Brad Parscale's big data 'Death Star' dragged in 10 million new Trump voters

[My Pet Orangutan]

Last edited Fri Dec 4, 2020, 05:19 AM - Edit history (13)

Here is what we know about the 2020 election,
given the votes counted so far.

101 million voted early
https://electproject.github.io/Early-Vote-2020G/index.html

51+ million voted on 11/3
https://www.cnn.com/election/2020/results/president

Projected turnout (66.7%) is the highest since 1900
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/elections/voter-turnout/

At 74.2m (so far), Trump got 11.2 million more votes than 2016
At 81.2m (so far), Biden got 15.3 million more votes than HRC

We don’t know much more than that because the ‘exit polls’ had to guess about the 101m early voters.
The ‘exit polls’ primary data set, Election Day voters, was top-heavy with Trumpers.

Both campaigns turned out the vote. The Biden campaign went for the widest possible coalition. The Trump campaign doubled and tripled down on appealing to its base. (Non-college whites & deplorables)

There’s been a lot of discussion about possible Clinton to Trump voters (Latinos, Black men, White women) What this ignores is that turnout 'trumped' everything else.

The Trump strategy was to mine big data for Low Propensity Voters. Digital outreach stepped up immediately after the 2016 election. Eventually the campaign went full fascist, seeking out whites and deplorables, with lashings of the reddest meat, tailored down to the individual level on social media. (I include in deplorables men attracted to the narrative that Trump faced death and won, while Biden hid in a basement and any who mistook Joe Biden for Fidel Castro.)

Trump's turnout was assisted by door knocking follow-ups. They had a profile of the household before ringing the bell.

What is the lesson in all this? Trump’s campaign showed data mining can pay off big time. Democrats could do worse than more investment in data analytics and digital outreach, keeping the base in the loop. Messaging on Republican obstructionism should be timely and uncompromising. Red meat for blue voters. The campaign for 2022 starts now.

[texasfiddler]

1. Interesting. I don't understand your last sentence

Democrats could do worse than deeper mining of its base. I am really looking for lessons this year.

[dem4decades]

5. I don't understand that one either.

[Loki Liesmith]

11. Using big data to identify low propensity Dem voters

[AmericanCanuck]

45. What it means is

finding apathetic Dem-leaning voters via big data mining and turn them into passionate and enthusiastic Dem voters.

[Maraya1969]

65. We need to be doing that in GA right now.

[jaxexpat]

74. Yup, It means that and it means we almost lost the whole thing this time.

We WILL lose the whole thing in the mid-terms if we think for a moment Biden's victory had anything to do with appealing to the Democratic base. That "base" is a lackadaisical bunch of non-conformist pseudo-intellectuals, myself included, who make cat herding look easy. A moment of honesty, as we look in the cold light of truth. IT WAS FEAR AND HATE THAT BEAT TRUMP. More people voted for Biden because, except for the dumb-assed kool-aid garglers, the electorate was SCARED of what the moron in chief could destroy if given another 4 years and/or hated his authoritarian, privileged attitude and half-assed bigotry touted as "wisdom" so much that they got off their asses to go out and vote against him in kind of large numbers(67%+/-).

Facts are that the diseased minds that run the GOP are willing to use Trumpian type populism and any other despicable technique to gain and maintain control in 2022. They'll throw all their energy at it and their base will just lap it up and bring their friends along to the hate fest. If too many, and that means any, Democratic voters start to think this was a kind of one-and-done victory we will be whipped mercilessly in the next election and that quite simply means an end to the whole experiment in self government.

Their 2022 campaign has already started. They're analyzing the data and you can bet they're fine-tuning, tightening up every conduit that got their record number of voters to the polls. I guess what I'm saying is that our enthusiasm for the victory, however deserved, needs to be turned toward the next contest as if we'd just lost by a hair instead of almost losing. I know a lot of you will point to the math and say I'm not being realistic. Well answer this: What will convince those who voted Democratic this time to come back to the polls again? What will convince those that voted against Trump but gave their down ticket votes to the GOP that we're the better choice all around, for every office?

I'm thinking many (for both parties) will come back to the polls next time because they have the beginnings of a habit. Maybe some will come back because they'll remember how bad this pandemic got due to Trump (though it's never a safe bet to rely on people's memories). Inspiring them to show up means the whole conversation needs to be dominated by progressive thinking, the "conservatives" to be shown for the know-nothing-liars they are every time they open their mouths. Get in their spaces, their homes, their heads, their hearts 24/7, starting with the momentum we get from their shit-show of election rejection and working through the house cleaning that will begin on Jan. 29th.

