Quote (Thor123422 @ Feb 7 2021 08:45pm)
Just because they vote for conservative politicians doesn't mean they are actually conservative. There's plenty of Floridians that want a $15 minimum wage, national healthcare, more favorable treatment of immigrants, but were scared off by the "Biden is a communist!" commercials. Hell, Bernie just spent a few years as the most approved of politician and it took significant meddling both times to slow him down in the primaries. 2016 if the Democrats hadn't actively manipulated against Bernie and if they had more winner take all states then it would have been Bernie vs Trump, and every single poll had Bernie slaughtering Trump. (inb4 but muh opposition research, as though Hillary didn't have opposition research done on her)
The people can be manipulated, and by mostly restricting their options to a far-right party (Republicans) and a center-right party (establishment Democrats) you artificially make them seem right wing in their voting. Healthcare was a national issue in 2009 and they elected Democrats in a landslide. Why aren't you saying they voted for a far-left policy that never got realized? Obamacare was the Republican's response to healthcare in the 80's when Democrats were for single payer, and in the 2000's most Democrats had given up on that position and we ended up getting the Republican plan from the 80's. It's pretty undeniable at this point that the left makes up two to three times more voters than the Democratic base, but they never have a real option for representation so they almost always sit out.
Hell, every single Democrat who ran on single payer healthcare got elected this last round, including ones that were in Republican leaning districts, and the blue-dog Democrats anywhere that wasn't heavy blue were basically a coin flip.
It seems to me you are compartmentalizing again. The data is there, and pretty obvious, but you are only willing to draw certain conclusions if it goes in one direction.
I'm not sure I'm following your argument. Americans want liberal policies, so between a hard-right and center-right party, they choose the hard-right? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
What we can learn from Bernie's mishaps is that the American electorate is far more liberal economically than has been given credit for, and at the same time a fundamentally conservative (socially) place. Bernie did well in 2016 when he ran strictly on economic populism. He did poorly in 2020 when he ran as a caricature of identity politics. Not all positions are weighed equally by the public, the perception of democrats as hard left intersectional crusaders is a big turn-off. Bill Clinton was as popular as he was for a reason.
Important to recognize as well that $15 minimum wage in Florida (GDP per capita = $51,745) is 60% of GDP. And while that's far too high (it's well above most other liberal market economies) it might not be world-ending. A federal $15 minimum wage in Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi would put those states in with the likes of 2nd and 3rd world developing nations where there are vast black market labor economies. It would have an enormous impact on their local economies, and it would price them out of corporate relocation opportunities. Small wonder that some blue states are pushing a higher federal minimum wage, because they're competing with red states that can afford to offer labor at cheaper prices. Force the red states to bargain high, and corporations will stay where the intellectual capital is.