To Dems/Libs: Are Democratic Party voters lazy, stupid, unorganized, etc?

One of the things that frustrates me the most, as a Democrat is the party as a whole's lack of interest in performing their civic duty when it counts in regards to mid-term elections, sometimes general elections, primaries, caucus's, etc. We manage to scrape by in the General Election but get our asses handed to us typically during the Mid Terms, off year elections, special elections, and have poor showing at caucuses and primary polls. Our Nevada voter turnout was abysmal at best, despite being on a weekend. New Hampshire has seen an increase in registered voters since 2008 yet had a lower turnout this year.

Both parties have their one-issue, low info voters who vote party lines based on bull**** like abortion and guns. So I'm not necessarily saying our voters are stupid on the aggregate, as both parties have to cater to these people.

I think laziness in performing their civic duty is a big part of it, when looking at demographics. Republicans by far have older, whiter voters on their side who respect their civic responsibility to take two hours out of their day, once every two years to do what they are supposed to do. Democrats have the youth vote, minorities, etc and we can't seem to get these people out. The exception was back in 2012 when black voters actually outperformed whites as a percentage of the vote. I don't see Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders getting that sort of excitement this year for minorities to be honest. While I don't see Hispanics voting for Trump (though I could see Trump being popular with a lot of black voters), I don't see them voting by and large at all to be honest.

Is it lack of organization? Lack of messaging? Lack of urgency? Debbie WS (head of the DNC) has done a piss poor job at her job, and definitely needs to step down or get fired. In fact I hope her district votes this lazy troll out of office. We need a LEADER in that part of the party, someone who is willing to put in the work it takes to motivate our base.

So what is it? What is our biggest failing?

Also, for my "Other" vote, there is a segment of the Democratic base (liberals) that may include me this year where a bit of self-righteousness is involved. It's what got Bush elected in 2000 and what might get Trump elected in 2016. And by that I mean we expect perfection from candidates, and when we don't get our near perfect candidate (Bernie Sanders in this case this year) we decide not to vote or vote third party based on principle.

I myself am still on the fence about voting for Hillary Clinton, as I do not like her. And I know I'm not alone. She's going to have to pull some real wrangling to get a lot of these millennials and leftists to vote for her, especially after everything the DNC has done to prop her up and promote her over the other candidates that were running. I think there is now a definite lack of trust and party unity in regards to the moderate Dems and liberal Dems.

I think that in general Democrats are less likely to rally behind their party's candidate than Republicans are.

Also, as you suggested, there's less of a sense of voting as a civic duty among the younger voters, and I suspect that accounts for much of the difference in turnout during midterm years.

DifferentDrummr said:

I think that in general Democrats are less likely to rally behind their party's candidate than Republicans are.

Also, as you suggested, there's less of a sense of voting as a civic duty among the younger voters, and I suspect that accounts for much of the difference in turnout during midterm years.

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To me that suggests for millennials lack of organization and messaging. Many millennials think that only the Presidency counts despite the fact that Republicans are overwhelming us in the House and on a local and state level.

gerry mandering, voter suppression, sentencing minorties to a felony conviction while whites get misdemeanors for the same crime etc etc

dimensionallava said:

gerry mandering, voter suppression, sentencing minorties to a felony conviction while whites get misdemeanors for the same crime etc etc

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That can be part of it too in regards to the local and state levels. It explains for sure why Republicans have such a solid lead in the House that is unlikely to change anytime soon. I think if a liberal justice is nominated to the SCOTUS and challenges much of these gerrymandering issues that have occurred lately, Democrats may have a chance to change this. Gerrymandering should only take place a year after a census is performed.

akrunner88 said:

Gerrymandering should only take place a year after a census is performed.

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lol I think you mean to say redistricting should only happen after a census

dimensionallava said:

lol I think you mean to say redistricting should only happen after a census

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Oops my bad lol. Yes, that's my belief on the issue.

I'd far prefer to see an anti-gerrymandering amendment. (IOW, something that involves a pre-defined algorithm for drawing the districts.)