[StarfishSaver]

95. Your assumption that the Dem base is a 'lackadaisical bunch of non-conformist pseudo intellectuals'

is wrong. The Democratic base is considerably broader than that - and includes a substantial proportion of black, brown, low-income, and working class people who don't even come close to matching that description.

[jaxexpat]

104. I'm saying that is arguably the die hard wing of democrats. The rest are "maybe" voters.

Maybe they'll vote, maybe they don't think it's important enough to be troubled. Maybe the candidates aren't what they want. The main thing is that republican base never misses an opportunity to vote. Democratic base is not so predictable or reliable. That's important and a more reliable fact than the "feeling" that reliable voters can be counted on to turn out from our broad base.

[StarfishSaver]

106. You are still ignoring/dissing black, brown, low-income voters who are anything but "maybe" voters

People who stand in 6-hour lines, tolerate often vicious voter intimidation, work around all manner of voter suppression tactics to cast their ballots are not "maybe" voters who "don't think it's important enough to be troubled."

I don't know who you're hanging around with, but your experience certainly hasn't given you an accurate depiction of a significant portion of the Democratic base.

[jaxexpat]

109. Please accept my apologies if you think I'm dissing any of those voters. Their act of voting is the

definition of heroism. Still, be that as it may, democratic voters are not reliable unless they've been inspired. GOP voters require only a calendar. That they love Trump speaks volumes best unsaid. POSSIBLY, enough GOP voters will be disappointed enough to stay home. That's a hard needle to thread in a realistic view. The greater concern for democrats is their level of inspiration, their enthusiasm, their sense of urgency.

[StarfishSaver]

110. Accepted

But you're still painting all Democratic voters with a broad brush - with paint that really only applies to a narrow band of voters that you seem to think represent all Democratic voters, but don't.

The need for "inspiration" is a demand made by a certain group of very privileged voters. Most Democratic voters don't think that way. Minority voters vote year in and year out without insisting on being "inspired." We vote for candidates we don't feel at all, candidates who often ignore us and turn us off, but we look at the bigger picture. This "I'm not voting because I'm not inspired" is a luxury insisted on by voters who have the privilege to sit it out if they don't get their tummies rubbed the right way. But they don't represent most of the party.

[jaxexpat]

112. It's the veneer of voters that create a win. A thin demographic who usually never vote at all.

Dedicated and informed voters are a given but are often not enough to create a democratic win.

[DSandra]

98. The battle to save this nation is by no means over

We have to continue fighting like our lives depend on it otherwise we only would have bought ourselves between two to four years.

As someone who once studied marketing, I would recommend Democrat’s teaming up with Madison Avenue and Silicon Valley to make a massive campaign to “relationship manage” Democrats and left leaning voters in America with things like keeping them updated with what Democrats are doing to fight for them, keeping them hopeful, inspiring promotional material of local and statewide candidates, as well as sharing talking points, etc...

[jaxexpat]

105. That's right. All the good ideas need to become actions.

[True Blue American]

2. We won by 5 million votes.

Why in the world would we want to follow Trump ideas? No way, we did it,” Our Way,” as Frank would say!

[My Pet Orangutan]

3. We won the Senate too

... oh wait.

[True Blue American]

4. The Lincoln Group has a powerful message against both Loeffler

And Perdue and their financial dealings.

[My Pet Orangutan]

9. Yes

And I am totally on board the Lincoln Projects' strategdy of stipping away educated Republicans from Trumpers.

To me, big data mining does not mean going narrower, it means getting the best possible messaging to individual target groups, and no one does message to Republicans than TLP.

[True Blue American]

15. Thank you.

It is great to see decent Republicans speak out for Truth.

[My Pet Orangutan]

24. I always come back to the 40% who voted for Hoover in 1932.

American politics is tribal. The Lincoln Project set itself up for the most difficult task of all - stipping away genuine Republican's from a party that betrayed everything it supposedly stood for. Watching their shows, the Lincoln Project gives these refugees, a sense of identity, of community. Leaving the safety of a tribal mindset is very challenging. So far, as I see it, the Lincoln Project has provided a safe harbor for reasonable, decent people. More power to them.

