And it is so easy for outside agitators to turn protests into riots.
Actually as of today, it is Trump that is slightly going down, the trend has been stubbornly constant in that Biden has an 8 point edge for months already.
OK but his approval numbers have definitely edged back up this month. And the 538 numbers are also a bit better than a month back. And his swing state numbers on RCP have also edged up. He is still in a very bad position but his downward slide appears to have ended for now.
Remember that approval is not the same as people reporting how they are planning to vote. Back on April fools day, Trump had approval numbers close to 50%, while at the same time Trump was 6 points under Biden in the presidential polls.
IMHO what took place then was a rally around the president and other leaders to unite against the pandemic threat leading to higher approval numbers. Unfortunately for Trump he managed to make things worse after some people thought that Trump was finally going to hear what experts recommended in a crisis.
It’s time to ask what in the Wide Wide World of Sports is going on with Gen X voters? Uncle Joe is winning every other age group fairly comfortably, even the olds, which is a stunning reversal over 2016. But in the 45-59 or thereabout age group, Trump is winning bigly. This is highly disappointing of that generation.
Cite? Could be a weird sample.
Goddammit, that age group polling passed across my twitter feed earlier today and of course I can’t find it now. The specific one I saw was for Wisconsin but I’ve been seeing these weird numbers with the Gen Xers for a couple of weeks now.
45-59 is too old to rock’n’roll, too young to die. Seriously — not young enough to be woke, and not old enough to personally worry about dying of COVID.
It’s disappointing, but not entirely surprising, that a disproportionate number of white, no-college voters (especially) in that age group would be pro-Trump.
Cite? That generation grew up on rock-n-roll. It created Grunge.
Cite? This is the age of “mid-life crisis”. This age group has kids going off to college for the first time. This age group is starting to look at their retirement accounts as not some distant thing, but something that they will be living on soon. This is the age group where the aches and pains of life start to add up, and where the diseases of age start to show up.
Says who?
Yeah, I’ve got some cousins in that age group that are rabid Trumpers, but so are my aunts and uncles that are decidedly above that age range (boomers), and a couple of cousins and siblings are like me - liberal, no-Trump, worried about social justice and racial equality. I don’t think age is the factor.
‘People are still paying attention:’ Despite mostly-virtual format, protesters descend on Milwaukee for DNC
Not getting into this as I’ll be yet again eviscerated, but please tell me why protestors are showing up for something that they know isn’t happening.
This isn’t directed to DrDeth
I seriously want to know the reasoning for protesting something that isn’t happening. Help me understand this. I really don’t get it
Irishman, I was also dismayed by the statistic cited by that other poster; I’m assuming the cite is accurate. I am a 50-ish white male American, and I hate Trump and despise anyone who would vote for him in 2020 (and can’t help but despise nearly everyone who voted for him in 2016).
So, I find it bewildering, too. (And, I rock’n’roll every day, and I’m truly trying to learn from the “woke” phenomenon). I just thought the Jethro Tull lyric fit the other poster’s demographic observation well, so, mainly to be funny, I used it.
It says why right in your post. “Protesters arrived in Milwaukee on Friday, hoping to have their voices and causes heard as the Democratic National Convention approaches.”
Just read your own post. If that doesn’t help, try reading your own cite. The answers are right there.
Really? The words were too big to understand. Thanks.
If you’re going to use sarcasm with me you’ll really need to step up your game to have an effect.
Now then. Voices and causes heard my whom? If there’s no convention going on, then…? Not seeing the connection to it. And why at the DNC? Are they protesting Democrats? I would think a bigger story would be RNC protests.
I’m all for people protesting whatever they want. I’m identifying more and more with Carlin the older I get. I’m seeing the beauty of the system falling apart piece by piece.
What I really don’t get is the random, seemingly chaotic “organization” of today’s protests. We’ve gone from the March on the Mall and the Chicago 7 to looting beauty shops and vandalizing private homes.
I guess, in the broad sense, I’m trying to understand what it’s supposed to accomplish. I thought mass protests were supposed to win people over to your side. To bring about meaningful change.
