we see very clearly in public polling that people in california and D.C. hate the deployments and that americans broadly disapprove of them, but here we have an assertion that the smart strategy is to avoid any discussion of the situation in favor of a pivot to, you guessed it, kitchen table issues.
once again, i'll suggest that perhaps the reason the broad public thinks democrats are weak is that when confronted with situations that demands that democrats loudly and proactively stand up for their values, democrats shirk from the fight
Makes sense, but then maybe they shouldn't be in office?
The Democratic Party has long been a Trojan Horse, attracting voters with pretty speeches, all the while smothering progressive initiatives (Pelosi dismisses progressive reform as “pie in the sky”) and signing off on widening the wage/wealth gap. Americans need to primary the “moderates.”
Pelosi understands #s. If she refers to a reform as "pie in the sky" it's likely because there aren't enough votes for it. Progressives have yet to understand this. If they did, they'd work hard at ensuring Dems have a majority. One way to do this is by not undermining Dems & depressing the votes.
Dismantling the systemic privilege funnelling America’s worth into the pockets of the top 1%, will meet strong resistance. Struggle is literally THE JOB. “Moderate” elite Dems like Pelosi don’t want to derail that privilege train they’re on, so they claim that change isn’t worth a struggle.
In your world, the GOP, who always lower taxes for the rich when they have majority/power, don't exist. You'll probably continue to say "But the Dems" while the GOP dismantle democracy & cause devastation to the US/world. Loss of USAID alone might result in 14mil dead. www.bbc.com/news/article...
In your world, change is neither possible nor necessary.Your world must be one of privilege for you to be so willing to to see America go on forever like this — Americans the toy being punted back and forth between two fat parties of robber barrons. Demand change in the Dem Party. Flex some muscle
I vote with Black women. Civil rights & voting rights are my issues. Blood was shed to gain those rights. Privilege is not being able to differentiate actual threat from perceived threat. Privilege is to throw away hard won change & ignore consequences & the people most affected by them.
Until every vote, for any party, wins equal representation in Congress our votes are an illusion, used by the plutocrats to keep us compliant. The system you seem to want to defend LED US HERE. It doesn’t have to be like this. We can demand change. It starts with #Proportional_Representation
Some people live in the here and now, and the choices available in the here and now. If you think 2024 votes were an illusion, then which alternative reality do you live in that insulates you from reality and its consequences?
If you are content with with how things have turned out with the system as it is, then by all means carry on with the limited choices they’ve put on your plate.
Many successful democracies around the world use Proportional Representation elections: Everyone represented by the party of their choice, no vote splitting, no gerrymandering, no governing without at least 50% of the voters supporting. It statistically gives better voter turnout, higher approval
Yeah if politicians thought like this in the 60s, we’d still have segregated bathrooms. If only people like Pelosi had any interest in using their massive platform and power to influence public opinion. But no, they’re feckless weaklings who can only point at a chart and say “not now”
Holding the people you elected accountable to actually do their fucking jobs is not undermining Dems. That’s not how democracy is supposed to work
Holding Dems accountable without understanding how Congress works? Demanding Dems do something that voters didn't empower them to do? Voters gave Trump/GOP power. That's the consequence of people not voting for Dems. GOP voter suppression & voter *depression* (trashing Dems) empowers the GOP.
Yeah I’m not talking about right now. I’m talking about the years of Dem majorities when things like green new deal, Medicare for all, or even something as simple and obvious as increasing the min wage were pie in the sky for people like Pelosi
And if Dems had done a better job of actually delivering the reforms they pretended to care about, maybe we wouldn’t have Trump and the GOP in power (that, and having a pudding brained geriatric insist on running again when he was clearly mentally and physically unfit)
You can’t spend decades telling people we cant do things and then keep expecting them to pull the lever. Especially when the GOP seems to have no problem doing the things they say they’re going to do
I know they think voters are stupid, but even the stupidest voters can realize that establishment Dems only care about the wealthy and corporate donors
This!
and the only person willing to stand up and confront situations head on has been Gavin who is anointed by the party but nobody likes, he’s gross to trans people and experiencing homelessness. they actively sabotage any candidate that would be good for them, Dems are weak cowards.
The only way for everybody to get used to Democrats being fierce loud fighters, is for the Democrats to start being fierce loud fighters. I'm constantly surprised at protesters feeling like they must be polite -- I grew up in the 70s and those protests were loud and sweaty and rude. And effective.
Just the ones who take AIPAC $
Is the survival of representative self government and the rule of law in the US a 'kitchen table issue?'
Perhaps the reason they do that is because they’re weak and insincere?
How much of it is that they AREN'T saying things and more that the things that they are saying are just not being reported at all? Given legacy media buried a multi million, full 50 state protest without even doing a footnote level acknowledgement it's kinda hard to act like info is fair and free
It's 'cause they're capitalists first and public servants last
So, the reason folks think that Democrats are weak, is because they are weak?
perhaps because we are led by a coward and a instrument of the zionists. Just speculation, but….
I read in a 35 year old Dave Barry book that Democrats are the type of people who would stop to help you change your flat tire but would somehow set your car on fire in the process. Halcyon days, it turns out
This is what people are responding to in Zohran; he actually believes in his policies and so is able to argue for them effectively. He can also link them to specifics, like in the video of him talking about how curb cuts could be improved by filling open staff lines.
This is, of course, because they're paid by the same donors who benefit from the current situation, and have been told that if they actually put up a fight, they'll immediately turn off the money faucet.
Part of the reason they're weak is that they have a weak hand. Newsom objective to the deployment of the CA national guard, vocally, loudly, and through the legal process. Yet it didn't stop anything. I agree that should be loud against it, but if they're steamrolled, what's the point?
Their donors must be telling them not to overreact. As if they've arrived anywhere near 'react' levels at this point. Gutless, feckless wonders. I've had it.
Just don’t understand why “not only that, he did this too!” wouldn’t work since that what the DoI is
one thing i'm fascinated by is how these "tested" messages do not actually have any relationship to how people encounter political messaging these days.
So we have real life confirmation of voter activation/participation with Mamdani messaging that completely contradicts the theoretical model that’s failing. And yet you can’t challenge the Democrat leadership that they know better 🤔
The message is testing poorly because the message is a bummer, not because the message is wrong or unpersuasive.
Sunk costs. Not willing to write off they spend money on idiots as it may make them look like an idiot. Unfortunately for them, it makes them look like more of an idiot but sticking with it versus cutting loses and perhaps increasing their support.
All of these messages are way too long to meaningfully test. Its weird to test these and not slogans or general themes
The problem isn't "tested messages" as such (unless you actually think Newsom's messages haven't been tested). It's matching the messages with people with the right acting skills to get the messages to hit home. "Authenticity" is a matter of the messenger having the right acting chops.
Also, a bunch of them are substantially the same but test at completely different levels. The methodology must be incredibly stupid.
Yep, the methodology looks really bad, like they jammed in what they wanted to talk about no matter what. bsky.app/profile/whst...
fwiw it's not hard to craft a line that nods to kitchen table issues but still captures some urgency. "you put this asshole in office to make your life easier but all he's done is cut taxes for his rich buddies, kidnapped your neighbors and sent the military to tell you to shut up when you complain"
📌
Keep it simple
Freaking Gavin Newsom and all of his baggage is resonating because there is an appetite for someone, ANYONE, to message like that and fight back! Imagine if a politician that didn't toss Trans people to the wolves did this!