[True Blue American]

33. The Republican Party

Has fallen since Dwight D. Eisenhower. The decay of the present Party began with Nixon.

[Celerity]

13. and flipped a bunch of statehouses and increased our majority in the House

... oh wait.

[OnDoutside]

7. It's worth researching, 5 million is great but they're not all in the state's needed

to hand the Senate to Democrats. That's the problem.

[Celerity]

16. yes, but even in Blue (POTUS) states we got hammered in many House and statehouse races

let alone those US Senate loses (some of which had to do with poor candidates as well)

[BasicallyComplicated]

56. I agree with you Celerity ...

The problem is that many democratic leaders and from the responses on this board, democratic base members think raw majority numbers are good numbers. They aren't enough. City to city and county to county we are getting creamed. This is what is leading to more state level loses for our party. Our party has a larger collation BUT a smaller base of do or die blue voters. We should be looking at the methods used by Trump because they WORKED! Centrists are more than likely to drift along with whatever idea is most prevalent around them. So running milk toast candidates is not the way to win. Learning to gain popular ground with voters who don't normally vote is the way of the future.

[uponit7771]

54. The bigger problem was aggregate poling showing democrats up outside of MOE then ..

... losing to GOP candidates

[OnDoutside]

58. Yes, shit like that does need to be investigated, and can now be done.

There could be a simple answer in polling firms missing the power of RW messaging, and its effectiveness. For the GOP to turn out an extra 8 million votes is frightening, considering the disaster that America is in right now. For me, the no 1 target for Dems is Facebook, above everything else.

[uponit7771]

60. +1, I think the more empirical miss is the efficacy of voter suppression measures ...

... in red lead areas where Republican politicians can affect voter turnout

I think the polling companies are not correctly weighting how effective voter suppression measures are

[OnDoutside]

72. That's a great point, we can certainly use Georgia as a measuring standard against other states. I

was shocked to see Georgia turn out as well as it did, after 2018. Whatever Fairfight and other groups did, needs to be done in other states.

[uponit7771]

73. Yep, Georgia will be their last time to get it correct and tell us what's up if they don't

[OnDoutside]

76. Exactly. And that gives me hope for January.

[AmericanCanuck]

46. Be afwaid .. vewy vewy afwaid

Biden won thank god .... but here is the scary scenario --

Only about 22,000 votes separate Biden from Trump and those 22,000 votes made Biden win.

(Look at the differences in AZ, GA and WI)

Those 22000 votes could have made Trump win the EC.

We need much bigger margins than that until TX turns blue.

[padah513]

53. We need to do much better with the Hispanic community

In my opinion, Biden didn't do enough this time around. That's not to say that we would have flipped TX, but we would have had a better showing. Hispanic leaders like Juan Castro were warning his campaign long before the election that he was under-performing this constituency, and it's the one place where the polls I've seen have stood up.

[LeftInTX]

70. Agree

We did not spend enough time and effort.

[moose65]

57. Uh - you might want to check your numbers again

Biden won Arizona by 10,400 and Georgia by 14,000. That’s more than your “22,000” right there, and he didn’t need either of those states to win.

He won Wisconsin by 20,000.

Some people are determined to piss on a win, no matter what.

[AmericanCanuck]

61. 44,000 it is .... but still a very small number compared to 140 million who voted.

We need to win these states by much larger margins to ensure victory every time.

[Lucky Luciano]

66. I think the point is that 22K flipping from Biden to fuckface flips the election.

[moose65]

88. Where are you all getting that from?

Where would 22,000 flipped votes flip the election? I can’t see it.

[sir pball]

94. Assuming the margin of victory in the 3 states was 44k

And assuming every vote flips Biden-Trump, instead of simply being not-Biden: 22,001 flips leaves Biden 19,999 - Trump by 50%+1.

eta - this assumes the data is correct, I'm not getting into that. Just explaining how a 44k margin only needs 22k to flip.

[moose65]

107. Gotcha

I’ve seen other people post that Biden “won by 22,000” which isn’t quite the same thing!

On the other hand, Trump won by 77,000 votes and acted like he won by 20 million. A win is a win. Biden should act like the winner, right?

[BannonsLiver]

91. Welcome to every election for the rest of your life

Obama’s not walking through that door. 2008 and 2012 were easy because of his political talent. Outside of that no one should expect big EC victories like that ever again. 2020 will be how our elections look moving forward. Close. Every time.

