How do you explain the poor performance of Democrats in the House races?

Nancy Pelosi and the Trump impeachment fiasco.

A lot of Republicans and Independents who tend to vote conservative voted for Biden. This I think is the biggest reason.

A section of the population thinks it’s important to have a check on the executive branch and vote accordingly.

I’d have to look at the particular states and candidates. I’d be curious to know if most of the states where that happened if the congressman voted in were fairly moderate. Or, maybe the other candidate who lost was very extreme.

@JLeslie I have not looked at the individual races. One reason I have read about is the state of affairs in Dem-run districts, pertaining to lawlessness and homelessness.

Republicans are gaining ground in certain areas. Trump was disliked by many of them and enough flipped and voted for Biden. The mid-term elections are going to be interesting. The way the protests, riots and other shenanegans have played out in 2020 does not sit well with some. It’s causing many who are center leaning to throw their votes right but not for Trump.

I guess “defund the police” didn’t go over so well in swing districts.

Here’s another opinion. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/11/27/why-did-democrats-bleed-house-seats-top-analyst-offers-surprising-answers/%3foutputType=amp

Because Democrats rigged the election.

I have an explanation—massive conservative voter fraud. Why haven’t the Democrats demanded recounts and petitioned the courts to disallow the results from every race lost to the Republicans?

Excessive numbers of poorly educated self-centered tribalists, racists, anti-abortionists, baselessly fearful gun-owners, homophobes, xenophobes, Bible-thumpers, fools and assholes tends to be my go-to answer.

Especially in the southeastern US and rural areas.

In congressional races, they are decided by the votes in the independent states and not by the whole nation, much less the electoral college.

The GOP had more women and people of color running, and the poor roll out of the “defund the police” idea.

@AYKM You said: “The way the protests, riots and other shenanegans have played out in 2020 does not sit well with some.” How did they play with you?

@Demosthenes You said: “I guess “defund the police” didn’t go over so well in swing districts.” Do you think it went over well in any districts?

@JLeslie That link did not work for me. So either post a new link or paraphrase the story for us.

@Zaku If such people are the majority, which I think happens to be true, 2022 may be a disaster for the Dems!

@kritiper So?

@filmfann I think the latter part of your statement is the answer. The American voter does not want anybody threatening their personal safety.

Here’s a new link for the article:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/11/27/why-did-democrats-bleed-house-seats-top-analyst-offers-surprising-answers/

Some quotes from the article in case the link still doesn’t work:

Republicans did a complete 180 on recruitment. This year all 12 Republicans who picked up Democratic seats so far were women or minorities. Republicans nominated candidates who looked like their districts, and didn’t necessarily sound like [President] Trump.

In 2018, when he wasn’t on the ballot, the only opportunity for independent voters, especially suburban women, to vent their anger at Trump was by voting against a Republican congressional candidate. This time around, those voters could do so directly, but vote for a more conventional Republican down-ballot.

Instead of running a campaign entirely about Trump and his temperament, Biden ran a campaign focused on populist themes. That is marginally more effective in blue-collar America.

Remember when Trump settled on the message that Biden is a Trojan Horse for the radical left? In retrospect, the message those voters might have taken away was that Biden doesn’t sound that bad, but congressional Democrats are about to drive the country off a socialist cliff.

A lot of voters have no idea where Democratic candidates stand on police funding. Because Democrats never mentioned it in their ads.

@JLeslie The new link works – but you have to be a subscriber, which I am not. So thanks for distilling the main takeaways.

I agree with most of the points you listed. Running against somebody is always easier than having to come up with, and defend, your own ideas and policies. So I am not surprised, that is what Biden did.

Where do you personally stand on police funding?

I have always been adamant that the slogan Defund the Police is horrible. I was very happy Black leaders almost immediately were saying, hey slow down there I would not use the word defund, and they defended policing in high crime areas. Unfortunately, it was a day or more after cable news was already trying to explain what defund the police means and trying to defend it. Idiots.

Cable news did the same bullshit with trying to justify the term socialism. I’ve been saying on fluther for 5 years the Democrats need to shut the hell up trying to explain these things and stop the use of those terms, but most of the jellies think I’m crazy. They don’t get it.

By the way, CNN and MSNBC dropped the phrase and seeming support of Defund the Police fairly quickly while Fox News still rambled on about it for weeks and months, maybe they are still using the term I don’t know.

Biden was clear many times he does not support defunding the police and will not do any such thing.

@crazyguy Poorly.

@crazyguy There are definitely far too many such people, but they are not the majority.