Easy peasy.
Canceling cancer research…who asked for that?
hear, hear
100%
These losers all seem to have forgotten that the last Democratic presidential candidate to inspire actual enthusiasm (Obama) did so because of his unapologetic opposition to the Iraq war, a stance considered political suicide at the time.
* (winning Democratic candidate to inspire enthusiasm, I should say)
He then proceeded to stamp out all that enthusiasm by telling the left to fuck off
Yep. Talk like a normal person.
Dems, Dem consultants, most MSMedia--all act as if the only way for Dems to win is to follow--not lead--uninformed/disinformed voters. Big Data surveys ask low info voters re: 100s of policies & discover they're focused on their wallets--Bc Dems & media don't inform ppl on threats to democracy.
That strategy worked great in 2024--for the GOP. MSMedia hire many RWngers to do the RW part of MSM "both sides" coverage, & hire many "centrists" who say both sides are equally bad & who practice Murc's law religiously. So media influence Dems, their donors & their consultants in a RW way.
SBF, once 1 of the biggest Dem donors-- openly gave $ to Dems but gave equal amts of dark $ to GOP. So he was not a Dem ally. How many other Dem donors do that? Does it influence their advice?--in such a way that they advise Dems in ways that help the GOP? www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
In even mainstream media, in the economy & in other ways, we are immersed in Right Wing views. So it's natural that Dems, Dem consultants, Dem donors, Dem Big Data surveyors etc. are all believing in & acting on RWng disinfo. But somehow we all need to get past this, if democracy is to survive.
Interesting point!
Thanks, Blanche
"We're all adults here, we can all agree that all people want the same things for their family, even if their family looks a little different from yours. They want to put healthy food on the table, to send their kids to good schools, and to know their kids will be safe when they leave the house.
Right now, this admin is making grocery prices rise & products are disappearing from the shelves. They're taking parents away from kids and making people feel afraid to walk down the street. They're so sensitive, they're even getting comedians cancelled! Is this really what you voted for?" etc
Put it on a billboard. Meeting adjourned.
I’m in the way back in California. People here don’t see these issues as substantive. They buy into the old Conservative Party line and still blame Dems for anything that goes wrong from prices to wolves. I’ve had better arguments with mules.
Maybe we just need to send dem leaders to improv school to learn “yes AND”
Exactly - it’s not “tariffs are bad economic policy.” It’s “Trump promised to lower prices. He lied and now everything costs more.” Perhaps more importantly, no one should listen to the guy who spent a billion dollars and lost to Donald Trump.
That works.
And they show disdain for anyone who does exactly that.
💥
cussing makes the Baileys sad
he literally prefers the imaginary constituents in his head to his actual human voters
The rich buddies one won’t work on bros: they think they’ll be the next rich buddy
not to mention how weird they all are. that is still a valid talking point.
“The guy cutting funding from cancer research is spending untold billions to send the military to American cities to round up Uber eats drivers.”
Like, how is a police state not a fucking "kitchen table issue."
Also like "vote for me I'll get end the military harassing your kids" is a pretty kitchen table issue!
Even if the “kitchen table issue” advice were true it will always fail as it cannot keep and retain attention unless yolked to more sensational news. A huge problem we have is that “the tax systems unfair” cannot compete with “dangerous foreigners” and “sexual deviants” for short attention spans.
You gotta hammer on the individual cases and put a face to it if you want people to remember the systemic critique (Pedocon theory!). It might feel grubby but you can’t throw mud without getting some on your hands.
I’d even say that the ICE bs is a kitchen table issue - grocery prices are only starting to show the tariff impacts, restaurants have seen a decline, foreign tourism is down. None of this is good for us.
The problem is conservatives have a stranglehold on new and traditional media. How then do you get the message out?
And yer grocery bill....
Maybe they should actually come talk to some of us. How many Town Halls are they holding these days?
They don't care, most of the poorest states are red states and they constantly vote in Republican super majorities at the state level.
I think this is a great example of a common sense approach to messaging using colloquial conversational language that while not focused on core left talking points does not betray them either but is clear and unequivocating.
To this very point 👆, last week @mayorwu.boston.gov of Boston responded defiantly to AG Bondi’s threat to withdraw Federal funding unless he city cooperated with ICE. The focus was on the issue at hand, but she deftly wove in the kitchen table issues into her remarks without losing a beat. ☑️ it out.
Aces!
Yes, they’re missing the point about the power of anger and emotion in messaging
+1. Would submit that rather than highlight the Trump-voter’s, eh, poor-decision making, perhaps more effective to note that “…you trusted this person and he has betrayed your trust; all he’s done …” Realize we’re spitballing on this Sky thing. But such a nuance has been helpful in my conversation.
Yes. Walk & chew gum at the same time. It can be done. "Trump will kick your grandma out of elder care in order to pay for thugs to roam the streets and snatch your daughter in broad daylight."
Sometimes I wonder if Dems aren’t being threatened as much as Republicans claim they are being threatened by the MAGA base.
THIIIIIIIIS
Don’t forget to throw in some shade for Republicans, who are continuing to support this rapist felon who thinks he’s a king when he should be a public servant
And the DC hospitality industry is seeing COVID levels of business
Also, the military deployments and immigration raids are having a marked effect on local economies (on top of the general damage he's doing at a national level), so it's not like they're completely separate things. Effective messaging should be able to tie it all together.
More broadly you could just ask who exactly is paying the tab for all this deployment...and maybe get people thinking about the fact that it's gonna be them and it's not gonna be cheap....
Yessssss
Okay but the urge to “craft” messages that do bankshot stuff like this is the root of a lot of the Democratic message terribleness. Just say what you think! Threading the needle between six different issues is performance art, not persuasion
I would love it if my local rep would inflect that he cared, at all But I’m going to wind up driving through a checkpoint on my way to work and sheltering my undocumented students in the book closet before they ever happens
right, i mean, if you asked me what i thought on the spot, i might say something like this. it is actually rhetorically effective to contrast what someone says they do with what they're actually doing.
right, I think the distinction here is contrasting for the sake of dunking and demonstrating contempt vs contrasting for the sake of working in some consultant-approved keywords to boost your keyword score
Which is, I think, the bigger issue with the candidates we see put forth: so many of them *require* crafted lines because they’re incapable of saying what they think in the moment (or worse, that they don’t believe what should be said). That should be disqualifying at this point.
It’s the latter. They don’t have any convictions. They are empty vessels the consultants fill with messaging.
Zohran did a charming little video about how his comms team told him he was using the word "ultimately" too much (cute supercut of same), then "I am listening, I am learning" (cut to interview where he catches himself at "ul-" and changes word). It killed me. I died. I'm still crying.
These people have the most gifted, natural communicator in a generation. A man incredible at being natural and human and connecting with who he's talking to... and they're trying to make him nitpick his words while speaking. If anyone can put me in touch with this comms team. I just wanna talk.
Old Dems still want their candidates to be nice to billionaires and corporations, while pandering to workers, which reads as increasingly contradictory and delusional.
omg you nailed it! if i see chuck schumer hunched over a lectern reading from a piece of paper *1 more time* ....😡 if he can't just stand up and say what's on his mind, i have to wonder if he's still even GOT a mind
Absolutely! The answers should be automatic because they believe in those values to their marrow. The answers should be scathing because to even suggest those values aren't worth it is offensive to the soul. The answers should be authentic because those values ARE authentic.
