At this point in election season, the political press starts making forays into the wilds of so-called Real America to try to find out what the voters are thinking. It can be an interesting exercise in the hands of journalists who have a feel for more than the usual “breakfast crowd at the diner” type of stories and find some insight that’s helpful to understand the cross-currents that shape the electorate in any particular cycle. All too often, however, it’s just a series of cliches and conventional wisdom, unfortunately.

We see tons of coverage of Iowa and New Hampshire, for obvious reasons. But when it comes to picking the brains of swing voters reporters always seem to head up to Wisconsin, the quintessential swing state. Back in 2020, just before the election, the New York Times sent a couple of reporters there to take the temperature of voters in the Badger State that former president Donald Trump barely won in 2016 to see what undecided swing voters were thinking four years later.

  • kescusay@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    No. NO. I will fucking crawl over broken glass to vote for Biden. He’s not perfect by any stretch, but the nightmare orange clown shit-fucker is NOT going to make me apathetic. Fuck him aaaaaall the way to prison.

    • PugJesus@kbin.social
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      7 months ago

      I’ll limp my cripple ass from the East Coast to the West on foot if I have to, if some godforsaken SCOTUS decision declares that the only valid voting location is fucking Nowhere, Washington State or someshit. I don’t love Biden. But I do love not living under a braindead fascist.

        • agent_flounder@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Yup, I have as well. My client has a feature to tag users (since I can’t remember usernames for crap) so I can see that a few accounts have been pushing these narratives pretty hard. I can only imagine how bad it is on Reddit lately.

          • cmbabul@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            I just got blocked by one of them yesterday after breaking down in granular detail why a third party vote for president was a waste

        • GladiusB@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          We need twelve candidates and smaller slices of the pie. Only way this nation starts working for the people. As long as it’s red vs blue we will keep having huge issues in satisfaction.

        • agent_flounder@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Exactly. I have been suggesting to those types to work on ranked choice voting and then point them to the Fair Vote website.

      • spaceghoti@lemmy.oneOP
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        7 months ago

        Because it benefits Republicans to convince people that voting is pointless and they should stay home. That’s why they’re making it so hard to vote if you live in a district where Democrats are likely to win.

        • acutfjg@feddit.nl
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          7 months ago

          Make sense. Of course that means we should be voting harder. If it didn’t matter they wouldn’t talk about it

  • Candelestine@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Putin tries to convince the Russian people that they can’t stop him too. He’s actually right though, his draconian grip has become strong enough that the little guys have very poor odds of surviving for long, if they challenge him. Even the bigger challengers get shot out of the sky.

    Not here though. Not yet. They don’t have the numbers to pull this bullshit off, and they’ve pissed us off enough to prove it.

  • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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    7 months ago

    I like how it’s not actual doom and gloom, it’s evil actors making us think this.

    It’s not like the earth is dying while we all go broke, it’s Putin’s fault.

    And, no, voting third party or for Trump won’t be better. But Biden and all the Democrats in the world won’t stop it.

  • atyaz@reddthat.com
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    7 months ago

    I’m not apathetic. I will actively advocate for not voting for Biden or any other genocider. Not only did he refuse to ask for a ceasefire to save lives, he is sending the bombs and the billions of dollars that are used to wipe out the Palestinian population.

    Yes he will lose. And he only has himself to blame for that.

    • spaceghoti@lemmy.oneOP
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      7 months ago

      Congratulations for being honest enough to admit you’re part of the problem. Russia is pleased with your work.

      • atyaz@reddthat.com
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        7 months ago

        Greatest hits for a liberal

        • Only way to solve the problem is by voting for the pseudo fascist.
        • Oh that didn’t work? It’s because things are slowly improving you have to be patient.
        • Oh things are getting worse? Umm. Russia.
        • Telorand@reddthat.com
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          7 months ago

          I’m not apathetic. I will actively advocate for not voting for Biden or any other genocider.

          Those were your words, genius. What do you suppose fascists will do?

    • Telorand@reddthat.com
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      7 months ago

      Great job. I’m sure the fascists will be so proud of you for clutching those pearls.

      • atyaz@reddthat.com
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        7 months ago

        If that’s your actual opinion about ethnic cleansing then you deserve trump and worse

        • Kleinbonum@feddit.de
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          7 months ago

          For somebody who’s so concerned about genocide, shouldn’t you be concerned about the guy who’s giving speeches about “rooting out” all the “vermin” in America?

          What do you think the extermination of political opponents is going to look like?

          • PugJesus@kbin.social
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            7 months ago

            These people decided not to vote Biden long ago, and always use the “Latest and greatest hits” to declare that they DEFINITELY aren’t voting for Biden NOW and encourage everyone else to do the same.

            Morons, all of them. But worse than that, disingenuous morons.

      • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        They’re totally obvious. Am I supposed to believe that someone actually concerned about the genocide would advocate against the option which results in the fewest casualties? Because of all the realistic choices, voting for Biden will lead to the fewest.

        Either they’re a paid troll, or they’re an idealist who is so misguided, they would allow an antithetical outcome for the sake of ideological purity.

    • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Yeah cool story bro.

      Either you’re only using Palestinians as a cudgel, or you are severely misguided. A lot more Palestinians would die under a Trump administration than are dying today. If you actually cared about them, you’d instantly vote for Biden, because it will save Palestinian lives.

      Fact of the matter is, no matter what you vote, the genocide will continue. I want as few people to die as possible – ideally 0 of course – so I’m going to vote for Biden and keep Trump out at all costs.

      Tell me, what makes you more of an accomplice to genocide? Voting for Biden, or not caring if someone worse for it takes power? Having to have a vote for Biden sit on your conscious, or letting even more Palestinians die than would otherwise?

    • pottedmeat7910@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      … And the other guys idea of “foreign affairs” is trying to buy Greenland.

      Trump is a goddamned moron, and thinking he’d have any solution to any of this outside of “drop bombs until it goes away”, you need to turn off the FOX News and get some fresh air.