[AmericanCanuck]

103. It sucks ddoesn't it?

Those 22,000 people in swing states have more power than 3 million Californians or 1.5 million New Yorkers.

[yardwork]

47. Biden's won hinged on a few states. We must do better.

Democrats must win more states and we must win the Senate, House, state legislatures, and state offices including gubernatorial, secretaries of state, attorneys general, etc. We must win the elected judges.

[OnDoutside]

50. Yes, wasn't it if 22,000 or so had switched from Biden to Trump, Trump

would have won ?

[paleotn]

63. You can learn much from what your enemies did well.

It may work just as well for Dems and to counter our enemy's strategies with those of our own. We shouldn't ever rest on our laurels. My philosophy is, celebrate a win for 10 minutes, then immediately begin the next fight. The Georgia runoffs and 2022 midterms.

[moose65]

108. Yes!

Good philosophy. Elections are won by doing the non-glamourous grunt work of registering voters and building that infrastructure from the bottom up, as Stacey Abrams did in Georgia. There are tons of non-registered voters to tap into, but it takes constant work!

[Nasruddin]

64. The Golden State

We won by 5 million votes thanks to California.

He's hated here in urban areas & Mr Trump did absolutely nothing to fix that, because our electoral votes don't matter right now.

Without CA, the gap between the 2 candidates is meh... Mr Biden in a squeaker.

Resting on your CA laurels is no way to win back the Senate or hold the House or win state legislatures elsewhere!

[BannonsLiver]

90. Yeah we have all the answers

One can never learn from anyone else.

[SouthernCal_Dem]

6. There are definitely more Trump supporters than I expected.

However, we still outnumber them by many millions.

Unfortunately exit polls are pretty useless this time around because of how many people voted by mail.

[Delarage]

8. We had a drastically better candidate

But I agree that better targeting could not hurt. Followed up by the aggressive campaign 45 used but we avoided due to COVID. That could've helped the down ballot races, too, with explanations of "defund the police" and "socialism".

I don't know if we did or not, but Florida should've have been blasted with clear and constant explanations of how 45 was a racist dictator (including that Stephen Miller clip stating 45's total power) vs. Biden's real goodness and motivations.

[JI7]

17. There racism appealed to the Latinos in Florida who see themselves

as the good ones unlike those people.

[Captain Zero]

32. we could not canvass in person this year because covids; they did

We were not willing to push people to do that, nor do we have the volunteers that would risk their health to do it.
2022 we are back to door to door let's hope for the Senate and Congress campaigns.

[moonscape]

111. My cousin, in Bucks County PA, wanted to go

door to door (masked, careful) in a GOTV effort. The local dems didn't get back to him. They weren't doing it, Republicans were.

That was a safe thing to do, masked, keeping a distance, and he was disappointed not to be able to contribute that way.

[SouthernCal_Dem]

10. I think we're in beginning stages of a big shift

Democratic voters are currently concentrated in areas which aren’t exactly helpful when it comes to the electoral college.

However....

Texas, Arizona, and Georgia will eventually become blue-leaning states. The question is whether we can turn them before Republicans completely eat away at our support in places like PA, WI, MN, etc.

If we get Texas, that’s ballgame....for a while at least.

[lostnfound]

19. Republicans made major strides in border areas of Texas.

[Turin_C3PO]

25. That might be a one-time thing

thanks to SOME Latinos‘ bizarre attraction to “strong man” Trump. I’m not sure the next Republican candidate can hold on to those votes. And overall in Texas we gained big time. Clinton lost by 9% and Biden lost by 5.8%. We’re gaining in the suburbs.

[uponit7771]

43. No, there were no polls showing this. Something's very wrong

[Turin_C3PO]

44. In any case, regardless

of Trump gains in South Texas, we do better every cycle. Probably by 2028 we'll win the state. And if you're implying votes were flipped, I'd love to see evidence of that. The reason polls aren't as accurate now is only one of 100 people respond to pollsters. It used to be like 30 out of 100.

[texasfiddler]

48. I continue to blame this on new "non-denominational" Churches

Any time I see a new church being built in a Hispanic area I cringe. The white evangelicals have a goal of bringing as many as possible to the GOP. This isn't about Jesus. Look how they view Jimmy Carter vs. Reagan or Trump. In addition, a sizeable portion of Hispanic males that work alongside white guys here in South Texas are gun nuts now. The numbers don't surprise me.

