this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2024
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“Florida Democrats don’t know why Taylor Swift is naming an upcoming song on her new album ‘Florida!!!’ or the reason she chose to hold three concerts in Miami less than a month before the November elections,” Politico reports.

“But their excitement around the news is less about ‘why?’ and more about leveraging Swift’s celebrity status to fill the blank space for beleaguered voters tired of losing to Republicans.

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[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 81 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (15 children)

It's weird how moderates think Taylor likes Biden and doesn't just hate trump.

It's the only reason most Biden voters are Biden voters, which is why he's polling so terribly

There's no reason we have to be running such an unlikable candidate again, just because trump is even more unlikable. It's only worked 50% of the time now.

Edit:

Wow. A lot of people don't seem to know many Dem politicians...

Biden himself said over 50 Dems could easily beat trump.

I think this guy would be a good option, but there's lots of others

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Ossoff

[–] CountVon@sh.itjust.works 65 points 9 months ago (23 children)

I'm not exactly a fan of Biden, but he's on the ballot for two reasons:

  • Incumbents historically have an advantage, and it would be crazy to throw that advantage away.
  • Who else would run in his place? It's not like there's some other obvious candidate. I can think of lots of progressives that I'd personally love to see on the ballot, but the reality is that none of those candidates are seen as being electable in swing states. Be nice if it were otherwise, but it ain't.
[–] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Incumbents historically have an advantage, and it would be crazy to throw that advantage away.

In lower offices maybe, but since 1980 (Carter) we've only had 4/7 incumbents reelected. People may talk about how Carter/Bush/Trump all had something uniquely terrible that caused them to lose their reelection, but Biden's got a 38% approval rating, is tied to an unpopular foreign war, and has record low numbers with critical voting blocs. He's not riding high and doing fine.

[–] Weirdfish@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

And yet I'll still go out and vote against Trump instead of staying home in november.

[–] circuscritic@lemmy.ca 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (10 children)

You realize the DNC went into overdrive to kill the primary this election cycle, right?

Reordering states to favor Biden, keeping candidates off ballots, and some state Democratic parties even effectively cancelled their presidential primary.

Now, if you only consume mainstream media sources, it wouldn't be surprising that you weren't aware, as they have been mostly ignoring it.

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[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Who else would run in his place?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Ossoff

That guy's 36, but ran the most funded US Senate campaign in America's history.

So he's got the money neoliberals say they care about.

He was an investigative journalist going after corruption, his positions line up with what Dem voters want...

And he's really popular with gen z voters.

Why not him if all that matters is "not trump"?

[–] lennybird@lemmy.world 35 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

The most funded in America's history isn't because of him; it was because it was a special election with the entire nation pouring money in for the sake of winning a Senate majority. It could've been Joe Manchin and the same outcome would've happened. That's not a reflection of Jon's campaign prowess.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 15 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Did someone stop him from putting his hat in the ring? Because otherwise, I think the problem is that he doesn't want to run in Biden's place and I don't know that voting for someone who isn't running in the first place is an especially good strategy to beat Trump.

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[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Ossoff would be great. I'd also be up for Jeff Jackson, who has a pretty solid social media following due to his "I'm a newcomer in Washington, here's what it's like" videos.

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[–] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Literally anyone under 55 could probably beat Trump.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

Seriously.

People act like a candidate has to be perfect, if oring that Biden has been polling terribly and failed multiple times at becoming president before narrowerly squeaking by trump.

[–] 7u5k3n@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago (7 children)

Yeah it would be really nice if there was a D that folks liked.. I'd love to see a landslide election. But those days are gone I'm afraid.

THO.. has there been a Democrat or Republican in the last.. 50 years that folks really liked?

Maybe Obama... But other than him...idk

[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

Yeah, both parties seem to just be running on "I'm not the other guy" recently, and it's getting old (though admittedly the Republicans have been running on it a lot harder). Obama was the last candidate to be nominated on a platform that tried to make the case for a future.

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[–] dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

FPTP needs to go before we can have earnest conversations about how milquetoast a politician Biden is.

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[–] ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world 69 points 9 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (6 children)
[–] frunch@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago

God damn was that refreshing to read! I appreciate your enthusiasm! 🥂

[–] SkybreakerEngineer@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago (3 children)

GOPers are seriously unlikeable motherfuckers to start with

I dunno, the racism and simplistic explanations seem to be pretty likeable among a certain crowd

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[–] DunkinCoder@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago

I mean, look at all of the conspiracy theories swirling about now.

[–] Pratai@lemmy.ca 6 points 9 months ago
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[–] paddirn@lemmy.world 56 points 9 months ago (5 children)

If Taylor Swift saves democracy by getting a bunch of her fans to vote... I would buy at least one of her albums. I wouldn't listen to it, but I'd be thankful just the same.