Consider that Trump has never had a positive (> 50%) approval rating. No other president has ever failed to have even a 50% approval rating ever. Just about the only way to get elected with a negative approval rating, is to have the other “big party” offer up another candidate with a negative approval rating on election day (q.v. Hillary Clinton, who still won the popular vote, but failed due to gerrymandering and the electoral college system).

Gallup Historical Presidential Job Approval Statistics
High individual measurements
Dates in office, High approval rating %
Harry Truman June 1945 87
Dwight Eisenhower December 1956 79
John Kennedy April 1961 83
Lyndon Johnson February 1964 79
Richard Nixon Nov. 1969 and Jan. 1973 67
Gerald Ford August 1974 71
Jimmy Carter March 1977 75
Ronald Reagan May 1981 and May 1986 68
George H.W. Bush February 1991 89
Bill Clinton December 1998 73
George W. Bush September 2001 90
Barack Obama January 2009 69

@Zaku You are saying that supporters of BLM, Antifa and the riots are not the majority. Which would seem to imply that the majority of Democrats are anti-riots and anti-looting. Just one question: why was this majority silent during the worst of the riots and looting?

@JLeslie Great. So you don’t believe in defunding the police all over the country. The “high crime” areas should have policing. The lower crime areas should not – until they become high crime areas! Wow, just listen to yourself.

@AYKM I am glad to read your answer which tells me that not all Democrats were in favor of the riots. However, please point to one criticism of the riots made by a Democrat High Priest while the riots were still going on, not after the fact.

@Demosthenes Biden kept saying over and over he wasn’t going to defund the police. But I agree with defunding the police. More police isn’t resolving anything. It isn’t reducing crime. We have to try something to keep police safe and citizens safe and to prevent problems before they become problems. This article explains it well. People aren’t happy with the idea because they just read defund the police and right away they think they are going to fire all police officers and the streets will be overwhelmed with gangs and rapists. And that is exactly how Republicans wanted it portrayed.

@crazyguy I didn’t say that. I never said low crime areas shouldn’t have policing.

@crazyguy I’m a republican.

@Pandora From your link “while some organizations are indeed calling for the abolishment or dismantling of police altogether”... The balance of the article puts “police defunding” in terms of budgeting, which is what we hire our local governments for. Do we really need a mob telling our government how our tax dollars should be allocated?

@JLeslie No, you did not say that exactly. What you said was:

“and they defended policing in high crime areas.”. where “they” referred to “Black leaders” that you were very happy with!

@AYKM My apologies. I have looked through all communication with you to figure out why I assumed what I did. I think the words that gave me that impression were:

“The way the protests, riots and other shenanegans have played out in 2020 does not sit well with some.”

I assumed you were not including yourself in “some”.

@crazyguy Those black leaders were referring to high crime areas, Black areas. The accusation was police were purposefully going after Blacks to harass and kill them, and the Black mayors and congresspeople here locally where I live were defending their police force and choices to police more heavily in those areas, because those (Black) areas warrant more policing.

You are barking up the wrong tree. Most Democrats did not get behind Defund the Police. They are open to reevaluating how to help the community to reduce crime so we don’t have situations rise to the level of needing the police intervention, and they do support addressing police brutality and better training. Who doesn’t support that?

The Republicans are trying to hang on to attacking the far left of the Democrats, but that is going to be a loser, because Biden is moderate, and most Democrats are moderate and reasonable.

@JLeslie So, let me get this right.

1. Police purposefully go after Blacks to harass and kill them.
2. Yet we are ok with more policing in black areas.

The moderate Democrats did not criticize the riots and looting until it was too late. They spoke only with their votes.

@crazyguy I did not say police purposefully go after Blacks to harass and kill them, I said it was an accusation being made and it was refuted. There are bad apples in the police forces, that is undeniable, but we all know there are good cops everywhere too.

Are you using protesting and riots synonymously? Because if you are we won’t get anywhere. Plenty of Democrats spoke out against the rioting. I wish it had been more and sooner, but it definitely was done. They asked people not to destroy their own cities, and Biden especially said all the violence and destruction is unacceptable. On fluther there were jellies, including me, who spoke up early on, some didn’t. I didn’t hear any Republicans willing to admit some of the rioting was alt-right groups except for one Republican jelly here.

@JLeslie The protests gave a semblance of shelter to the rioters and the looters. Some of the protesters in daylight hours became rioters and looters in darkness. So, yes, I do use protesters and rioters synonymously. Whether they were the same people or not, it is undeniable that they worked in close conjunction. In one instance at least that I recall, a few “protesters” broke off from the main group and looted an area that the police thought would not be attacked.