[Turin_C3PO]

49. Yes,

we need to target Hispanic males especially with a strategy to keep them on our side. But like I said, overall the good news in Texas is that the suburbs are turning blue-er by the year.

[LeftInTX]

77. Latino Rednecks

Additionally the Republicans hire Latino Democrats to work on their campaigns. It's pretty disgusting and shocking. These aren't just Democrats, these are Democrats who are very active in the party and Democrats who own their own consulting firms.

[Nasruddin]

83. Some truth

Definitely some truth to this. Happening in CA too. Many Latino men are in the construction trades & they are converging here to the way white construction guys think and act. You blend in with the tribe you're in as best you can I guess.

I know much less about this, but I think the messaging in Latin communities must be terrible for COVID awareness and Democratic candidates.

It has to be learned that "Latino" is not a monolith. American Latinos have a couple different population segments & are not really like new waves of emigrants. Mexicans have issues with Mexicans from different regions. Central Americans likewise & a lot of conflict with Mexicans. South Americans look down on Mexican and Central American Latinos. They have different issues as Americans - there are different kinds of economic migrants, and different kinds of refugees (Central American vs Cuban). These different fault planes are probably being exploited by the more savvy Republicans.

Still don't get the appeal of the Leopard-eating-faces party to Latino men but so it goes.

[Turin_C3PO]

85. Latino men

in California still voted in pretty large margins for Biden, I believe. It is true that Trump gained a little support there and especially in areas like south Florida and south Texas.

[Rstrstx]

117. Maybe, maybe not

Trump most definitely did improve in South Texas. He did have some coattails but for the most part local Democrats fared better than Trump (Vicente Gonzalez excepted, who is going to have a big red target on his back in ‘22). But this year it was all about Trump Trump Trump, I don’t quite get it but that’s the way it is.

We started to see the first glimpses of this in 2018 when O’Rourke slightly underperformed in the region compared to other Democratic parts of the state. Before that the previous decade had been relatively easy for Dems here, W was the last Republican remotely popular but he never had anything resembling a cult following. Maybe Abbott enjoyed a very mild net approval pre-Covid but that would be it. So yeah right now it’s a Trump phenomenon, and how much his popularity among Hispanics (men specifically) translates to future Republican candidates remains to be seen.

Right now I don’t see anyone in the Republican Party who is up to the task of filling his shoes, and if I had to guess I’d say a good chunk of people who came out of the woodwork just to vote for him - or against him - will crawl back and retreat from politics after he’s gone. He may try to come back but his brand image as the Macho Alpha Winner has been heavily tarnished. He has become what he loathes - a loser. The Trump flags in the area are coming down fast here, nobody is flying one on the back of their pickup any more because, hey, who wants to fly the flag of a loser? You don’t see Confederate flags here (though to be fair this area shares little in common with the South).

There are also probably some much more mundane explanations about why Trump improved on his 2016 numbers in the area. There was a real fear down here, for instance, that Trump was going to take a sledgehammer to NAFTA, cut off trade with Mexico and ruin the local economy. What we got was an extremely subtle update to the agreement and trade is as active as ever. The Obamacare subsidies also didn’t get cut off, another concern that didn’t materialize. As a Republican, Trump underperformed in ‘16 and definitely overperformed in ‘20. In contrast Obama overperformed in the area in both ‘08 and ‘12, probably giving the illusion that the area is more liberal than it really is.

An Hispanic version of Obama, especially one who had served in the military, would instantly wipe out any headway the Republicans may have made (Donald who?) and quite likely flip the state in the process.

[True Blue American]

21. Honestly, the young, better Educated voters

Are joining our ranks. They are not bigoted, scared they are being replaced. They live in a world of equality.

Honestly something I and millions of others had to grow into. They only see the hate and meanness emanations from Trump and his followers. They want no part of him and his twisted Religious followers. I had to learn that lesson, too.

I am happy to be on the side of Science and truth, not make believe. And trust me it has been a long, hard fight. I honestly think it came from the small Church I attend that dwells on inclusion and Love Thy neighbor. I do it mostly for hearing an uplifting message. And friends who care about each other.

I know that sounds contradictory. But that is me.