[–] TheRealKuni@lemmy.world 24 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I wouldn’t listen to it

I’m not a Swiftie. My sisters were big fans growing up, but I couldn’t care less about her music.

But when Midnights held all ten of the Billboard top 10 slots, and people were talking about it, I decided to listen to it on a walk with my dog.

The music isn’t amazing or anything, but it isn’t bad, either. It’s pretty standard modern pop, I would assume. But her lyrics are amazing. I’m not exactly sure why, but that album resonated with me, a man in my thirties (who admittedly prides himself on finding things to like about stuff). I listened to it twice that day, and I still listen to some of the songs on it on occasion.

I can understand why people get really into her music.

Anyway, all I’m saying is that if you do buy her album to thank her for saving democracy, it might be worth a listen. There is certainly better music out there, but also MUCH worse.

[–] schnokobaer@lemmy.ml 10 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

I’m not a Swiftie

when Midnights held all ten of the Billboard top 10 slots, and people were talking about it, I decided to listen to it

music isn’t amazing or anything but her lyrics are

resonated with me

a man in my thirties

still listen to some of the songs on it on occasion

Are you me?? Like I genuinely could've written this drunk and forgot. That's literally exactly what I did with that album and how I feel about it.

I listened to it several times for a month even, so much that I got a good chuckle when Spotify informed me in the yearly review that Taylor Swift was my most played artist in 22, which is admittedly easy when all you hear normally is radio stations and playlists with various artists. Still, hilarious to see her on top of my usual metalcore bands.

Some lyrics still randomly pop into my mind these days and then I have that song stuck in my head for a while. I then sometimes put it on while cooking. It's fun music to sing loudly and awkwardly to when you are alone, lol.

[–] cabbage@piefed.social 6 points 9 months ago

Another man in my 30s here, generally listen to stuff like 70s punk, hard rock, classic blues, outlaw country, alternative rock and post punk, prog and folk.

Haven't quite reached this point yet, but listened to folklore a few times when it came out and liked it quite a lot. Checked out Midnights for the first time the other day, and... Yeah. It might be happening to me too.

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[–] LocoOhNo@lemmus.org 43 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Good luck getting the Latino voters in Florida vote blue. There's been a generational effort to convince the Cuban and Puerto Rican voters that anyone left of Mussolini is Fidel Castro incarnate.

I love my Latino brothers and sisters, but Florida is not the place to hope for a blue wave.

[–] Rapidcreek@lemmy.world 22 points 9 months ago

Actually Latins in Florida are not a block. Young Latin voters tend to vote Democrat- older Republican.

[–] paddirn@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I thought Latinos in general, not just in FL, tend to lean more conservative? For years there was the narrative that Dems would just wipe out Republicans if they got the Latino vote on board, but Latinos tend to be more conservative-leaning in general, are themselves against illegal immigration, probably trend more religious, and really haven't come out to help Democrats.

Democrats in general tend to try to pull in alot of groups that don't turn out to be very reliable voters. Oftentimes I think they're trying to do the right thing for these various marginalized groups, but then those groups just don't have their back when they're really needed. Youth voters might be getting a bit better in recent years, but that hasn't always been the case.

[–] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 12 points 9 months ago

I thought Latinos in general, not just in FL, tend to lean more conservative?

In 2020, Latino voters voted Biden 2-1. They've been reliably Democratic, but just not to the extent of Black voters. They have recently trended more Republican, but that doesn't make them conservative (at least in the big picture everything falls on a single political axis).

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[–] BarrelAgedBoredom@lemm.ee 43 points 9 months ago (10 children)

How about the florida democrats don't run shitty ex republican candidates and actually manages a decent campaign for once in their fucking lives? Nikki Freid is right there and they did her dirty. We don't need Taylor swift, we need someone who gives some modicum of a shit about florida. For being a huge "swing state" they sure don't seem to think we're worth the effort

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[–] iain@feddit.nl 20 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Not improving your political stances, but just benefiting from a popular artist? It's the Democrats wildest dreams!

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[–] Gork@lemm.ee 14 points 9 months ago (1 children)

How long until Republican gun nuts inadvertently end up supporting Taylor Swift by buying a CD album of her music just to shoot it?

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[–] reverendsteveii@lemm.ee 14 points 9 months ago

remember on election night in 2016 when HRC was doing a preemptive victory lap in BlUe TeXaS while PA, OH, MI and all of the other "firewall states" that were supposed to guarantee her an easy win turned red? Let's not go looking for treasure up our own assholes and instead let's ensure that the easy wins actually happen.

[–] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 8 points 9 months ago

Damn. Never imagined a world where Taylor Swift could influence politics. Every little bit helps I guess.

[–] InformalTrifle@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Betteridges law. So the answer is no, Taylor Swift won’t tilt Florida blue, unfortunately.

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[–] Pizza_Rat@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)
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