Their marrow is donor dollars
No shame in training and rehearsing. Like playing music. Not everyone is a spontaneous genius. But like music, you practice not until you *can* do it right but until you *will* do it right.
You are talking about performance. Acting. What people trust in political terms is some level of authenticity. Too many Dems these days are media trained by people who are out of touch with real life & real emotional responses. People who think that somebody badly beaten by ICE is a “distraction”.
Good points, still think a bit of coaching and practice could help a number of Ds connect better, but JMO. Great point about ICE hurting people. WAY more than a “distraction”!
Again, this is being authentic. "It's who I am" Practice what you preach. No paladin is born. I thought along these lines soon after I punched reply. I think I understand what you're saying, and I believe might even be a facet of what the problem is.
The befuddlement one must feel when confronted with a Crowder "Change My Mind" is unexpected. But that is the lay of the ground now. Until it evolves again the unpracticed must sit, the unready stand aside, the unwilling go home. And when they aren't needed, they too will be replaced. An opinion.
I think Jeffries needs training. He has potential but sweet mother of pearl he makes a hash of things
How do you do fellow human
Can you imagine how people in L.A. and D.C. feel about their terror and anger at being invaded is considered a "distraction" by the Dem leadership. Why not just flip them the Bird Hakeem and tell them to STFU.
How can they not see that taken as a whole those messages << the sum of the parts? However persuasive any one statement may be, the people following these analytics and delivering them in sequence look like unprincipled, pandering losers who have no core. Everyone sees right through them.
IMO it’s mostly just a matter of firepower. You don’t need to obsess over the perfectly crafted message if you have blanketed all channels of mass communication with a constant stream of propaganda. You can’t break through that brain infection with a single, well-crafted message.
"they're all freaks" works well with a quick reminder "and we are not"
The worst thing about this memo? The messages they disfavor are as rhetorically INeffective as possible, meandering mishmash, while kitchen table shit is written crisply and urgently. Blue Rose does this all the time (they butchered one of @anatosaurus.bsky.social 's messages). It's atrocious.
The biggest problem was Biden never got out and spoke and Kamala only got like 3 weeks time to get it out.
And she wasn't allowed to say anything against Joe or his policies.
This. The gap between the rhetoric and the reality is so enormous. The messaging should start there. Even before you get into how awful the reality is.
Showing a little passion helps, as well. There’s no fire in that message.
Am I missing something? "The higher the percentile, the more effective that talking point is at driving down Donald Trump's disapproval"? Democrats don't want Trump's DISapproval to go DOWN? (Are they inverting the scale on that Republican page?)
We might have to grapple with the possibility that many career politicians don’t have independent thoughts at all.
A lot of them actually are that politician from Parks and Rec who just kinda sits there when he’s not gladhanding with voters
Ok but Sen. Van Hollen’s hair on fire, “this is a dictatorial power grab” message got a rousing 13%! When Dems go alone on this messaging, MSM gleefully boffsides it and gets to say “extremists in both parties!” Ppl forget that GOP has had Fox providing air cover for their assaults for 30 years!
I mean, this is today! A leading MSM outlet basically signaling that there is no reason to panic, it’s all just optics:
Well said. Sincerity resonates. “Messaging” needs work, but this seems way too fancy
Asking your neighbors questions is a lost art. That’s how we learn and that’s how we can be responsive. All the dems in our town are not like me. But being honest, listening, and developing trust outside the election cycle is key. Ask me how I know.
also, even mid messaging and priorities could go a lot farther if literally any elected Dem other than newsom was capable of repeating the same thing a dozen times per day
Yeah, Zohran makes this kind of argument (“Trump appealed to people based on their material needs and then delivered authoritarianism and corruption that helped the wealthy while betraying his voters”) and I think it works because he genuinely believes it. He’s not just trying to triangulate.
There are unique elements of Trump that often get papered over, but the issue with deliverism or rather Shorism is that it tends to be overly reductive and premised on the idea you can only succeed if you silo away any hard issue. That's just not true. You can play these issues off each other.
“Not saying he’s being a fascist asshole and punishing places that didn’t vote for him ONLY because he’s all over the Epstein files and inflation is through the roof, but he definitely wants all that off the front page”
I’m absolutely fine with someone comparing prices now to when he took office, but using the guard as his own personal army because he can’t handle mockery has to be the main thing and Epstein a close second.
The David Shor memo goes in the “Democrats can’t win” file.
Was talking with a dog playdate buddy here in suburban NC, and he's doing a lot of traveling to see places before Trump initiates martial law, and is crossing places off his list he thinks he can't get to first. Fascism *is* a kitchen table issue. Normal people have to account for it.
I feel like getting jackboots off the streets would be intensely motivating for voters
because the "tested" messages come from the D versions of Frank Luntz, and they don't ask the questions the D on the street (citizen on the street) wants them to ask and answer.
Maybe they need to test messaging on the Epstein files
It seems like democrats are always shooting for incremental changes. The trick is finding a good way to sell a plan for greater economic and personal security. That's FDR 2.0 at least.
"Kitchen table issues" is tired and corny. Any politician who starts spouting that term is telling me they don't know anything about how people really live. It shows me that they'd rather spend money to hire cynical, greedy, jackoffs like Third Way and Blue Rose than talk to people themselves.
Are they actually polling real people or just using AI?
These tested messages poll super great with the donor class.
Tbh, in the few Republican town hall episodes I've seen, kitchen table issues seem to be the vast majority of rage focus.
Dem messaging would improve 1000% if David Shor decided to one day just walk into traffic.
Also these tested messages have seemingly not worked for a literal decade. If they did, wouldn't Clinton & Harris have won?
Really, anyone involved in the 2024 campaign that managed to engineer defeat against Trump's chaotic ramble of a campaign should *never* be allowed anywhere near campaign management again. (Walz is excused. He was doing well till he was gagged.)
And notably, the ones they tested them against are also wishy-washy consultant speak (“a manufactured DC crime crisis” and “an imposition on DC home rule”) instead of “Stephen Miller’s jackbooted thugs are coming to your neighborhood”.
Yes. I would be out there telling people that the jackbooted thugs are coming to your city next and they are going to arrest you if you so much as look at them the wrong way. In this case, fear is the correct response.
Ds need a Newt/Luntz team who in the 1990s sent training tapes to R politicians teaching them to speak about Ds in demeaning and derogatory language. Luntz helped craft many of Rs lines. Eliminate estate taxes becomes ‘eliminate death taxes’; the PP&ACA becomes ‘Government takeover of healthcare’.
Public opinion polling stopped being accurate (if it ever was) when the landline became extinct. A snapshot of weirdos today.
Frankly I'm just tired of these incessantly wrong people keeping their highly paid jobs as consultants. Give me new bad ideas, at least
I think the consultant is just telling leadership what they want to hear. They've worked so long for their turn to get their positions in the party, they don't want to have to do anything new, no matter what.
“tell the client that the correct choice is whatever they wanted to do already” is the basic consultancy ethos
“after our rigorous analysis, we’ve determined that the proper plan for your business is to fire your employees and give yourself a bonus”
The fossil establishment, "centrist" Dems will always cater to the people who will never vote for them - this is just more of that - thinking it will make MAGA & repugs vote Dem. They sideline people like David Hogg etc & need to be ousted. Vote in primaries people!!!!!!