[Turin_C3PO]

27. Good for you!

I’m always happy to hear from people who were able to turn away from the dark side. Glad to have you on the side of truth!

[True Blue American]

36. I have always been a Democrat.

I just tried to be a good Christian until they drove me away with hate and sleaze.

Working at the polls in a small neighborhood District of people I knew well solidified my thoughts.

Right Wing Preachers are the biggest cheats in the world.

[Turin_C3PO]

51. It's funny

because Christianity really appeals to me but I'm put off by all these right wing fascist "Christians" who seem like the majority. I'd love to overcome that bias and find a good, inclusive, church. Maybe one day.

[True Blue American]

55. You are not alone.Against Obama.

Millions have fallen away. Money grubbing TV Evangelists, Hate filled Preachers ranting about a Black man in the WhiteHouse, guns, abortion, yet they hate birth control.

I left a Southern Baptist Church for all those reasons. Was told I had to vote against Obama. He even set up gun lessons in the basement of the Church.

I lost a lot of so called friends,stayed away until someone invited me to the Church where I worked the polls. Two young Preachers had decided to turn their Brethren Church message to one of following in the footsteps of Jesus, love and Inclusion. Not one negative word in the Sermons.

Lucky, the Church is almost across the street from me. They built a new Church across from the old one.

[BannonsLiver]

92. That big shift could take 20-30 years to be fully realized

See: Texas. We’re a decade away there. Maybe longer.

[Rice4VP]

12. That's why he and his minions are in denial

They did all of that work for nothing. Sure they poached some of the Latino vote, but the 5M Black people who stayed home in 2016 came out.

[lostnfound]

18. You are undervaluing state legislatures and senate.

We won a presidency hamstrung by McConnell But lost state house and state senate seats.

[Rice4VP]

20. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it....

Mission one was to rid the WH of Trump

[Turin_C3PO]

31. It was mostly status quo.

Not many major changes in most state legislatures. I think New Hampshire flipped both houses to Republican while one chamber in Alaska flipped, giving Repubs both houses. But our losses weren’t catastrophic.

[JI7]

14. Shitty fucked up Incels who have infected social media

[Dem4Life1102]

22. Democratic voters did this to Brad's Death Star

[My Pet Orangutan]

26. Tulsa did that to Brad's setup

But like in Return of the Jedi, the very much operational remains of his big data operation, lived on.

[True Blue American]

40. Funny here.

My Grandfather looked exactly like Truman. Many times he was stopped, then they would look at my Grandmother and say,” You are not Bess!”

Henry Forfeit convinced him to come back to the railroad he bought to haul his cars promising him a lifetime job. He worked for 50 years. A Republican, he would despise Trump and his flunkies.

[tman]

23. 73 million votes for trump is tragic.

There's no getting around it.

[Turin_C3PO]

29. We still outnumber them by a good amount.

And that’s huge. If our side does start using data profiling, we’ll be in an even better position.

[Tommymac]

52. No, he just got them to crawl out from under their rocks.

The ignorant racist fucks have always been with us in large numbers - Trump just paid attention to them and fed them enough bullshit to make them brave the light of day.

Until we fix the education system in this country they will be with us in large numbers. It will take 2 or 3 generations to fully root them out - we must keep the WH and win more reasonable folks to come out to offset their evil influence.

At least they have shown their strength so we can identify them and beat them back into their slimy holes.

But we have shown Our strength too - 78 million strong and counting.


GOTV GA
:donkey.

[Turin_C3PO]

59. We as progressives and Democrats

must find a way to penetrate the social media propaganda. I don't have any idea how but it has to be done. I believe Facebook and Twitter have had a horrible effect on this country's citizens. I'm not for banning it or anything like that but somehow we must even up the playing field.

[Tommymac]

80. Well we have a pretty smart President-elect & VP-Elect...

Hopefully they have plans to address this.

If not let the lobbying from We The People commence to bring it to their attention.

GOTV GA

[bucolic_frolic]

28. OPer should tell the DNC

It's a valid observation.

[My Pet Orangutan]

37. You never have to tell the DNC, RNC

or the Lincoln Project for that matter, about anything written on DU

[Maxheader]

30. I had guessed around 170m voters. .

And around 5m more total votes. Big plus was voter turnout.

An indication of a split nation...President Biden and Vice President

Harris will help calm things down. A lot of the corps are behind

them...

