If the Majority of People Are Hateful Jerks, Won't Republicans Win in 2026?

[TomCADem]

We keep on assuming that people if Democrats simply have a new messaging strategy about the cuts to Medicaid, disregard for the rule of law, etc., that Democrats will win in 2026, because we assume people will reject the cuts directed at the poor and vulnerable to pay for huge tax cuts for the rich?

However, isn’t this just progressives once again living in the bubble assuming that most people have not become more callous, hateful and vindictive? If the population has become more hateful and vindictive, then a Republican strategy of scapegoating and cruelty toward the less fortunate will prevail over a Democratic strategy discussing providing more opportunities, less division, more competence, etc. For example, stoke resentment by workers in the private sector against workers in the public sector.

In other words, rather than campaign, perhaps Republicans have won as an incidental benefit of a social media infrastructure that breeds isolation and hate. So, should Democrats become more hateful and cruel to more effectively target American voters, particularly certain demographics that have been groomed by social media algorithms to be misogynistic, distrustful of higher education, and resentful of anyone who is perceived not to be “masculine” as they listen to Joe Rogan or their latest Facebook feed?

[SWBTATTReg]

1. I don't think the majority of people are jerks. I think a tiny sliver are, and they are loudmouths too, making it seem

like they're a majority. The vast majority of us, the Silent Majority, just watches from the background, doesn't speak out often times, but when they do...their voices are definitely heard.

[H2O Man]

2. No

[elocs]

3. We assume that '26 will be a Democratic rout but maybe we need to temper that assumption

with reality, especially if we are counting on Democrats turning out to vote like it was their duty, be prepared to be disappointed. And Progressives live in their own bubble of unreality, believing if they really love a candidate then that person just has to win.

[TomCADem]

18. Agree. We Think Most People Think Like We Do, But Most People...

…now get their news from social media. How do you think that false stories like immigrants eating pets can gain such traction even though most reputable media outlets quickly noted that these stories were false? We have been taught to distrust the media, doctors, experts, etc., and rely on our “own research” which often consists of a search on YouTube that leads to a quack influencer.

It is not that voters are “low information”. The issue is that there is a flood of information out there, and you can now draw whatever reality you desire thanks to modern search algorithms.

Look at DU. Read GD long enough and you may convince yourself that 2026 will be a Democratic route. Yet, if you follow right wing sources, you will probably believe that Trump’s cuts to Medicaid, inflation due to tariffs, and exploding deficit is part of a genius plan with no shortage of influencers telling people that things are going better than expected.

[Be Leave On]

20. techno-feudalism

The very design of social media inspires hatered and distrust of "others" and creates/nurtures tribalism.
Yanis Varoufakis speaks of techno-feudalism as our new economic paradigm.

[J_William_Ryan]

4. "If the Majority of People Are Hateful Jerks..."

The majority of people are ignorant, apathetic, and capricious with the attention span of a gnat.

Devoid of long-term memory and lacking any understanding of politics, they vacillate between hating Democrats one election cycle to hating Republicans the next – we should hope 2026 will be the hate Republicans election cycle.

[bucolic_frolic]

5. Those are legitimate concerns.

Maybe our common shared concern arose from Great Depression scarcity and WWII sacrifice, and no longer exists? So competition and anger are now the rule in a world of relative abundance?

[tulipsandroses]

6. I don't think the majority are bigots. However I think it's a solid 30-35 %. We need to work on non voters

So many don't think the system will work for them and do not participate. There are far too many people that do not vote. Nearly 90 million people did not vote in 24. Democrats will need to be bold to get them to turn out. None of this middle of the road nonsense to appease republicans that detest trump or center right democrats. Start now. Don't wait until election cycle. Stop trying to reach trump voters. The working class is not just white men.

[msongs]

7. depends on how much pain people are feeling after 47's policies actually kick in... right now it's speculation nt

[GJGCA]

8. Old joke: If someone is...

...an asshole, they're an asshole, if everyone is an asshole, you're the asshole.