Yes, some Democrats including Biden did criticize the rioting. However, it was too little, too late. The looters, in particular, felt entitled. After all, they were just collecting a down payment on the reparations due them!

On May 28th I wrote, The more I see what’s happening the more I am against any violence or fires in these protests. I think it’s great people are protesting around the country (I hope they are distancing, masks) but destroying property and endangering others isn’t the way.

What if it was a different group destroying property? Jews after the synagogue shootings, children after school shootings, what if protestors in your town coming out in solidarity set you your police department on fire and loot stores in your town?”

From this Q

I also wrote this on that same Q, I posted on facebook two days ago a link and wrote to arrest the cop! A friend of mine replied that there has to be due process and when her niece was murdered the waiting was awful, but they have to investigate and gather evidence. She was saying to be patient. To that my response was I am all for due process, but we already have evidence to arrest him! We have video, witnesses, what more do you need to arrest? I wanted him arrested, in jail, and awaiting trial. I do fear he will be let out on bail, we shall see.

I don’t even think the protesting should necessarily stop just because he was arrested. I think better organized (safer) protests, can happen, even if it is in small numbers, going on constantly, all day, for weeks and months in many cities maybe if they want to maintain a presence and the subject in the public eye…

When all of this protesting first started I kept think about football players taking a knee and protest and the republicans turning that into an affront against out flag and our soldiers who fought for our country, and back then I said it, and I say it now, that is ridiculous! What are the Republicans doing, trying to take away every avenue to seek attention for a cause and to show unity? A completely non-violent act, that did not interrupt the game, to show their disappointment with the country and their concern for citizens of our country. Black people and those who support them cannot demonstrate in a non-violent way or violent way I guess according to these people that turn everything EVERYTHING into being antiAmerican and against God. They are doing it with COVID. I really believe the WS starts this shit and then the Republicans pick up on it and repeat it and internalize it like it is the gospel, and not agreeing is going to bring down the sky. They blow it into some sort of crazy idea that they rationalize. Their way of putting it back on the African Americans, distracting from the issue at hand, and changing the story. It is also a way to keep the country divided. Division helps create fierce loyalty and action.

I am just as worried as everyone. Worried for minorities and worried for the United States of America.”

I also have written all over fluther than I am against any violence done by Antifa.

I feel the extremes of the country need to be stopped. Trump is write, they are all anarchists. White Supremacists and libertarians who want zero government and extreme leftist groups all are a problem. Why can’t Republicans say it? I know tons of republicans who defend White Nationalism, WTH?! They think using the term white culture is ok. Are you ok with those terms? Nationalism and white culture?

@crazyguy Just read you think protestors and rioters are used interchangeably. I don’t think I can discuss this more with you. As much as I agree the rioters took advantage, and I myself said multiple times here and other places that curfews were good and Democrats are wrong to be up in arms about them, using the terms synonymously promotes the idea that protesting is the same as rioting, and that is the most UnAmerican thing I think I have ever heard. The right to speak out against the government and to assemble is one of our basic rights that made America different than other other countries at the time of it’s founding. It is what we are. I think it should be done safely and in coordination with our local law enforcement to protect the protestors and the community, but to say protestors are the same as the rioters. It literally sickens me. Just another way for the political right to try and silence the minority. So disgusting.

People being oppressed and abused are left with NOTHING then. No way to be heard. No silent protesting, no audible protests, no marching protests, not anything. Stop listening to your sources of media and put yourself in the minority position who is struggling. What do you want them to do to be heard? They have tried the quiet way. They even have had video of other situations where Black men were killed for nothing. They didn’t have a weapon, they weren’t resisting. How many times? How many times do we need to see it?

Protesting and rioting are definitely not the same thing. Blaming all protesters because some rioted is no different than blaming all right-wingers because some are white supremacists. And protest is by its very nature disruptive; that’s the point of it.

Some people seem to forget that this country was founded on protest. And yeah, there was some rioting, violence and destruction of property involved there as well.

From Wikipedia
The Boston Tea Party was an American political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773.[1] The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India Company to sell tea from China in American colonies without paying taxes apart from those imposed by the Townshend Acts. American Patriots strongly opposed the taxes in the Townshend Act as a violation of their rights. Demonstrators, some disguised as Native Americans, destroyed an entire shipment of tea sent by the East India Company.They boarded the ships and threw the chests of tea into the Boston Harbor. The British government responded harshly and the episode escalated into the American Revolution.