[LymphocyteLover]

34. Democrats being rightfully concerned about the pandemic really hurt our GOTV

May have cost us votes for Senate and House.

[Turin_C3PO]

41. Yeah.

I know I'm Monday morning quarterbacking here but I think we should have masked up, observed social distancing, and knocked on doors. It could have been done safely. That was one of the big advantages Repubs had over us.

[LymphocyteLover]

84. Yes, agree

we were overly cautious and they freaking threw all caution to the wind

[LymphocyteLover]

35. "51+ million voted on 11/4"???

You mean 11/3?

[My Pet Orangutan]

38. Oops. Fixed. ty.

[MySideOfTown]

39. Evangelicals: 40% of Trump voters?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/11/13/trumps-racist-appeals-powered-white-evangelical-tsunami/

Dana Millbank makes a case. Democrats certainly need a strategy to appeal to evangelicals.

"White evangelicals turned out in mind-boggling numbers. Because they maintained their roughly 80 percent support for Republicans (76 percent and 81 percent in the two exit polls) of recent years, it also means some 40 percent of Trump voters came from a group that is only 15 percent of America."

[True Blue American]

42. They are also shrinking in number.

[Nasruddin]

79. Pastors

Don't you have to get to the pastors?

My prejudiced opinion here is that the flocks pretty much do what they're told, mostly at the pulpit.
You won't get anywhere nibbling on the edges, you are going to have to go to their leadership conferences & the like & work there - is that right?

[Turin_C3PO]

82. I believe so.

Many evangelicals treat their pastor as if he were a prophet. If the leadership flipped to being liberals, most of the flock would soon follow.

[True Blue American]

96. When I mentioned

What the Pastor was Preaching in a Church I was told, Oh I just don’t listen to him.

A Choir member, a few weeks later had to sit out in the Pews because there was no Choir that week said,” I listened to him and you are right.” Raging but also descending into Dementia he lost half the Church but there was that small group adored him. Some people just need to be led.

[Jon King]

62. Mission #1 must be to bankrupt the Trumps

Once his spell is broken the Repubs will have a very hard time putting together this many voters again. Just peeling away 10% will be huge across Congressional races. Civil cases, rooting out who he owes money too, the sight of Trump golf courses closing, his name being taken off buildings. Criminally, civilly, financially....the Trump name must be hammered in every way once he leaves office. That will break the spell for just enough of the Trumpers who will just never vote for any replacement candidate.

The fact is if we can continually weaken the cult leader, the Repub party will become a fragmented mess, never able to cobble together as many voters as they did in 2020.

[Lonestarblue]

67. Perhaps a point to think about here is the Trump campaign use of social media.

I believe that AOC had a good point last week when she lambasted the lack of a digital strategy for the Democrats. Our leaders are perhaps still a bit old school. I don’t know that Facebook is the answer because it appeals to older voters, but we definitely want to appeal to more younger voters, who definitely came out in higher number this year. Facebook isn’t their media choice so we should be using the social media they use to help educate them on our issues and policies.

We need investment in messaging and in the party infrastructure to get the message to the right people. For example, I think of Facebook now as the media favored by right-wing extremists and white evangelicals. We’ll never appeal to them, so why bother. But we can and should use social media to bring more young voters into the fold.

[paleotn]

68. Given all we've seen....

in the last 4 years. The brutality and stupidity of this administration. It's disastrous handling of the pandemic, killing 250K+ Americans and wrecking the economy. And 73.1M idiots STILL voted for Donnie. It's all due to the right wing narrative. The fantasy world they've built and 73.1M+ Americans live in.

Destroy their parallel universe and you break the spell. I'm not sure how to do that, but a good first step is the complete destruction of their messiah. Indict and convict Trump, his family, his allies on the hill, his entire motley crew. If they've committed crimes, investigate, indict, convict. Ignore the rants of partisanship and "weaponizing" the Justice Dept. Put the fear of gawd in all of them. The rule of law is paramount and must be reinstated.

And the first time I hear a Dem talk of holding off for "the good of the country" I'm throwing up my hands and learning to speak Canadian, because if we go there AGAIN, we're fucked. I think Joe Biden knows that. I hope he knows that.

[Nasruddin]

87. Breaking the spell

Don't martyr him. It's his game. This Dolchstosslegende stuff he's doing about the election is his plan B & he'll just add government persecution to it.

