NYT Study Spells Trouble for Dems as Candidates' Leftism Repels Far More Independent Voters Than It Attracts Dem Voters
The Democratic Party is in trouble. With the 2020 presidential election just over a year away, no clear contender from the liberal party has emerged, and now a study conducted by The New York Times suggests that Democrats are alienating the very voters they need to win.
It’s no secret that Democrats have moved increasingly to the left in recent years. A liberal candidate from just a few decades ago would look downright conservative these days as 2020 hopefuls trip over themselves to promise more “free” handouts and push increasingly radical policies.
But pressing the gas peddle on leftism just might drive the Democrat clown car straight off a cliff. On Monday, The New York Times published the results of a survey, which indicate that far-left proposals are frustrating independent voters, who may make the difference in next November’s race.
“In recent debates, candidates have supported policies like offering health insurance to undocumented immigrants, and commenters have warned about the potential electoral penalty of repelling persuadable voters,” Times journalist Alexander Agadjanian reported.
A study designed by the newspaper’s staff and conducted by data research firm Civis Analytics contacted almost 4,000 Americans. These potential voters were shown either a news article about increasingly liberal Democrat policies, or a more mundane article about the election cycle. Then they were asked about their likely voting enthusiasm in the upcoming presidential election.
“The news item was a few sentences that included policies discussed by the candidates: decriminalizing unauthorized border crossings; expanding undocumented immigrants’ access to government services; replacing private health insurance with a government-run system; and establishing free public college for all children from working-class families,” The Times reported. “The content was drawn directly from real news coverage.”
If your blood pressure spiked while reading that list of Democrat candidate positions, you’re not alone. The study found something fascinating: While hardcore Democrat voters were somewhat energized by the far-left policies, independents shunned them.
“The embrace of progressivism solidifies support among Democratic survey respondents when thinking about the 2020 general election,” the newspaper explained. “But it repels independents, with a negative effect that is stronger and clearer than the signs of enthusiasm generated among Democrats.”
That last point is the most important. The coveted independent vote has played a major role in elections before, and there are strong indications that Democrats will need their support if they have any chance of taking the White House next year.
But instead of wooing those independents, Democrats appear to be pushing them away.
“When deciding between Mr. Trump and the Democratic nominee, voters in the middle — the independents who could ultimately tilt things in Mr. Trump’s favor — became six percentage points less likely to vote Democratic after reading about the leftward turn compared with the independents who had read the innocuous content,” The Times reported.
This seems to back what many conservative commentators have been saying for a while: The Democratic candidates are their own worst enemies. They just keep shooting themselves in the foot, often making Donald Trump seem like a surprisingly sane choice by comparison.
We’ve seen this repeatedly with Joe Biden, who is currently at the front of the 2020 Democrat pack. Even after his handlers tried to limit his public appearances and “manage” the former vice president’s gaffes, he keeps putting his foot in his mouth.
Another example is Beto O’Rourke, the former congressman who has received significant media attention despite being at the bottom of most 2020 polls. O’Rourke did his own party no favors by declaring that liberals were coming for the lawfully-owned guns of Americans, basically creating Republican attack ads all by himself.
While the left consistently tries to silence conservatives, it might be smart for Republicans to just let their Democrat opponents keep talking.
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