# What should the Democratic 2020 main campaign message be? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 28, 2019, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-the-democratic-2020-main-campaign-message-be/837768 "2019-07-28T20:38:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2019, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-the-democratic-2020-main-campaign-message-be/837768/1 "2019-07-28T20:38:39Z")
Getting Trump out of office, and pushing for progressive causes, are of course not mutually exclusive. But by and large, one tends to supersede the other. Which would you prefer? (There is the “other” button in case I’ve left an excluded middle in the poll) ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-the-democratic-2020-main-campaign-message-be/837768/2 "2019-07-29T00:40:05Z")
I voted positive, because I firmly believe that the major failure of the Clinton campaign was to deliberately avoid fully engaging with the base in every possible precinct. In reality, I’d be ok with 75% positive, 25% “Fuck Trump.” ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-the-democratic-2020-main-campaign-message-be/837768/3 "2019-07-29T00:51:16Z")
Positive. It would be very easy to sincerely identify problems and propose solutions, and when needed or convenient, pivot from there to a message of “… and the Trump Administration is locking kids in cages while running trillion dollar deficits!” Plus the pussy grabbing, crime &etc. Basically anything you would want to criticize Trump for can be presented as a positive message, and then some. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-the-democratic-2020-main-campaign-message-be/837768/4 "2019-07-29T00:55:25Z")
Running a negative campaign against trump in 2016 didn’t stop 63 million people from voting for him. I think a positive campaign may work, but it has to be realistic. The democrats are pussies so they won’t pass any meaningful legislation even if they control congress. Democrats promising the moon and then being disorganized, tepid pussies will just result in democrats staying home in 2022. Democrats don’t need to win over trumps white nationalist base. They just need to win enough non-whites, women and millennials in the northern Midwest to flip a few states. So run on things that can be passed via executive order. Pete buttigeig has some ideas for this. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-the-democratic-2020-main-campaign-message-be/837768/5 "2019-07-29T01:07:41Z")
I went with positive, because Democrats suck at winning with a negative message. The last time that worked for Democrats was back in 1964. That election featured slogans like “In your guts you know he’s nuts” and other ads implying Goldwater might use nukes. Needless to say Clinton wasn’t nearly as skilled as LBJ was at pulling off such attacks, and I doubt any of the 2020 candidates would do much better. ETA: Positive doesn’t necessarily mean progressive. I think there is room for a positive campaign that runs on trying to win over moderates rather than the far left. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-the-democratic-2020-main-campaign-message-be/837768/6 "2019-07-29T01:50:34Z")
D. All of the above. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-the-democratic-2020-main-campaign-message-be/837768/7 "2019-07-29T02:02:24Z")
I voted positive but yeah the poll poisons the pot. Some of that list don’t ping my positive list even if they are all on the op’s. I reality I’d suggest a near 50/50 mix. The specific ways Trump has failed this country, its citizens, and the world, matched with a positive and broadly inclusive vision for the future. Weighted slightly more to the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-the-democratic-2020-main-campaign-message-be/837768/8 "2019-07-29T02:02:34Z")
I think in terms of engineering. Say that you want to build a bridge to connect the two towns of Bobsville and Janana over the River Rutabaga. Everyone wants this. The only problem being that the politicians of Bobsville, Janana, and the county can’t decide where to raise the money, how much money to raise, how to split the cost, which design to go for, who to hire, and so on. The answer to this sort of engineering problem isn’t, “A steel suspension bridge.” If that’s what you’re going in selling, that’s not of any use. To get to where you need to get to, you have a whole chain of dependencies that need to be resolved. And by definition of being dependencies, they have to be resolved in the order that things are dependent on one another by. Step 1 for this situation isn’t architecture nor engineering, it’s figuring out how to solve the political situation so that things like this **are possible to do**. The can has been kicked down the road long enough. It’s time to back away from “the issues” and deal with “the systemic issues”. That’s what is necessary right now and if you’re selling that, then the American people are buying. Get rid of gerrymandering; set up a rules to create a ticking time bomb situation for legally mandated appointments and Senate votes; create law that specifically defines when the President is and isn’t immune from the law; and so on. Make sure that these are impeccably reasonable recommendations that distinctly do not advantage one party or the other. If you’re fixing voting, don’t throw in anything that could even tangentially increase votes by the poor nor anyone else. A dozen gaps have been identified in the system in the last few decades. Fix the damn things and make sure that you’re the good guy in all cases or you’re not going to get those things passed. Minus sanity in the system, all other problems are moot. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-the-democratic-2020-main-campaign-message-be/837768/9 "2019-07-29T02:23:38Z")