Apparently, popularism assumes that fascism is a lot more popular.
Dem leadership hearing from their consultants that being the first to promote turning the deportation camps into death camps might just be the winning strategy. Schumer and Jeffries call for a new round of surveys.
Pathetically shirk!
Democrats introduce bill to stop Trump's D.C. police takeover share.google/IQQFPJaC32kY...
They know it will never pass. More performative than action. Do something that makes a difference!
And yet look what happened. Trump administration partially retreats, agrees to leave DC police chief in charge | PBS News share.google/sIhjfcWWkLVK...
Love the headline! It implies they had a choice, like the judge issued a suggestion. FFS, we’re fucked.
So if all the Democrats did was stand in front of a microphone every day yelling you would believe they were doing enough to fight for our democracy?
Everything is a distraction to them. The amount of energy they spend trying NOT to talk about anything is truly wild.
Well, sure. But they do it Every. Single. Time. Does consistency count for nothing?
If they don't stand up for their values, can they be said to have those values?
Led by @schumer.senate.gov and weak-ass @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social .
we shouldn’t have to have huge knock down, drag out political fights in the course of normal, everyday governance. also once dems get elected they apparently lose their will to fight for anything except reelection.
And what Democrats outside of those two states actually care about what is going on there vs the issues that directly impact their lives, Jamelle.. Wish they would but NOT what I am seeing or hearing…🤷♀️
Only a small minority of elected Democrats are taking any actions to stop Trump’s authoritarian coup no matter how unpopular it is.
Maybe the Dems just don’t have values anymore after selling their souls to corporate interests for so many decades. We’re asking them to be people they just aren’t.
Primary all of them
The present leadership has neither the skills nor the grit to fight for America. Their goals are to get re-elected and raise money. They'll be happy to serve Nazi masters no matter how despised they are by their oppressors.
Democrats lack the megaphones that the GOP supports have created. They also created units to connect people of like challenges and beliefs. Organizers go to the old fundraisers straight away without creating infrastructure. Dems lack a Hispanic team, a farm team, etc. We all get the emails for money
Having the stomach to swiftly hold Trump accountable for trying to overthrow the election was the litmus test. You don't do it, the coup attempter is by rule stronger than you.
Wrong! It’s AOC, Bernie and Zohran! The Dems fighting Trump are dragging down the DNC’s poll numbers with voters who want to see somebody fighting on their behalf! Axios.
I know that's what I've had problems with! Every time I see or get messages from the national party I tell them to fire all their strategists and talk with the people. What a novel concept! Thanks for this example!
So the reason people think they are weak is because they are not strong.
It’s like they think appeasement will eventually leads to getting back to 1995 era politics. They don’t get that we are way past that point since that escalator speech. The base is hungry for a leader that doesn’t give a damn about the press and the outlook. Go down fighting.
We can talk about both and at the same time. The leader we deserve has not emerged yet and hopefully soon. I need someone to yell and call the president an idiot bc he is, norms be damned. Call out the press for their weakness.
Many of top Democrats’ donors are the same as Republican donors. You can see how timid they are acting right now. They don’t want to anger their masters/donors @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social @schumer.senate.gov @repdangoldman.bsky.social
Look. A decorated war hero who couldn't even remotely fight off the Swift boat attacks sure helped with the idea that dems can't fight. I was there. I'm a vet. I was shocked at how poorly he handled the situation. Sure, he got my vote, but ...
It’s the turtle strategy. Pull your head inside your shell and wait for the bad thing to go away. Tough break for the folks counting on you to protect them from the bad thing. But you can’t hear them from inside your shell anyway. Leadership! Poll tested—consultant approved.
Maybe avoid the words “distraction” and “distracting” and “distract.”
Not only that, but they actively try to sideline and undermine anyone who tries to fight
Someboy told me this just yesterday. For years she didn't say that she was a Democrat because she viewed them as weak, then she began identifying as a Democrat for a long time, but now they're proving that they are actually weak and she was right to be embarrassed by them all those years.
The DNC leadership battle wail: "Don't make me do stuff!"
I would say the old status regime shirk from it while the new generation is ready to fight
Yes, but they don't know how because after the 70s the conservatives tricked everyone into believing that disagreement was impolite and unacceptable. My kids were SHOCKED when I explained 60s and 70s civil disobedience actions to them.
THIS! All we have are George McFlys. We need Marty McFlys.
Related: where are Schumer and Jeffries?
People are loving Newsom right now simply bc he is bringing the fight to the enemy. Gavin. Fucking. Newsom.
I used this phrase on a group of four people today, one being a Republican......."WE DESERVE BETTER" . I think I've found the catch word/phrase that suits my style of political speak. I can use it in both high and low situations. ✌🏼 📢🆘🆘🆘🆘🆘🆘🆘🇺🇸
What's the tipping point when people say fuck em all and start going after all these people?
Democrats DO NOT take your taking points from a David Sacks collaborator.
These are just ranked by easiest to understand to hardest to understand. Just take the Republican talking points and message the opposite! “It’s a distraction” doesn’t even tell people you think it’s wrong or illegal. People already sense it’s wrong and illegal! Why would you downplay it?
👌👌👌👌👌
omfg. So fucking sick of the consultants thinking we need to be talking about kitchen table issues. READ THE ROOM.
Pivot to Epstein
Can we double-down-repost this about 350,000,000 times?
I mean, at their core, why does the Democratic Party exist? I’m not talking historically or systemically - but what are they attempting to do for people? The less they can answer this, the more they’ll rely on this BS polling stuff. Apparently, it’s not the defense of democracy or its people.
David Shor ≠ Democratic leadership.
Do u legitimately believe this lol
It’s impossible to not see his fingerprints on everything Dem leadership have done over the past 5 yes
But they sure do listen to him and people like him, in part because the donors demand it.
#MoneyOutOfPolitics
I mean, fwiw, Shor would probably argue that the donors disagree with him (Democratic donors are generally to left of Democratic voters specifically on social issues): academic.oup.com/poq/article-...
We are all just so tired of hearing what they think we want to hear. The mere testing of a phrase devalues it. Its the testing itself that creates the negative response bc we just want Democrats to stand up for the right thing, bc its the fucking right thing. Cowards upon cowards.
It’s absolutely insane that huge swaths of the Democratic Party take their strategic advice from a a right-wing fifth-columnist who spends his free time hanging out with neo-Nazis in Marc Andreesen eugenics chats.
Matt Yglesias?
David Shor
I don't know if this is true, BUT it certainly feels as if it could be!!!
David Shor is trying to turn US politics into the UK
😳
“Principle matters. That’s why we should never talk about it.”
They should be screaming bloody murder, but they are too feckless.
Why didn't test out the subject of inflation? Why didn't they ask if people would be fine with trump using troops in the really crime ridden red cities?
I suppose many Americans are talking about the ICE, etc. deployment invasions of U.S. cities around their kitchen tables as well as at their coffee tables, by their nightstands, and patio tables, etc.!
We Will Justly Defend. As our homes become forced military encampments, are we still able to proclaim it to be a kitchen table issue if the occupiers eat at the breakfast nook? Reich roamin' law brings occupation all across Camp Constitution Constipation. What Would Judicial Do?