@JLeslie You should read my entire post:

“The protests gave a semblance of shelter to the rioters and the looters. Some of the protesters in daylight hours became rioters and looters in darkness. So, yes, I do use protesters and rioters synonymously. Whether they were the same people or not, it is undeniable that they worked in close conjunction. In one instance at least that I recall, a few “protesters” broke off from the main group and looted an area that the police thought would not be attacked.
Yes, some Democrats including Biden did criticize the rioting. However, it was too little, too late. The looters, in particular, felt entitled. After all, they were just collecting a down payment on the reparations due them!”

If you still think I am propagating “the idea that protesting is the same as rioting”, so be it.

@Demosthenes Protests that are the springboard for riots and looting should not be encouraged by anybody. It should be the responsibility of the protest organizers to ensure that the protests shall stay peaceful.

@Strauss I am well aware of the Boston Tea Party, and I was all for it, even though it did result in damage to property. The difference, of course, is whose property?

@crazyguy So the open up the state protestors, the pro-life protestors, the give women the vote protestors, the men and women who walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge for the right to vote, the people outside of elections offices demanding recounts, the people who marched on Washington for civil rights and to see MLK give his I Have a Dream speech, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire protest, The Greensboro sit-in…

ALL RIOTERS. Got it.

How dare you.

@crazyguy

What does it matter whose property it is?

@JLeslie You are choosing to be as obtuse as the other posters on this thread. GOT IT.

“A riot is the language of the unheard.”

Martin Luther King Jr., interviewed by Mike Wallace, 1966

Ugh. I am not on board with defending rioting. Make no mistake. I understand the emotion of being so angry people might lash out, but 99% of the protesters were just out in the streets marching our demonstrating, they were not being destructive.

There was no not hearing. The ENTIRE world heard just from the massive turnout. Practically the whole world was out for Floyd and BLM.

@Strauss What’s your point? They were rioters? The BLM protestors were rioters?

@JLeslie The ENTIRE world heard just from the massive turnout. Practically the whole world was out for Floyd and BLM.

The entire world also heard some 50+ years ago when rioting and looting broke out in Baltimore in the wake of peaceful protests over the death by police of Freddie Gray. We either learn from history or we relive it!

@crazyguy “You are choosing to be as obtuse as the other posters on this thread. GOT IT.”

Says the guy who cowardly avoids posts and questions he doesn’t want to answer.

@Strauss You are basically saying the riots in history didn’t work.

At least half the rioting was the alt-right anyway.

This whole discussion is a manipulation by Nationalists trying to destroy America.

Protesting is not synonymous with rioting.

The White Christian Nationalists (not to be confused at all with the average Christian) are getting desperate and they aren’t going down without wreaking havoc. They now have social media to stir things up and they are good at it. Thank goodness Facebook finally banned QAnon, although way too late, because a shit ton of damage was done. I’m sure Facebook is constantly deleting messaging from WS groups, but it’s imperfect.

@JLeslie We are in agreement, not surprisingly. Riots don’t work. Back then the riots arose out of impatience and anger. There were certain elements, especially in the Black Power contingent, that didn’t agree with Dr. King’s pacifistic approach. They thought that a more militant approach was necessary to complete the task. Similar trends were occurring in the anti-war movement in the same era. It had happened fifty years earlier with the labor movement, and things got violent.

The more recent protest-related riots, IMHO, seem more to be the work of alt-right agents provocateur whose aim is to see the whole BLM movement painted as violent.

@Strauss Recent rioting and looting seems to me to be a combination of alt-right, far left, and criminal opportunists. Just focusing on one group gives fuel to the others.

All good Americans should condemn rioting and criminal behavior and at the same time support the right to protest.

@JLeslie @Strauss

“At least half the rioting was the alt-right anyway.”

“The more recent protest-related riots, IMHO, seem more to be the work of alt-right agents provocateur whose aim is to see the whole BLM movement painted as violent.”

“Recent rioting and looting seems to me to be a combination of alt-right, far left, and criminal opportunists”

You guys believe whatever you want. I’ll believe what I saw of the rioting with my own two eyes. And not just on FOX, but other channels also.

Believe what you want. I’m obviously not going to change your subjective reality.

@Strauss I have noticed that on Fluther (and Quora earlier) no minds get changed. Sometimes you get one or two people who may admit mistakes in a “fact” or “long-held opinion”; but that is usually just a tiny aspect of an issue.

Two-thirds of the rioters were not political at all. It was straight up looting by opportunists taking advantage of the situation. Political pandering by our elected leaders on all sides kept the fire going. The idea that this was orchestrated by the so-called “alt-right” is absurd. A small sliver of it possibly from organized white supremacists but all in all I saw way more left-wing extremists. Particularly the anti-capitalist, anti-american anarchist, marxist types.

@AYKM Welcome to the head bashing melee where the biggest casualty is the truth!