveaux riche highlights this difference: it refers to those who have gained wealth but lack the cultural status of the traditional elite. One can be rich without being part of the elite, as elitism is more about attitudes of superiority tied to education or social influence than money alone.

    In American politics, Democrats are often branded as elitist due to their perceived condescension towards certain demographics, such as rural communities or southern voters. Critics argue that some Democrats dismiss these regions as culturally or intellectually inferior, suggesting that rural areas offer little value or substance. This perception of elitism stems from more than just economic disparity; it reflects a cultural and ideological divide. The urban-rural schism is not simply about money, but about who holds the power to shape discourse, values, and the future of society. Such perceptions fuel populist resentment, where rural or working-class voters feel alienated or belittled by what they view as a metropolitan, highly educated, and culturally insulated elite.

    You can see some of this elitism right here in the comments in fact.