If only they considered that these highly populated cities have people in them with kitchen tables
Agreed. And we have democrats in perpetual search of an “authenticity” —that has been poll tested as both popular and safe. SMH
It's frustrating when Democrats, asking for money, continuously warn of Trump turning into a dictator. Then when the authoritarian stuff starts happening we're all suppose to turn to the price of groceries? I think the phrases we should be using are "failing, flailing, and desperate despot."
It’s by design.
If Dems are so dead-set on keeping it laser-focused about the economy, the direct economic impact of the occupations is right there!!
With this failed strategy, I hope they realize the can and should be replaced with AI. They clearly are only acting on what highly paid consultants tell them to do. The consultants track record is worse than weather forecasts
“Kitchen Table” issues are safely bland tropes that the Dem elites trot out to distract the discourse away from the need for systemic changes that would threaten elite privilege. #Proportional_Representation elections that would empower EVERY vote, eliminating gerrymandering; taxing wealth annually
This stuff and polling in general has an underlying assumption that future elections will run as they always have. Haven’t Dems noticed that Republicans are ruling like they don’t care about polls and public opinion? Have they asked themselves why that might be?
The DNC has been hijacked by the consultant class. They don’t want to speak more directly to Trump’s fascism bc it forces them to talk about corporate monopolies. The consultant class is paid by centerist dems who raise big dollars from major CO’s to keep the status quo. It’s all so dumb
Taking a stab at these Kitchen Table Issues … Left to their policies Trump will have his goons kick in your door, overturn your kitchen table, and drag your family members or you yourself off to a black site concentration camp.
There you will be told that you have no rights, you will be denied access to any legal assistance or process and your family will not even be told where you are or whether or not the Federal Government is holding you.
PS When you are losing the rights granted to medieval peasants things are in a bad way. PPS Habaes corpus is 850 years old. It is still essential to the rule of law.
So talk about them. Start a trend.
I’m planning a Bolshevik insurrection at my kitchen table.
If someone is running for the legislature in Sioux City Iowa it would be smart to focus on local kitchen table issues and pretty dumb to spend time talking about the invasions in cities. And that's exactly what is happening in Sioux City right now. Most politics is local.
When in the same room as my kitchen table is an elephant. I think I want to address the elephant in the room first.
📌
We’re here discussing issues everyday that matter to us. If someone pivots to this bs when asked about the issues that matter; they should be primaried asap!!!
Perhaps the rich Dem consultants do not know what else to talk about. Or perhaps they fear being cut off by their wealthy funders. But they just might be tone-deaf.
Dems are SO BAD at this. Engage with people. Talk to them. Convince them. Tell a story. "Do you know where DC ranks in violent crime among cities? Not even in the top 20. And most cities ranked higher were in red states. So does it sound like this is about crime? That's an obvious lie." And so on.
I could easily put out strong Dem messaging on MAGA fascism. But, I'm a peasant. So, the Dems have to go to their shitty consultants and billionaires for advice. Hey Stancil, stop excusing these dumbass do nothing Dems.
Well, at least Agent Orange's typical over the top ranting didn't poll well either (on the bottom of the last page).
They are either paid off, are closeted fascists themselves, or both
All have the same handlers. Once one realizes that it all makes sense
Half of MAGA are shooting meth at their kitchen table.
Kitchen table issues like the ones Zohran Mamdani is talking about? Oh wait, not THOSE kitchen table issues...
Just yesterday two friends were here and we were sitting at my kitchen table discussing the f47 gestapo horrors. Also that if the lawsuit against the TX redistricting doesn't stop it we will lose our votes and our blue city. Yanno, kitchen table issues.
The Dems have a plethora of issues to campaign on. They don't have to choose just one. RUN ON ALL OF THEM! For god's sake...Democrats are addicted to losing.
We need bold voices. We need to pick a few issues, like universal healthcare and anti authoritarianism and just hammer them
The problem I've had with the Dem party is how they're all stuck in the box while the GOP have been destroying it. The Dems will not save us unfortunately. A Revolution is in order.
Irrelevant. I predict that there will be an economic crisis in the next quarter that will have everyone calling for heads to roll.
I work in marketing. Sometimes you have to lead and make the case for something long term even if the numbers in the short term look bad. The road to hell is paved in metrics
DNC/DCCC leadership is not leading.
I think these strategists have cause and effect backwards. Republicans don’t worry about finding stuff that’s popular to talk about. They talk about their shit relentlessly *until* it becomes popular. The Republican talking points are doing well because they’re hammered into people’s skulls.
This
Who is in charge of these studies? Who pays them?
Democrats are too polling focused. It makes them sound disingenuous & wishy washy. Also, how badly did they word these? Trump isn't restoring order. The fact that Van Hollen tested poorest is damning in and of itself. This reads like a conservative think tank pretending to be leftist.
kitchen table issues poll very well! people like to say they care about kitchen table issues, bipartisanship, etc., when they vote... but then they vote for the guy/gal who says they'll physically assault "radicals in Congress". and Democrats by and large haven't realized this disconnect exists.
Yeah this is a lot of the problem I think - people like to conceive of themselves as pragmatic/realist and there's nothing more pragmatic than a focus on "kitchen table issues" (a phrase I hate - I don't have a fucking kitchen table) but they actually care about things that are louder and buzzier 1/
What the fuck is even a kitchen table? Do they mean dining tables?
I think it’s cause salt of the earth people don’t have fancy dining rooms. 🙄. Just tables with a light above.
A lot of houses with large kitchens have room for a breakfast nook, which is an area in the kitchen where you can put a small table meant more for breakfast/informal meals than a formal dining room table.
I'm confused by this question and these replies, which portrayed this as mysterious or exotic. In the suburb I grew up in, the family had their meals at the table in the kitchen. The dining room was for special occasions. It's so common it became a cliche. Did you all grow up with kitchenettes?
I think the point is that “the kitchen table” comes from a home you’re describing - a single family home that a couple could afford to buy. I live in a two bedroom apartment with an open plan kitchen - there is one table and the distinction between kitchen and dining room is moot
The messaging that these consultants want Democrats to stick to speaks to the single family that lives in a home with a kitchen table and a dining table, a kind of family that is disappearing because of the widening gyre of wealth inequality in this country
I doubt this is specific to people who have both a kitchen and a dining room. It's just specific to people who have a table in the kitchen. So it covers the middle class and upper-middle class. It discounts people at the ends - homes with kitchenettes, homes where only servants eat in the kitchen.
Right but critically it is an image that was very typical in the past and is less and less typical in the present, which is why it is a potent metaphor for a party leadership that wants to be doing politics in the context of a bygone era and not in the context of Right Now
Agreed.
It's kind of like when you ask people what they prefer, the show that won a bunch of Emmys for Best Drama or the trashiest possible reality show, they'll say the former, but the ratings (or whatever metric you call it these days) will always be much, much higher for the later 2/2
Editors know that kitchen table issues don't get clicks.
Yup
asking a voter what their #1 issue is, is a lot like asking people on January 1st if this year they'll go to the gym consistently Everybody likes to imagine themselves as much more rational and in control of their mind than they really are
Good point. And do kitchen table messages make it into sound bites and video clips? Part of the appeal of assault messages is likely that this gives the media what they want.
When people talk to pollsters or in focus groups, they virtue signal. They want to come across as good people but they vote for the biggest asshole, Trump. Akin to asking people on Jan. 1st if they plan to lose weight in the new year. This is why polling efficacy is limited in modern politics.
