This Is How On Edge People Are (1 Viewer)

[Terminalxylem]

I do think that the idea " go vote' is taken by Trump supporters (and maybe by Republicans) as a hidden Democratic message because of the concept that higher turnout usually supports the Democratic Party.  That suspicion isn't helped by (at least in SE PA) the idea that every commercial that tells people to "go vote/just do it" is sponsored by the DNC or their surrogates.

I find that kind of funny because I would think Americans would want ALL eligible Americans to vote.  On a personal level.....Trump winning in a landslide would be second on the list of things that would make me happy (the first obviously being Biden winning) simply because if there's a high turnout and he wins; the will of the American people has been delivered and it's up to me to look inward to see if I'm being to unreasonable/unrealistic/naive in my opinions.  

This is a noble sentiment, but I’m not sure I agree. I want informed voters, and I believe too many people vote single issue or party line without much thought. Maybe I’m not giving people enough credit?

 

[Wildcat]

I can’t tell you how many times a copy/paste has got me in trouble.   Your error was not updating your statement for 2020 and assuming the 2016 was just as applicable. 

 

[GroveDiesel]

Joe,

I agree that people are super anxious and on edge. I’ve seen advertisements and heard plenty of people say that this is the most important election ever. With those kinds of weights on people, it’s easy to see why anxiety would be so high. 

And I think it’s easy to see how we got here. More and more, we’ve come to view the government as our Hope. We especially look at the position of President that way. We see it as the Man who can help make the world look the way we think it should look. Generally we look to government as a whole to do that as well. So when the President and government don’t have the same view of what the world should look like as we do, it makes sense that people would lose hope.

Of course, for those who put their trust in a higher being, it shouldn’t be that way. Our trust and our hope should come from something much bigger than that. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work to help make the world a better place and shouldn’t try to use our political and cultural institutions to do so, but it does mean we should have a different perspective on who is in control and should look passed party much more easily. When your Hope isn’t in Man, the man in power shouldn’t cause nearly so much anxiety.

That is in no way meant to be a slight to those of you that are non-religious, more an acknowledgement that your anxiety is perfectly rational.

 

[NorvilleBarnes]

I'm not anxious or "on edge" and I feel like I'm missing out. To be fair the statement "God willing we'll have a new president elect" actually made less sense in 2016 than in 2020 as an endorsement of Biden. Probably a case of using a common figure of speech without thinking about what it actually means. Or how it could be interpreted. I think losing a subscriber over a post is probably the closest Joe will come to experiencing an unfair time out. 

It is odd that "go vote" is frequently interpreted now as "Vote for Biden". I personally viewed it as "don't just complain, post, shout, meme, argue, go actually vote". After all the excitement and passion for Bernie collapsed at the voting booth, it seemed like a lot of people were saying rallies are fine but voting is what counts. There's a very good chance that Trump will be the Bernie of the right (speaking strictly in terms of high rally attendance vs low election turnout).

 

[The Commish]

Thanks. That's what I thought you meant. I agree.

Here's my question - the advertising model has been the model for radio and television and print for 50+ years.

Nothing has really changed there.

People listen to the radio for free and in turn, they "pay" by accepting ads.

Advertisers pay the platform to run the ads.

In other words, advertising on TV effectively is the same model today as it was in 1970.

Why is it so different now?

The number of outlets and avenues for advertising have changed significantly.  You list the two that existed before.  Now we add any "free" app you put on your phone, just about any website you go to, twitter, facebook, youtube (any social media page actually).  But the cherry on top of this part is the algorithms that pick which ads you see on all those kinds of sites.  They act like the magnifying glass to the sun.

 

[The Commish]

You think it’s neutral?

Do you think of the Dems win the White House we will be inundated with this stuff in 4 yrs?

I think the nonstop “VOOOOOOTE!!!” right now is people hoping Trump loses

The message is yes....when it's pushed by "a side" of course the other "side" is going to take offense....that's what people do...especially the groups that know lower voter turnout is a good thing for them.  I wish I could answer "yes" to your second question, and I think I sorta can.  When the Dems are in power, the GOP is always pushing the "GOP you gotta turn out and get these people out of office" narrative.  Yes, it's true we have some of that with the Dems heck there are Republicans out in pushing strong narratives to vote and remove Trump from office but there's also this mixed encouragement from all kinds of different groups with a completely generic/neutral "go vote" message.  I've never seen this kind of mix of "go vote" messaging ever.  

 

[Snorkelson]

God willing we will have a new president elect....

Lets take a look back and remember that there was a lot of talk of voter fraud and not accepting results of election back then, same as now. With Obama’s term ending we would definitely have a new president, so the statement “god willing we will have a new president elect” kind of shows how much we were on edge then as well. 