And let me make my case further. You want to pass health care? Really? You want all Americans to be covered and have access to medical options? THAT WAS PASSED. We already had that, supposedly. If you’re trying to sell that to me, and I think that you’ll be able to give it to me, then I’m an idiot. Sure, maybe if you’re lucky it will be passed, and then it will be taken away again. All promises for anything, be it climate change, health care, LGBT rights, or what-have-you are lies. And that’s regardless of whether the candidates actually believe in those causes and intend to do their best to achieve those policies. So long as politics is a sport where any gain by one team is a loss for the other and has to be rolled back when the other team comes in to power, it’s all just nonsense. It’s just mugging for the camera and mutual masturbation. When your team wins, it might feel like you’ve won something, but you haven’t. It’s an illusion. It’s just an excuse to feel good for yourself, when you haven’t actually accomplished anything. Fix the fucking system. If you aren’t working on that, if that’s not the first and only thing out of your mouth, then you are a waste of our time and a waste to your country. The issues can wait till 2024. Embrace the suck and tackle the big challenge so that we’re actually doing things that aren’t illusory again. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-the-democratic-2020-main-campaign-message-be/837768/10 "2019-07-29T02:29:16Z")
- Orange man bad - White people bad - Religion bad - USA bad. - Accept all immigrants without limits and give them every possible perk of citizenship. - Reparations That’s the winning message ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-the-democratic-2020-main-campaign-message-be/837768/11 "2019-07-29T02:52:16Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Get rid of gerrymandering; set up a rules to create a ticking time bomb situation for legally mandated appointments and Senate votes; create law that specifically defines when the President is and isn’t immune from the law; and so on. Good so far. > [@](#): > > Make sure that these are impeccably reasonable recommendations that distinctly do not advantage one party or the other. If you’re fixing voting, don’t throw in anything that could even tangentially increase votes by the poor nor anyone else. Wait, what? Fixing voting means, by definition, making it easier for folks to participate in the political process. Maybe you can balance things out: ensure that active duty servicemembers can vote easily, because that’s a good thing that happens to benefit Republicans. But you can’t fix voting while ignoring some of the major problems with voting. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-the-democratic-2020-main-campaign-message-be/837768/12 "2019-07-29T02:56:53Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Wait, what? Fixing voting means, by definition, making it easier for folks to participate in the political process. Maybe you can balance things out: ensure that active duty servicemembers can vote easily, because that’s a good thing that happens to benefit Republicans. But you can’t fix voting while ignoring some of the major problems with voting. Removing gerrymandering is removing gerrymandering. Adding in funding for research to figure out how to make it easier for the barely literate to vote, in an anti-gerrymandering bill, is pissing in the pool. Don’t do that shit. Keep it real simple and real straightforward. Don’t let even the hint of slime, liberal worldview, nor anything other than the basics into your work. Just keep your nose clean for 4 years and don’t be a pack of morons. Run your plan by the most hardcore Republican you know and if they don’t like something, take it the fuck out, regardless of whether that’s fair or not. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-the-democratic-2020-main-campaign-message-be/837768/13 "2019-07-29T03:32:40Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Removing gerrymandering is removing gerrymandering. > > Adding in funding for research to figure out how to make it easier for the barely literate to vote, in an anti-gerrymandering bill, is pissing in the pool. Don’t do that shit. Keep it real simple and real straightforward. Don’t let even the hint of slime, liberal worldview, nor anything other than the basics into your work. Just keep your nose clean for 4 years and don’t be a pack of morons. Okay, you’re conflating two completely different issues. As you say, removing gerrymandering is removing gerrymandering. It is NOT “fixing voting.” That’s a different issue. But you’re incorrect if you think that the particular solution to ending gerrymandering can be nonpartisan. Whatever model is chosen for ending gerrymandering is going to favor one party or another, relative to our current model; and you can be damned sure that both parties will know this, and fight for a model that favors them at the expense of their political opponents. Your engineering hat is probably not as relevant to this conversation as one might hope. > [@](#): > > Run your plan by the most hardcore Republican you know and if they don’t like something, take it the fuck out, regardless of whether that’s fair or not. This is incompatible with “don’t be a pack of morons.” The current model, in states like mine, favors Republicans. President of the NC senate Phil Berger will, and does, take out anything that doesn’t favor Republicans. This is precisely where your engineering hat is slipping down over your eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-the-democratic-2020-main-campaign-message-be/837768/14 "2019-07-29T04:43:42Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > … > > - Accept all immigrants without limits and give them every possible perk of citizenship. > … I keep seeing Trump supporters mention this and I am well and truly puzzled who they think is advocating for this to happen. Same for the call for “open borders”. Any chance you have link to show this is something the Democratic Party supports? I assume the rest of your post falls in the joke/parody category. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-the-democratic-2020-main-campaign-message-be/837768/15 "2019-07-29T05:32:59Z")