Put this guy out of business. Seriously. Tell the idiot to get out on the street and talk to people. The Republic is in flames and he's telling Democrats not to talk about it?
in our household we don't even eat at the kitchen table anymore, in fact we don't have a kitchen table
We were at the kitchen table enjoying blueberry pancakes one fine morning when my son asked "Why are US troops occupying cities in violation of posse comitatus?" "Yeah," my daughter added, "and what's with the masked kidnappers?" As I passed the syrup, they shouted "Release the Epstein files FFS."
The one clearly effective message was on the pro-Trump side and it was the kind of thing authoritarians love to hear. Maybe the takeaway is that propaganda works best on uncritical minds. Like it or not, we're going to have to reach caring, thinking human beings with the capacity to question.
Unfortunately Democrats are NEVER smart...sorry.. @democrats.org @dscc.bsky.social
bsky.app/profile/ever...
This shit is why the Dems get beat, they use a Groundhog Day strategy, keep repeating the same mistakes. This point in time is different than anything ever, are we actually addressing that fact?
upine.medium.com/democratic-p...
When there’s nobody but us we eat in the kitchen, which is maybe the most important room in our house, the room where everything happens, where things begin and take their shape and end - J Baldwin
Is there anything we can do to break through the Dem-consultant bubble? Because holy shit they're completely disconnected from reality.
Just. Sickening...
Dems have universally us-too’d Republicans calling our cities immigrant-overrun crime-ridden hellholes for 50 years & (squints at poll) voters believed them!
The great @rachelbitecofer.bsky.social spoke at the New Mexico State Indivisible Conference yesterday and thoroughly demolished this sort of ineffectual approach in today's environment. This shit from the Democrats is maddening.
Congress, w/some exceptions, is either impotent or useless. The DNC is just the lesser evil of the 2 parties. Both are corrupt. The dems are just humane. We need new parties of people who actually want to make Americans lives healthier, easier, w/ equal rights for all. It’s not complex.
I would argue taking people away from their kitchen tables is in fact a kitchen table issue
Kitchen Table issues is such bullshit. The GOP doesn't talk about Kitchen Table issues. They are culture war 24/7. And it works for them. Dems want to win? take a lesson from what is happening in NY City.
What is more kitchen table then: 1. Mom/Dad didn’t come home, their car wws left open in the middle of the street 2. Mom/Dad had to close their business bc all the brown workers are too afraid to come to work 3. My son didn’t come home today after school, his bike & dog are also missing ?!?!?!
How do they not understand that the fall of our country to this authoritarian government is exactly what we’re taking about at our kitchen tables?
🤦♀️
On who did they test those messages, MAGA cultists?
I don’t know about others, but when my family and friends gather around our kitchen tables, we talk about how having the military patrolling our cities is a very bad thing.
I really really really don't give a shit what Democratic "strategists" have to say anymore. Candidates, please address what's right in front of us: an authoritarian regime ruled by a very old man with the mind of a 9-year-old, an iron will and a stillborn conscience. Run the hell against that.
You can’t blame Dems for trying to copy the way Trump got elected—he stayed hyper-focused on kitchen table issues like Haitian immigrants eating pets, prisoners receiving gender care, and the former president (who wasn’t running for reelection) being a “disaster.” You know, the important stuff.
People care about fairness.
I'm not a psychologist or a political analyst, but I think the problem is that current measurements are based on the turn-of-the-Millennium era (Pre 9/11), where "in 20 years we'll have to worry about the Social Security fund" was the biggest problem (white) democrats could identify. 1/4
The way you measured contented, middle-class Americans liking or disliking your "message" was clear, back then. If you talked about something they didn't like, it was a messaging problem. And changing the subject was a viable strategy. 2/4
Those methods are useless, when observing people TERRIFIED OF AN ONCOMING FASCIST DICTATORSHIP. We're mad, we're scared, we're increasingly upset that the opposition party is apparently 95% happy to be controlled opposition. 3/4
FRANK LUNTZ STYLE OPINION MEASUREMENT DOES NOT FUCKING WORK IN THIS ENVIRONMENT. WE ARE NOT OKAY. WE ARE RALPH WIGGUM, CRYING AND TURNING HIS "DISLIKE" KNOB.
Will Pencil is a demon bluff
Yeah point all fingers at the democrats. Wtf? Why is it on their shoulders- their powerless shoulders. Enough! This is all on the republicans dude, stop letting them off the hook. So tired of this blaming democrats for everything when they’re not even in power.
Isn’t having unmarked regime paramilitaries invade cities to quash dissent a kitchen-table issue?
Pretending that fascist takeover isn’t happening doesn’t prevent fascist takeover. Dems are completely fucking useless.
If none of the messages your highly paid messaging consultants could come up with polled better than mediocre, maybe that’s a sign you need to fire them and find different consultants rather than that you need to pivot to the least terrible talking points slop they offered you.
THIS!!!
Put another way: These people lost you the previous championship. Why would you listen to them anymore? Clean house, find newer stars that can win the next time. Seems like a no-brainer!
No mention of the Epstein files in this polling, which has become a major bipartisan concern. Why is that?
Opposing fascism doesn't poll so highly, so why do it, say Democratic leaders who couldn't care less. The idea that they can shape public opinion doesn't occur to them. Not does the idea of doing something because it's the right thing to do. The user mortal vacuousness of the Dem leadership.
Dems should be made aware that their jobs are up for grabs too. If they won't fight for Democracy, we won't fight for their future emplyment.
HMM - wasn’t that the same attitude that cost us the 2024 election- do what I want or else and we lost all 3 branches of the government and are now facing facism..🤦♀️
Can I just say. The press is failing us. The press should be out there making videos of American troops who we are supposed to praise and respect for their “protection l” of our country - walking around us cities looking like a bunch of loser assholes.
Also the press should be covering the concentration camps. The press should be telling thousands of stories of ICE thugs who are kidnapping people. The press NOT the people in the cities, not the Dems have completely failed our country. The news stories should be relentless. They are not.
Oh FFS! Is it at all possible for Democrats to walk and chew gum at the same time? JFC!
US cities are being taken over by obviously, in effect martial law. Protesting U.S. Citizens picked off one by one or in small groups by police and/or masked government agents. How long will we deny these facts? When will we band together to #FightFascism
Yes! Democrats and anti-Trump Independents must unite and focus on throwing sand in the gears of this corrupt regime.
Still obsessed with winning the hearts and minds of Iowa diner voters. Fools.
“Kitchen table” may be the only phrase that truly should be on that list of banned talking points.
Who even has a kitchen table?
It's evident in more than polling how people hate this. Thousands are in public every day all around the country loudly proclaiming against it. The Dem leaders aren't listening. They need to be jettisoned for that reason alone.
Why Dems Suck. Remember Hillary's quants? How did that work out? God I hate the official Democratic party. I'm one of those not in the 24% who like them.
For fuck sake. I’m so tired of the consultant class.
Pollsters are a menace to change. Dems won’t have an opportunity to message on “kitchen table issue” in ‘26 when their campaign offices are being raided by the FBI on a weekly basis, ICE is barricading their events, and media are too scared or compromised to run their ads.
Arrrrrrrrghhh!! My God! Can we never learn?!
I kind of get it. Until the military deployments happen in your own backyard, you may get a bit upset about seeing it on the news, but what really gets people upset is the stuff that is effecting them most personally, so for now that is economic issues. It's sort of always been that way.