 

[Terminalxylem]

Somebody should create a video and make it about something that you figure people will like but then when you click on it it tells you to vote.  We could come up with a catchy name for it and everything.

My vote

 

[FBG26]

To be fair the statement "God willing we'll have a new president elect" actually made less sense in 2016 than in 2020 as an endorsement of Biden. Probably a case of using a common figure of speech without thinking about what it actually means. Or how it could be interpreted.

At first blush, I kinda wondered about that statement too because of course we'd have a new president-elect in 2016. But I think we need to consider the whole quote. For completeness, Joe's quote was "God willing, we're going to have a new President-elect next week" (emphasis mine). I would have interpreted that as "Hopefully the elections results are final and not locked up in court battles by next week".

I guess my takeaways are: 1) I need to read more slowly and 2) I need to be more charitable in my interpretations rather than assuming somebody meant something they may not have.

Edit to add: I think Snorkelson is saying something similar about Joe's comment could have been interpreted as saying hopefully it's not all locked up in the courts. 

 

[Manster]

I do think that the idea " go vote' is taken by Trump supporters (and maybe by Republicans) as a hidden Democratic message because of the concept that higher turnout usually supports the Democratic Party.  That suspicion isn't helped by (at least in SE PA) the idea that every commercial that tells people to "go vote/just do it" is sponsored by the DNC or their surrogates.

I find that kind of funny because I would think Americans would want ALL eligible Americans to vote.  On a personal level.....Trump winning in a landslide would be second on the list of things that would make me happy (the first obviously being Biden winning) simply because if there's a high turnout and he wins; the will of the American people has been delivered and it's up to me to look inward to see if I'm being to unreasonable/unrealistic/naive in my opinions.  

I think a lot of this stems from the Dems trying to appeal to the youngest of voters.....college campuses come to mind.....  "vote even if you don't know #### about anything" 

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Extremely telling how wanting people to vote is somehow a partisan thing now. 

 

[Don Quixote]

I thought this essay by Gene Weingarten in the Washington Post was pretty good. Lots of great vignettes, and the whole thing is worth a read. Snippet below.

Can We Ever Be One Country Again?

America is facing one of the deepest divides in our history — and, no matter who wins the elections, a difficult path to healing

Just days before one of the most consequential elections in American history, we’re in hell. There are myriad reasons — a global plague, racial injustice leading to unrest in the streets, deadly wildfires attributable to an international environmental crisis that has become exasperatingly susceptible to political ping-pong, a worldwide rise in authoritarian regimes — but we are in hell mostly because our very way of life seems imperiled by the politics of the times, whichever side you are on. That’s the thing: There are two sides, and nothing safely in between. The current political climate has riven families, destroyed ancient friendships, tested marriages.

The stakes are so elevated, the alternatives so stark, the consequences so potentially dire, that the principal emotion generated — inflamed by highly partisan media, and social media, on the left and the right — is something that very much resembles hatred.

 

[bagger]

You think it’s neutral?

Do you think of the Dems win the White House we will be inundated with this stuff in 4 yrs?

Of course. 

 

[apalmer]

I think a lot of this stems from the Dems trying to appeal to the youngest of voters.....college campuses come to mind.....  "vote even if you don't know #### about anything" 

Yeah, because young people getting a college education are obviously too dumb to vote intelligently

 

[Manster]

Yeah, because young people getting a college education are obviously too dumb to vote intelligently

They are very impressionable, and no real life experience yet, for the most part

 

[Jackstraw]

They are very impressionable, and no real life experience yet, for the most part

Good enough to die for their country. Good enough to vote for me. 

 

[BoltBacker]

I think a lot of this stems from the Dems trying to appeal to the youngest of voters.....college campuses come to mind.....  "vote even if you don't know #### about anything" 

If the original enemy is science, college/university isn't far behind. Then education as a whole? Or anything other than "Patriotic Education".... or whatever they call it in North Korea.

 

[Kal El]

Is anyone else just ready to just run out the clock on the year? These next few days are going to be pretty awful, no matter which way it goes, and there seems to be rampant misinformation, and frankly, I'd like it to be over.

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Is anyone else just ready to just run out the clock on the year? These next few days are going to be pretty awful, no matter which way it goes, and there seems to be rampant misinformation, and frankly, I'd like it to be over.

Absolutely 100%. The whole process takes far too long. The Presidential race has been officially ongoing for over a year and in reality it started over 3 years ago. There are individual Senate races where candidates are having over $100 million spent on their campaigns. We're lighting money on fire and getting nothing but ineffective government for it. Citizens should be outraged at all politicians, not just the half they don't like.

 

[Kal El]

Absolutely 100%. The whole process takes far too long. The Presidential race has been officially ongoing for over a year and in reality it started over 3 years ago. There are individual Senate races where candidates are having over $100 million spent on their campaigns. We're lighting money on fire and getting nothing but ineffective government for it. Citizens should be outraged at all politicians, not just the half they don't like.