(Granted, majority != everyone)

[betsuni]

9. In fact, whatever Democrats or Never Trumpers say, message or do, probably will have the opposite effect

if anyone even notices in the first place.

Republicans don't even need to campaign or be able to finish a sentence. No to being like Republicans. Once you go to the dark side, can't go back.

[lees1975]

10. If the assumption is that 2026 will be a Democratic route, it's a mistaken one.

Democrats have a 25% job approval rating in Congress. That's well below Trump's.

They're on the path to doing the usual, as if Trump is not an existential threat to the country, as if gearing up the fundraising apparatus and the "give me money and I'll get it done" mantra will work without the kind of reform within the party that millions of Biden voters from 2020 staying home in 2024 tells everyone in shrill, loud tones is an absolute necessity.

There are already Democratic pundits preparing for the disappointment of not being ablel to get the Senate back in 2026, from the configuration of races that are happening. Google it, you'll find it.

They need to listen to the people who are gathering for the massive protests and marches, and who has the ability to gether them.

[bronxiteforever]

11. Not the majority. The majority is poorly educated

and lack fundamental reading skills. The United States has an enormous brain gap that is destroying its institutions and economy.


In the United States, 54% of American adults read below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level, and nearly one in five adults reads below a third-grade level. Lower literacy rates directly correlate to higher unemployment rates, reduced income, and overall impacts U.S. competitiveness on the global stage.
https://www.thepolicycircle.org/briefs/literacy/#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20States%2C%2054,below%20a%20third%2Dgrade%20level.

[lees1975]

12. Oh, you better be careful here, blaming the low information level of the electorate on the poor quality of American

education. Criticizing the developed world's worst public school system is not popular among the left, certainly not here.

But that's right up at the top of the list of why we are where we are. We have elected a president and a lot of members of congress, who have in turn appointed judges, who do not have a sixth grade working knowledge of the Constitution. And while the arguments will form to defend our educational system, which is atrociously and inexcusably far, far behind most of the rest of the developed world, the evidence of our ignorance and our lack of an educated electorate sits in the White House and serves as our President. And that, more than any of the preponderance of poor American test scores and curriculum requirements, compared to most of the rest of the world, is the proof that our educational systam is a failure. If it cannot achieve its purpose of sustaining an educated and informed electorate, then it has failed.

[TomCADem]

15. It Is a Mistake to Call Voters "Low Inforrmation". The Opposite Is True

Perhaps there is too much content out there that exists to reinforce hate and prejudice. For example, try running a search on YouTube for MMA, cars, and Bikini shows, and you will likely get a sampling of right wing videos as part of your search results. Click on a couple of those, and you start to get a steady diet of those. With AI and social media algorithms, people are drowning in information, rather than being low information.

[Be Leave On]

21. They're drowning in propaganda and disinformation.

[WarGamer]

13. To put it in as nutshell... Democrats lost the "politicians don't give a shit about me" vote.

Don't get me wrong... Trump doesn't give a shit.

But he acts like he does.

It's the populism, stupid.

That should be the slogan at the DNC.

Win back disaffected voters, win elections.

[Iggo]

14. Majority of people and majority of voters are two different things.

If everybody voted, we’d never lose. That’s why voter suppression is a Republican thing and not a Democratic thing.

GOTV.

[TomCADem]

16. We Keep On Telling Ourselves That If Everybody Voted, Dems Would Never Lose...

2024 was a large turnout election, and Trump and Republicans won.

[William Gustafson]

17. What makes you so sure we will have another presidential election???

Thats my big question...

[TomCADem]

19. Of course, there will be election.

We think that Republicans love conspiracies, yet you still have progressives spreading rumors like there will not be an election in 2028. Republicans hold a majority of Governorships and majorities in both houses. They have nothing to fear from elections. It is not about election campaigns. It is about winning the ground game for progressives, and they have failed to adapt. Go to a local government meeting, and you will find that right wingers are the ones who show up at school boards and city councils to complain about DEI, immigrants, vaccines, woke culture, etc.