06/28/2024
from Indivisable... short on last night debate and going forward.
https://mail.aol.com/d/folders/1/messages/AAlX-pBZVwGSZn7gmwSvONgIz7A
Mike,
I’ve timed this newsletter to come after our movement’s Weekend of Action around the Dobbs anniversary this week, and after the first presidential debate last night. This is a rapid response newsletter, so let’s get right to it the News, the Brag, and the Discussion.
The News: That debate…oof.
Here’s my personal opinion on the debate: Biden turned in a terrible performance and Trump was an unhinged, nonsensical, lie-spewing, convicted felon who refused to accept the last election results or the next one. It was painful to watch.
But here’s the thing: Ultimately my personal opinion on this doesn’t matter. I know who I’m voting for. You know who you’re voting for. We don’t need convincing. The question is what impact this had on the voters who aren’t already with us -- the folks who don’t like politics, who find elites of both parties untrustworthy, and who aren’t currently thinking about the stakes of this election.
In the days to come, we're going to get a ton of data on how these voters reacted to the debate. Frankly, there's no reason to think Biden won people to our side. I also don't think there's much reason to think Trump won them over, either.
But let's not skip over the damage Trump did to himself. He refused not once, not twice, but three times to accept the results of this election. He refused again to accept the results of the last election. And he bragged about killing Roe and opening the floodgates to attacks on reproductive rights around the country. You don’t have to be a Democratic campaigner in the spin room to recognize all that is deeply unpopular and bad for Trump.
You’re going to hear me repeat this a lot in the months to come: When voters focus on the personalities, we struggle. When voters focus on the stakes, we win. And what all the data so far tells us is that many, many voters do not yet understand the stakes.
I wish Biden had done better in this debate. But there is no world where Biden could carry this message on his own regardless of how well he landed his lines. He’s an elected politician and a member of one of our two national, unpopular political parties. Our target audience -- those folks who legitimately are torn between voting for Biden, voting third party, or not voting at all -- view him and others in his class with skepticism. Mathematically speaking, most of them did not even tune into the debate.
You and I know these stakes -- it’s what makes us so engaged in this fight. And we need to blast it out again and again and again, in as many creative ways as possible, in the hope that eventually it will break through with the voters we need. Not the first or second time, but maybe the eighth or ninth.
So here’s my real take on the debate: Ask not what Biden can do to win the election; ask what you can do to help defeat Trump. And that brings us the brag:
The Brag: But what can we do? Lots.
