Post by @Sharkticon@lemmy.zip

2026-10-19 06:27 UTC

The problem with this argument is that while it might be objectively correct in the short term it’s also objectively self-destructive in the long term. Both for the voter and the candidate. Because elections are won by turnout. If you don’t turn out your base you don’t win elections. But your strategy eventually murders your own base. They get dejected, they get disillusioned, they get impatient, whatever you want to call it. And you can’t fucking change that. No amount of argument will ever change that. If you keep serving your voters a turd sandwich it doesn’t matter how many giant douches are on the other side. Eventually they stop coming to eat. And that’s how you lose really big. Which screws over everybody.

Replies (3)

@eah@programming.dev 2026-10-19 15:20

Are voters clustered in the center of the political spectrum like a bell curve or are voters clustered in two camps at the extremes? If it’s the latter, I could see the strategy working. Otherwise, it’s bound to backfire because the leftmost candidate would need to move so far left to gain your vote that they would cede voters to the candidate to their immediate right and lose the election. They therefore don’t consider you in their policies and move farther right as a result, which seems counterintuitive, but it’s true. This of course assumes a single political axis which isn’t necessarily accurate.

Open ##5138379
@Honytawk@discuss.tchncs.de 2026-10-19 14:19

You would be correct in an utopian world. There people would vote for who they want instead of who they don’t mind. But this is reality, and because of the semi-2-party system of the US, voting for any third party is just the same as not voting at all. If you want to change the system, hold rallies between the elections. But don’t use the elections for that. Or you can be sure you will get an other trump. And how can your long-term plan work if everything gets fucked up so much short-term, that you will never get to the long term plan in the first place?

Open ##5141158
@Psythik@lemmy.world 2026-10-19 20:23

But what’s the alternative? Not voting? I won’t even consider not voting!

Open ##5145791