Absolutely. We are their bosses, not the other way around, and the constant bickering is enough to make a guy take a long walk off a short pier.

 

[Mile High]

Is anyone else just ready to just run out the clock on the year? These next few days are going to be pretty awful, no matter which way it goes, and there seems to be rampant misinformation, and frankly, I'd like it to be over.

It's over for me. Already voted, pretty sure my state will remain blue locally. No matter who the president is I'm still living in an area that people want to live in.

 

[Kal El]

It's over for me. Already voted, pretty sure my state will remain blue locally. No matter who the president is I'm still living in an area that people want to live in.

I'm in Florida, locally pretty conservative, but a statewide tossup. People like to make fun of us, but I'd rather be here when the snow starts falling.

 

[The Commish]

Is anyone else just ready to just run out the clock on the year? These next few days are going to be pretty awful, no matter which way it goes, and there seems to be rampant misinformation, and frankly, I'd like it to be over.

If I'm being honest, it seems like the year is going to change and nothing else.  There is no end in sight.

 

[Courtjester]

This rest of the year is going to be really, really bad and nothing that happens Tuesday is going to change that.  No matter the results, this country will still remain further and further apart. 

 

[Cowboysfan8]

Absolutely 100%. The whole process takes far too long. The Presidential race has been officially ongoing for over a year and in reality it started over 3 years ago. There are individual Senate races where candidates are having over $100 million spent on their campaigns. We're lighting money on fire and getting nothing but ineffective government for it. Citizens should be outraged at all politicians, not just the half they don't like.

Absolutely 

 

[Alex P Keaton]

Absolutely 100%. The whole process takes far too long. The Presidential race has been officially ongoing for over a year and in reality it started over 3 years ago. There are individual Senate races where candidates are having over $100 million spent on their campaigns. We're lighting money on fire and getting nothing but ineffective government for it. Citizens should be outraged at all politicians, not just the half they don't like.

Excellent points.   Couldn't agree more.  How do we break the logjam?   Stir up the system?   Seriously, what fixes this mess?

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Excellent points.   Couldn't agree more.  How do we break the logjam?   Stir up the system?   Seriously, what fixes this mess?

Easy step would be for Congress to truly cap campaign length and spending on itself. But since they won't ever do that themselves, it would probably have to come from the people. The easiest path to that is state by state via Constitutional questions on the ballot. Who will be brave enough to start the movement to get it on the state ballots? It would take a heck of an organized effort to do so and ironically a lot of money. Maybe some of these wealthy donors who give to both parties will wise up and decide it's simpler and more cost effective longterm to fund a movement to cap out of control campaign spending?

 

[Alex P Keaton]

Easy step would be for Congress to truly cap campaign length and spending on itself. But since they won't ever do that themselves, it would probably have to come from the people. The easiest path to that is state by state via Constitutional questions on the ballot. Who will be brave enough to start the movement to get it on the state ballots? It would take a heck of an organized effort to do so and ironically a lot of money. Maybe some of these wealthy donors who give to both parties will wise up and decide it's simpler and more cost effective longterm to fund a movement to cap out of control campaign spending?

We need an end to gerrymandering.   We need ranked choice voting.   We need a "none of the above" option on the ballot.....where if "none of the above" wins, the parties have to choose different nominees and re-run the election.  Those 3 things might actually lead to change.

 

[Mr Anonymous]

After voting Y/N on 5 pretty inconsequential state Constitutional questions in Nevada this election, I believe people would jump at the chance to vote Yes to drastically cap campaign spending on state races. Such amendments wouldn't stop ridiculous spending on the Presidential race but eventually it could cover all the rest.

 

[Gr00vus]

Couple of interesting polls I was exposed to reading some of the 538 blog posts:

UMASS/Amherst poll about anger and fear in the electorate right now.

Americans are very fearful about the consequences should their preferred candidate lose the election. 61% say they would be very afraid if their candidate loses, and 23% say they would be somewhat afraid. ...

When asked how angry they will be if their presidential candidate loses, 53% say very angry and 22% somewhat angry. 66% of Biden supporters say they will be very angry, and 16% somewhat angry, if the Democratic candidate loses the election. If Republican Trump loses, 39% of Trump supporters say they will be very angry and 29% somewhat angry....

Decades of research have shown that anger leads citizens to show up in droves on Election Day

Navigator Research poll on how electorate feels about counting ballots and the direction of the country.

Majorities Say It Is More Important to Count Every Vote than to Immediately Announce Results...

Voters Enter Election Day Unhappy with Country’s Direction...

There's more interesting results in those too.

U.S. isn't the happiest place on earth right now.