But they also suck on kitchen table issues Mainly because they're enabling the conservatives and billionaires
For the life of me I cannot understand why both topics can't be discussed.
THANK YOU
It's like people who say Newsom is the one vocally standing up to Trump, so we can't criticize his transphobia or classism. Like... I'm sorry, will he simply fall to pieces if he's expected to do both at the same time? Does he only have three functioning brain cells?
Yes, yes, yes - rather than one message you can do two. Just be loud and repeat it. Rs understand propaganda better than we do.
I can't speak for what everybody wants. But I can speak for myself. I'm tired of two-faced politicians who believe only in whatever consultants tell them is politically popular and have zero capacity to stand on principle and fight. You can shape public opinion. You are not a hostage to it.
Just a thought…if sincere discussions and efforts aren’t made regarding “kitchen table” issues, the public will embrace the party willing to solve them. See 1930’s Germany.
Everybody has to stay calm or Trump will declare a national emergency that will never end.
We need to be talking about ALL of this. ALL of it is important. Some people are more worried about one issue than the others, & that's OK. It's also OK to have different messengers focusing on different issues.
Fuck the science,people who think can see the “magic” behind the sleight of hand!🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
Why is anyone still listening to David Shor? Isn't the stink of failure strong enough around him? It's fitting that he was compared to Nate Silver in that he's been riding on one early success.
🐔💩s
You can't blame the consultants. They just write the same shit every time 😂
I've written repeatedly that the Labour Party in the UK BADLY misunderstood their own win in the last election, thinking that the UK people LIKED the Right Wing Policies of the Tories, but just didn't LIKE the Tories. So they think they can get away with the same Right Wing politics as the Tories.
There's this disease among so-called left wing parties (really centrist) that they have to seek the votes of rabid partisan righties and the left will just vote for them anyway, because who else can they vote for? That thinking breeds dissolution and Trumps.
And that thinking is no longer relevant. Every young person I know is pooling their allegiance elsewhere because they see the game the hypocrisy and above all what they perceive as 'weakness'.
The Democratic Party:
What do you think is causing the disconnect between the two findings?
We’ve been pivoting to kitchen table issues for years and Republicans run on egg prices and win 🙄
I’m so sick of the phrase kitchen table issues.
Dems are out there is a new woke.get it or get out
Problem with pundit strategies is when you start message testing every word and phrase that flows from the mouths of political leaders, you’ve already lost. People know when politicians are bullshitting them.
We can chew gum and walk at the same time…..come on folks…….let’s not split hairs…….what is happening in DC is wrong, kitchen table issues are concerns…….talk about both….be genuine…..people are worried about both….
No one has ever accused Dems of being good at messaging. But, wow! They are certainly out of touch!
I feel like this reliance on polling is akin to the reliance on AI — people wanting to outsource their thinking. They assume it lowers their risk, but it doesn’t. And people can immediately tell it’s fake.
As if families arent expressing their concerns about a violent military crackdown at their kitchen tables
I hate all of this. I hate that poll. I hate their results. None of the messages, regardless of ranking, resound, because they're all canned. None come from the heart. None of them seem to be from real people who care.
I profoundly disagree. Stop the fascist takeover first, please.
"not becoming a military dictatorship" is a kitchen table issue for my family.
It's like they're wasting money on self-sabotage. We're on our own except for a few fighters and some state-level fighters.
The same people who handed us a Harris/Walz defeat. No thanks.
Oh come on! WTH ?!
They'll be talking about the price of eggs while the nation slips into autocracy. But then again, the price of eggs are what got Trump elected in the first place. However once you're in an autocracy you'll never be able to talk about the price of eggs again.
At the very least, Dems should not only stop saying these govt takeovers are distractions, they should stop thinking such things too.
💯 I was just thinking the same thing. These are terrible actions on their own. They don't and should not be referred to as distractions. I'd imagine it's of very little comfort to those who are being harassed by those ice-thugs.
yeah, and instead of actually reporting on what is going on, we have the Washington Post amplifying disinformation www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
I don't understand how Democrats keep falling for this stupid messaging shit, when anyone with two braincells to rub together understands that all of this shit they are doing *is* destroying the economy more broadly, and acutely in affected communities. Your kitchen table relies on immigrants.
Because they don't give a shit about the people they used to represent anymore.
WTF??!!!
It’s maddening
Why does the DNC just not fucking get it. They are being totally scammed by these fucking consultants. Its almost as bad as Trump's grift.
OMG. They have got to be kidding
Yeah. Respectfully, fuck those quants.
This behavior shows they don't care about what real people experience
Democratic party consultants probably have a lot more in common with typical Republicans than they do with active Democrats. I think they are projecting their bourgeoise perspective onto the whole electorate and therefore pulling Democratic candidates to the right of the rank and file.
I would also ask: what is the threat of military occupation of major cities if not a kitchen table issue?
The National Guard at my kitchen table is a kitchen table issue.
Ice stole my neighbor from their kitchen table, done
Nooooooooooo. What’s wrong with them???
Kitchen table issue: White people can't afford housing Wokeism: Non-white people can't afford housing
It shows they learned the wrong lessons from the last election
Why can’t we combine the messages? Fascism is bad + Fascism is bad for your wallet
@jamellebouie.net this is stupid and not my business but I really liked your old profile pic better. I think it stood out better - I was able to recognize your posts more immediately. The b&w shot blends in with so many other profile pics.
If armed hoodlums roaming your streets uncontrolled isn't a kitchen table issue, I don't know what it!
I hope my Congressional delegation is smart enough to know that Americans don’t want troops on the streets of our cities. This is a kitchen table issue when they’re wasting our tax dollars to prop up a failed president . @repgoodlander.bsky.social @shaheen.senate.gov @senatorhassan.govpeeps.us
You would also think they would be smart enough to oppose troops in DC when they oppose Trump. Where will those troops be if Trump doesn’t want a hostile Congress in 2026?
They all voted for the most fasc anti immigration bill in American history lol they don’t care
This I infuriating bc it’s so simple: they should vociferously opposed it bc it’s wrong. Also you can do both issues. Stop overthinking?
I wonder what the popularists will say when we’re forced to quarter Trump’s army at our kitchen tables.
If I paid as much as the Dems do for crappy product -- consulting services that result in losing campaigns -- I would find a new vendor. Why is politics (also punditry) a field where there's no accountability?
the Dem "leaders" are everything but ... @schumer.senate.gov @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social are cowards, embarrassments to the party and to the nation from 1773 to 1782 they'd be wringing their hands over trying to keep The Loyalists in the fold -- not wanting to give Geo Washington too much leeway
It will always be about the cost of groceries because most people do not see beyond themselves. I work in a grocery store. I see it first-hand...daily.
I think though that people who are really struggling, working two jobs, have never had a moment to breathe financially, dont really see a difference between D and R policies because neither give them relief. 1/
The Ds need to run on something like a Pathway to Prosperity...but actually provide help to those who need it most. And they might have to get off their high horse and get people afraid. A lot of people feel the Rs are protecting them even if the Rs made up whatever they have to fear.
📌
The public aches for some fiery rhetoric from Tim Ryan types referencing lunch box Joe and showering after work. Always works out so well for them.
