I’ve been seeing it here and there on DKos lately, and I’m sick and tired of it. What is it? The fear, the whining, the premature surrendering. It’s stuff like this:
“We’re gonna get wiped out” or “The Democrats have no chance” or “We’re doomed” and bullshit like that. Some of it is trolls, like the idiot on this site in 2016 who said we should sit out the election because control of the Federal courts wasn’t important. I’m convinced people like that have come here to deliberately sabotage us. Then there are the kind of people who freaked out when RBG died, the ones who said, “We’re gonna lose now.” Well, you know what?
I’ve had it with that crap. Defeatism is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Knock it off already!!
And you know what? We’re very much in the game. Want some evidence? I’ve got the receipts, as they say.
Party approval polls
The voters don’t much like either of us. But they like the Republicans less.
Republican 39 positive, 55 (!) negative. (16 pts. negative) today.yougov.com/…
Democratic 42 positive, 53 negative (11 pts. negative) today.yougov.com/…
Abortion polls:
From Pew Research:
As in the past, more Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most circumstances (61%) than illegal in all or most circumstances (37%). But in many ways, the public’s attitudes are contingent upon such circumstances as when an abortion takes place during a woman’s pregnancy, whether the pregnancy endangers a woman’s life and whether a baby would have severe health problems.
From another Pew survey:
While Republicans and Democrats have long been on opposite sides of the issue, the 42 percentage point partisan gap today is considerably larger than it was in the recent past. The change in attitudes has come almost entirely among Democrats: Currently, 80% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, up from 72% in 2016 and 63% in 2007. Republicans’ views have shown far less change over time: Currently, 38% of Republicans and GOP leaners say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. [My emphasis]
From Reuters:
Nearly two-thirds of Americans said they are more likely to back candidates who support the right to abortion in the November midterm elections, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted on Tuesday.
The poll of 998 voters also found that a plurality of Americans - 41% - said the country would be a worse place to live if the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established the right to abortion nationwide.
Some 63% of respondents, including 78% of Democrats and 49% of Republicans, said they were more likely to support candidates who support abortion rights in the Nov. 8 election that will determine control of Congress for the next two years.
From Yahoo News:
The survey of 1,577 U.S. adults, which was conducted from May 3 to May 6, found that registered voters initially preferred a generic Democrat (44%) over a generic Republican (39%) by 5 percentage points when asked how they would vote in their district if the congressional election were being held today.
But when voters were asked to choose instead between a “pro-choice Democrat” and a “pro-life Republican,” GOP support fell to 31% while Democratic support held steady — more than doubling the gap between the two candidates, to 13 percentage points. [My emphasis]
By the same token, 69% of Americans say they would “oppose Congress passing a law that bans abortion nationwide.”
The Insurrection:
From The Hill:
[From January]: In an ABC News-Ipsos survey published on Sunday, 72 percent of Americans polled said those who participated in the riot were mostly threatening democracy. But about a quarter of respondents said the opposite — that those engaging in the Jan. 6 attack were mostly protecting democracy.
About 58 percent of those polled also said Trump bore a good amount or great deal of responsibility for the Jan. 6 riot, while 41 percent said he bore no responsibility or just some.
And the live 1/6 committee hearings begin next month.
Rick Scott’s tax plan
From The Hill, April:
Sixty-five percent of respondents said they would be less likely to support the GOP “If Senate Republicans have a new plan that would end Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security in five years,” according to the poll, which was conducted by Blue Rose Research.
The survey also found that 55 percent of voters said they would be less likely to support the party “If Senate Republicans have a new plan that would end the coverage protections for pre-existing conditions from the Affordable Care Act in five years.”
The findings come as Senate Democrats launch an onslaught of attacks on their GOP colleagues, pointing to Sen. Rick Scott’s (Fla.) GOP platform proposal that his office independently released in February.
So stop telling me how doomed we are. Even with Right-wing Rasmussen putting its thumb on the scale, 538 has us down only 45-43 in the generic House vote.
SO STOP BEING AFRAID.
STOP WHINING.
STOP SPREADING GLOOM.
START ORGANIZING AT THE GRASS ROOTS LEVEL.
START DOOR-TO-DOOR CANVASSING.
START DONATING.
AND START KICKING REPUBLICAN ASS!!!