Let the states take care of his businesses. Nobody in TX cares if NY state burns down the Trump family if they've evaded hundreds of millions of taxes thru fraud. I'm assuming there is a lot of fraud and misdeeds to be found - let's be sure. Let the IRS do its thing but at a snail's pace - let the states lead.

Do a real CI investigation & clear up the foreign influence questions in a dry, boring way. If a ton of misdeeds and money laundering crimes are discovered, let the prosecution grind away slowly. If there are crimes, focus on the enablers. Let them force an action against their boss(-es).

[BarbD]

71. There is still more of us than there are of them. (is my grammar correct?)

Our hope is not in the conversion of republicans, but in the many who did not vote. Stacy Abrams has the right idea.

Convincing someone who thinks they don't count and their vote doesn't matter to their lives is a really tough sell. It takes time and persistence. Voter suppression is a formidable obstacle as well.

Obama posed an excellent question during the campaign: What if 70% of the electorate voted? Or 80%?

[Vivienne235729]

75. I read somewhere it wasn't all latinos. Latino women went heavily for Biden

Latino men went for Trump. But I can't remember by how much.

[Nasruddin]

78. Men

And African American men in urban areas, Mr Trump did better than last time.

We should try to understand this appeal. Why would anyone put their trust in an obvious con man and sociopath?
This should be pollable - this is the kind of thing that our adversary Frank Luntz does, too.

[Vivienne235729]

81. I read somewhere it was the toxic masculinity. But I agree. We need to

Look into this and figure a way to bring them back into the blue fold. I spoke w one mexican male from work (he is a well spoken, articulate Democrat. There are not too many democrats where we work). And we both agree that democratic mexican men need to stand up, raise their voices, and reach out to their mexican brothers. We need to start organizing.

[BusyBeingBest]

86. That's all well and good--they need to do a better job targeting and registering Dem voters, seems

like that's a mission that has been slipping since Obama's second term. Probably need new Dem leadership. That said, we prevailed even though there was little campaigning on our side, and dare I say, not a terribly exciting or compelling candidate. Trump has been campaigning and holding rallies NONSTOP for four years, and in the end, it still wasn't enough for him to overcome all the people beyond the Dem base that came out of the woodwork to vote against him. That probably doesn't pay off too often in politics (the negative vote), but it did for us this time.

[Gothmog]

89. The billion dollars may have helped some

[BannonsLiver]

93. Terrific OP

Brad’s plan worked more or less. He may be an alcoholic nut bag, but he was on the right track.

That so many people in the thread reflexively dismiss your point is not a surprise.

“We have all the answers.”

[My Pet Orangutan]

97. Rather than being defeatist, I don't see what's wrong

with a deep data effort to turn out the Democratic base, starting with, for example, an effort to turn out a record number of young women in 2022.

That does not mean, IMO, relitigating Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and free college. That is not how the GOP does it - It means keeping them up to date with how the GOP in congress disrespects them, their votes, their interests, their friends, family and communities.

What the Trump campaign did was ramp up their digital outreach after the 2016 election. I can't see a reason why Democrats should not do something similar.

[BannonsLiver]

99. Totally agree.

[My Pet Orangutan]

100. And young women have been known to hunt in packs.

It was so close, and it’s because of you guys fucking pushing through that we won this shit! Thank you for caring about the climate, about women’s rights, about social justice, about fucking surviving right now. I cannot say thank you enough. I am so happy right now. I love you guys. Be safe - Billie Eilish

https://www.nme.com/news/music/billie-eilish-toasts-joe-biden-election-victory-this-is-unbelievable-i-am-so-happy-2811205

[Sogo]

101. "Digital outreach stepped up immediately after the 2016 election."

That answers the question I've had for some time....What did they do with the voter rolls they requested from the states right after 2016?

[My Pet Orangutan]

102. Matched it with Facebook/Instagram/Snap & Twitter IDs for starters.

[My Pet Orangutan]

113. Kick

[JCMach1]

114. Still not convincing me Trump found 10M extra idiots to vote for him

I think the outcome is very different with paper ballots in all states

[ThoughtCriminal]

115. Nigerian Princes REALLY want that data

Detailed data on the desires and fears of the most gullible people on the planet WITH contact information!

No wonder the "My Pillow" guy is still in business.

[Blue Owl]

116. Brad's thumb might have been on the parscale...

[My Pet Orangutan]

118. Kicking for the last time - thanks everyone.