It should be discussed openly For Heaven's sake
They have legit not listened to one of their constituents
The people aren't their constituents. Wealthy donors are. When you analyze their actions from that understanding, their motivations and intentions become much much clearer.
📌
Trump has used the kitchen table as kindling for the Reichstag fire and Democrats just invited everyone to a bipartisan lunch.
Every time I hear someone say "kitchen table issues" I think how few people I know these days with kitchens big enough to fit a table
Indeed--that's the issue!
Maybe that’s the idea, your concerns only matter if you have a kitchen and a table
The only hiccup in that, for the most part, is the ONLY time there's a chance GOP / MAGA / North American Taliban franchise, becomes a kirchen table topic, will be when the world at large has the greatest newspaper day, in history, as his obit, is page one on every kitchen table in the printed world
Normalizing facism thru lack of urgency. Not the "safe" move establishment Dems think it is...
The testing is almost always flawed because they present the most bland version of every message. They're not asking about "Trump's Gestapo-like tactics." They're asking about "militarization of the police" who are already militarized so the message doesn't land. Dems need to persuade, not poll.
"I want to focus on what are called kitchen table issues. You know, the ones that keep you up at night, like the cost of childcare and college and prescription drugs and so much else." ~ Hillary Clinton Fine by me. But it's time for bold solutions. Incremental tweaks are killing our democracy.
Research is always behind the incidents. That is, something happens, then you research what caused it and how to prevent it.
What dumbfucks
Kitchen table issues are weak sauce. It’s a way for Dems to say SOMETHING without addressing the larger issues. They don’t have to be brave, just performative.
Yeah, if people aren’t talking about the armed deployment of federal troops into US cities at the kitchen table right now, we are all screwed.
So Dems are in favor of tabling racism for “kitchen table issues”? Why can’t they address both and other issues? 🤦🏾♀️
Dems like
Sadly, nailed it!
💯 This, "pivot to the *marginally more* polled subject" is silly. Be angry at BOTH (all). If Dems want to mention the second thing, use a transition to plug it in, but firmly denounce the first thing too. I just don't get this crap. People will remember Dems dodging the topic, and resent it!
Thought Dems could walk and chew gum.
I’m first in line…
You can tie the two together by saying Trump is an authoritarian who is doing this because his economic policies are a failure, etc.
There’s also too short a time horizon built into this type of data. The midterms are more than a year away. Whether a particular message is more likely to cause an immediate drop in trump’s approval rating doesn’t address the longer term question of what will help next year.
The administration has taken military control of Washington, D.C., police under the 1973 Home Rule Act,“ if special conditions of an emergency nature exist.” Trump did not find that loophole in the law. He is stupid. Who did? His #3 man, Russell Vought, Project 2025. Russell Vought is... TREASON
Can we please fire this entire class of people? Let them sell soap or something
Instead of "Kitchen Table" how about WHAT makes us yell at the TV! Alone or with other people, WHAT brings out our outrage and disgust.
Americans across the country are affected by the high price of food so I doubt people who can't feed their families are angry Democrats aren't doing more about the National Guard in DC. About half of US adults say grocery costs cause major stress, poll finds | AP News share.google/JuA0pmfYB9lu...
I'm just thinking out loud here...It seems like the dems also don't want to do the fear mongering. I saw this and thought yeah, bread is more important than soldiers far away. But what happens when it comes to your door and you have to stand in bread line. That's fair enough to talk about.
It’s kind of too late to not do the fear mongering. Harris (rightly) called Dump a fascist during the election. Which is why Dem leadership’s reaction now and their reluctance to plainly call this what it is seems weak and inauthentic.
Yeah, about that. I am a bit different than everybody else. I am white hot angry at Republicans who have the power to stop the tyrant but choose not to. Why don't we see any posts demanding Congressional Republicans put a stop to the madness?
Because they don’t care about blue voters, we aren’t real Americans, and their own voters like what’s happening.
When the economy crashes they will be blamed and they will have some explaining to do to their voters.
Angry at Dems for not yelling into a microphone instead of trying to feed families but no anger at Republicans who actually have the power to stop this nightmare but choose not to?
Coffee is higher too and soon Viagra will cost more! Hungry, Caffeine deprived......and can't get it up no matter how hard they try....this will NOT turn out well. Just wait till the holy rollers ban porn...and beer! Yikes!
EXCEPT THEY DON’T FUCKING TALK ABOUT KITCHEN TABLE ISSUES!!! It’s just “how can we hurt minorities without seeming as cruel as the other guys” and when someone talks about rent, food, public transportation, and basic rights, they try to kick them out of the party.
The "kitchen table" is another 1950s, Norman Rockwell, Make America Great Again throwback distraction.
David Shor is a bad faith actor, a racist, and overall someone who is without much value. He should be relegated to the dustbin of history.
These fucking fascist deployments ARE A KITCHEN TABLE ISSUE!!!!!!
Sounds like Pete Buttigieg has been hanging out with Blue Rose
Love a Stancil-Bouie alley-oop
Democrats have become the bot party, churning out vanilla, generic poo instead of policy. I can’t listen to Schumer and Jeffries, anymore.
I will say this every single day. The Democrats are complicit and have been for over a decade. These are their choices.
Avoiding the slow overthrow of our government and courts over the last decade by dem leadership will go down as one of the collosal fails of democracy and politics. Should have hit hard on this from day one and every day since
They don’t learn! If kitchen table issues worked we wouldn’t have Trump. What sells in the age of saturation media is OUTRAGE!
FFS. We have armed Militia on our streets. Why the f*ck would the Dems pivot from that?? 2026 is the Dems to lose…they’re going to fuck it up aren’t they?
All the causes of death of these quants should read, 'kitchen table issues'.
How to demonstrate the systemic racism of your party. These “kitchen tables” are obviously white if the safety of black and brown family members is not considered. Someone needs to introduce these fuckers to Maslow. “Not being abducted to a concentration camp” is WAY above “tariffs”.
Democrat establishment moved to the right when the base remained still/moved left.
How about the kitchen table issue of not wanting taxes to go to a military occupation of American cities
Honestly believe that seeing actual desperately poor or troubled people in the throes of crisis or addiction after Covid broke the brains of a lot of elites especially in media. They genuinely hate criminal justice reform because it forced them to confront their unequal society.
"kitchen table issues" has become a political cliche devoid of content too
at my kitchen table we only talk about the price of eggs and our utility bill. My wife and i are incapable of discussing anything else
It has very definite content: "you're only allowed to care about the price of groceries, not any of that human rights crap"
I will vote for whoever stops politicians from ever saying “kitchen table issues” again
What the hell is wrong with you? @schumer.senate.gov @whitehouse.senate.gov @warren.senate.gov @sanders.senate.gov @smith.senate.gov @kirstengillibrand.bsky.social @amyklobuchar.com @aoc.bsky.social @crockett.house.gov @algreen.house.gov WHY did you desert the country and the people you work for?!
David Shor is the type of Dem we really need to get rid of.
Utter nonsense.
It really stuns me how Trump is very obviously very unpopular, but that really isn't reflected in the tenor of news coverage (cf Biden 4 years ago at this time, when the media turned on him permanently over Afghanistan) or in the (weak) level of Democratic criticism.
Dems would be wise to remember that when the BBB kicks in full force, these dem topics will be all people care about. When troops are restricting everyday activity while carrying weapons, ignoring that fact will be political suicide. America's priorities are fucked now but it won't last.