Officially, run on making steady and sensible progress on reining in health care costs and expanding affordable access and improving our election processes so that the majority of voters are better represented in the corridors of power. I believe Trump and the GOP are extremely vulnerable on the first issue; their faith in the invisible hand of the market to solve the very real problems people are facing and their unwillingness to take positive action has made it clear to millions that their principles are entirely impotent in solving modern problems. As to election reform, the Republicans are underestimating the resentment building over unfair systems and tactics that constantly favor a rural white minority at both state and federal levels. Their determination to retain power at the cost of fair democracy is a good area to bite them in their collective asses. Unofficially, they need to flood social media with clips of the worst and dumbest things that Dumb Donald and Moscow Mitch have said. Let the hateful assholes hang themselves with their own words. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-the-democratic-2020-main-campaign-message-be/837768/16 "2019-07-29T05:34:03Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > I keep seeing Trump supporters mention this and I am well and truly puzzled who they think is advocating for this to happen. Same for the call for “open borders”. > > Any chance you have link to show this is something the Democratic Party supports? > > I assume the rest of your post falls in the joke/parody category. Of course no one says like that, but I don’t know of any clear plans for limiting illegal immigration that isn’t, let them come in or any with a plan that doesn’t incentivise others to come. Even this [Vice article](https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/9kxv8e/do-any-of-the-2020-democrats-want-to-abolish-ice-we-broke-down-their-immigration-plans) doesn’t point to any Dem candidate with a clear promise to put any limit and how that limit will be implemented. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-the-democratic-2020-main-campaign-message-be/837768/17 "2019-07-29T15:14:27Z")
I voted Positive, but none of the examples given are winning issues. Then again, I am a Republican, so I am trying to avoid saying “BY ALL MEANS you should be talking about reparations and student loan debt forgiveness and UBI and M4A” in the sense of “Please, please Br’er Fox - don’t throw me into that briar patch!” They “should” is also quite a different thing from they “will”. They “should” have learned about running a negative campaign against Trump from 2016. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-the-democratic-2020-main-campaign-message-be/837768/18 "2019-07-29T17:16:07Z")
Here’s how I see it: the Dems should SHOW people that they’re taking on Trump by impeaching the motherfucker between now and January. But their stated MESSAGING should be positive. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-the-democratic-2020-main-campaign-message-be/837768/19 "2019-07-29T17:46:11Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > They “should” have learned about running a negative campaign against Trump from 2016. There is a difference between a negative campaign focused on his being a vile person, and one that focuses on how he has failed to deliver for the country and for the interests of his core voters. Negative on his record is not the same as negative on him as an example of human. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-the-democratic-2020-main-campaign-message-be/837768/20 "2019-07-29T17:53:42Z")
I went with negative for the reasons I gave in the portion quoted below to another thread. > [@How can the Democrats win the election?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-democrats-win-the-election/837262/86): > > I am going to go counter to conventional wisdom and say that after the primaries Democrats should not concentrate on a clear positive message for what policies they will bring to the country. Policies are by their nature complicated and imperfect. Any realistic policy will include pluses and minuses. Republicans will find those minuses and focus all attention on what they are. So that instead of being the anti-global warming candidate, the Dem will be the the pro high gas price candidate. You can try to argue back and forth about which is true and which is a bigger problem but it ends up being at best a draw. 2016 showed that empty promises with no details are just as good if not better than complicated policies, but that the real vote getter is fear. People vote with their amygdala, not their cerebral cortex. > > I would recommend concentrating on the president’s corruption, lies, contempt for any checks and balances, and autocratic tendencies. Make it clear that what Trump has been normalizing is anything but normal and that if we continue down this road, we may go past the point of no return. It is easy to cobble together the statements that Trump as made to indicate that he wouldn’t be satisfied with just two terms. We want to leave the impression that the 2020 election is all that stands between us and the world of the man in the high castle. Also, there is no way that any of the “positive” campaign promises included in a positive Democratic message will actually be achievable. At best there will be a small majority in the Senate patched together with Centrist Democrats from Red states who will flee in terror from any step outside of the box, or more likely a turtled up Mitch who would like nothing better than the complete destruction of health and prosperity in the US, provided a Democrat is in charge at the time. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-the-democratic-2020-main-campaign-message-be/837768.md?page=2)