Side note : one thing that seems to happen often in Milwaukee (and yes elsewhere) is blocking streets and especially off-ramps near downtown. I will pay someone to explain how this gains sympathy for a cause. If I need to get to work or to an appointment and I’m stuck in gridlock because you’re marching against lighting kittens on fire, I’m more likely to go light a kitten on fire out of anger and spite. (not really). But you get my point.
There will be some convention activities going on. Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Tom Perez and Secretary of the Democratic National Committee Jason Rae (also Secretary of the convention) will be in Milwaukee. Most of the virtual production will be handled from there. Some 250-300 people will be present. Milwaukee will be the symbolic and real center for the convention activities. Of course, protests will be held there.
I also don’t understand why you think that only left-wing protesters protest. Right-wing protesters are legion. They’ve been looking forward to the convention so they can get their share of camera time. Where there are protesters there are also counter-protesters. And not everybody on the left is a fan of the Democrats. Those groups also want to protest.
Moreover, the convention will attract many people who are not there to peacefully protest systemic racism. There is no “organization” of protesters. Looters and provocateurs are not part of the movement; they are opportunists who just show up unwanted. Never lump them together with the true protesters.
Blocking streets has a purpose. It symbolizes how dependent society is on the minorities that are being treated as less than equal, even less than human, by our society. You are being temporary inconvenienced to drive home the point that some of the people surrounding you are permanently inconvenienced. Yes, some people won’t have their awareness raised, as you evidently haven’t, but the hope is that people like me will explain the meaning to you so that you might have it in the future.
There was no sarcasm in my post.
The answer to your question was contained in your post and covered in much greater detail in the article you linked.
They are protesting at the DNC because that’s where the cameras are and they are hoping to have their voices heard.
They will protest at the RNC when that occurs because that’s where the cameras will be and they are hoping to have their voices heard.
They block roads because that brings the cameras there and they are hoping to have their voices heard.
They are hoping to have their voices heard. It’s right there in your first post of this nonsensical thread hijack. Start a thread on protests if you are still having trouble understanding.
There’s no sarcasm in this post either.
It’s all about getting attention for your issue. Even though the convention is not occurring in person, the demonstrators are looking for a physical venue to congregate for attention, so the designated convention site is as good as any. It will get press, and that is what counts.
Looting and destruction and rioting is not a new invention in connection with protests about issues.
Sometimes it is done to spread the pain they are experiencing, sometimes it is to gain visibility for the issue, but largely it is opportunists who decide civil unrest on a large enough scale is too difficult to stop, so they will get what they can get away with .
I don’t see that symbolism. I do see the part about a temporary inconvenience to raise awareness, but to me, it doesn’t make me sympathetic. It’s frustrating and scary, and there inevitably is someone with an emergency caught up in the traffic jam. Blocking highways is a terrible way to convince people not already sympathetic to your cause, especially if you are trying to convince scared white people that you are not a threat. We see a crowd of angry black people blocking our cars and beating on them to make us stop, that’s scary. Someone is likely to get run over or shot. So my white friends tell me.
I haven’t seen anything like that. I have seen cars deliberately plowing into protesters, though.
Dammit, I accidentally posted this in another thread, now I’m trying to fix that and the stupid board nanny says my pay is too similar to something I already posted.
Well, the incident I’m thinking of was back when I was still in Houston, so that was 6 or 7 years ago. Some folks staged a blocking of I-610 on the south side. One of the cars was trying to get to the hospital, so they cut off the roadway to go around, and some of the protestors moved to cut them off. This was when it first came to national prominence, and there were several nights in downtown Dallas. And the universal response I heard was about keeping firearms ready for protection, because people haven’t forgotten the Rodney King riots and that truck driver who got his head bashed in.
Yes, these recent protests have had incidents with drivers intentionally running into the crowds. There was also an incident where a driver ran into a crowd accidentally - he couldn’t stop in time.
Also, it’s a lot harder to intentionally run down protestors of they aren’t standing in the middle of an interstate.
Nah, they managed it just fine in Charlottesville.
I said harder, not impossible.