Progressive Votes Aren’t Guaranteed; Politicians Need to Earn Them
“I beat the socialist. That’s how I got elected. That’s how I got the nomination. Do I look like a socialist? Look at my career — my whole career. I am not a socialist.”
These were the words spoken by former Vice President Joe Biden during his campaign trip in Wisconsin in late September, when asked about voters’ concerns over socialism. His response, quite obviously, is a hit at Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who dropped out of the Presidential race in April. And for many estranged left-wing voters who were #SettlingforBiden, this comment was even more alienating.
Since Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, it’s been the general goal of left-wing voters to get him out of office. But the candidate to lead us towards this goal was still undecided, up until a few months ago. For many, including myself, once the large selection of Democratic candidates had been narrowed down to Biden, the hope of a sharp pendulum swing from Trump’s America to an equal and just America, in both economic and social sectors, was lost. That is not entirely a bad thing, as an intense shift in political agendas may also cause unseen consequences, such as possibly leading to more agitation among the nation’s already divided political parties.
However, with the increasing injustice and lack of safety within most American lives, it would likely be greatly beneficial to see some major changes made — and soon.
Depending on your own political views, you may see Biden as skewing more towards the left than being a moderate. I, personally, would consider him the latter, since he does not seem to focus on working towards an American society with amenities such as free health care for all who need it, as well as far more accessible education. Additionally, Biden has recently said he will not propose a ban on fracking—a process to extract oil from the ground — which can pollute the groundwater and surrounding areas of the fracking site, and increases greenhouse gas emissions.
However, in many eyes, Biden’s most electable value is that he is simply not Trump.
The main issue here, though, is not whether people should vote for Biden or not; I personally think whoever can vote should vote like their life depends on it and try as hard as they can to keep Trump from seeing another 4 years in office.
What I’d like to bring up is that the fact that progressive voters are too often cast aside during election seasons, while politicians gear their campaigns towards appeasing moderate or swing-voters.
Swing votes can make or break this election: there’s almost no disagreeing on that. However, there is the subconscious idea floating around the political world that progressive or far-left voters will undoubtedly flock to whomever the democratic presidential candidate is, since they are the farthest-left option they have.
This is echoed by Manny Fidel, a contributor for Business Insider, who says “Election after election, calls to put [progressive] values aside and vote for the greater good are becoming tiring. For the second election in a row, progressives are left with disappointing choices, and for the second election in a row, many are threatening to sit out and abstain from voting.”
Additionally, many votes from progressives or minority groups are often assumed to be “locked in” by presidential candidates. For example, a recent “scandal” that has affected the Biden campaign involves his comments towards Black voters: “if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t Black.” This casual disregard for the value of Black votes goes to show how many Americans may be left out of the conversation as politicians use many of their resources to appease swing states and their voters.
But turnout is also greatly important this year. While progressive voters are against most, if not all, of Trump’s actions and ideas, Biden is not necessarily seen as the most substantial option either. And so as Fidel mentioned, some voters do not want to participate in this election unless they feel as though their values and their votes are seen and respected, not just assumed.
There is an organization called the Progressive Turnout Project that shows how valuable connection is in voter turnout. On their website, they : “We focus on meaningful voter contact because it works. Our field programs boosted turnout by an average of 10.4 percent in the historic 2018 midterms.” For many voters, feeling and being valued will likely lead to far greater turnout, which is what we need this November. This can be done by presidential campaigns choosing to make compromises in different sectors of popular campaign topics, such as health care and the environment. Therefore, both moderate and far left voters will feel as though they are getting a bit of what they want.
All in all, Joe Biden should continue in his efforts to gain moderate voters. But he should also recognize and give credit to the farther-left voters who support him — willingly or not. And as soon to be voters, we should all take into consideration candidates who value and strive to earn our vote. A political leader should work for us, not the other way around. It it their job to earn our vote through policies that work for all Americans. But unfortunately, this is rarely the case, and that can and should change.
But most importantly, the progressive vote shouldn’t be taken for granted.
Works Cited
“Biden Tells Voters ‘you Ain’t Black’ If You’re Still Deciding between Him and Trump — Video.” The Guardian, 22 May 2020, www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2020/may/22/joe-biden-charlamagne-you-aint-black-trump-video.
Fidel, Manny. “Biden’s Nomination Was an Anticlimax for Progressives. But There Are Clear Reasons for Them to Support the Democratic Candidate.” Business Insider, 22 Aug. 2020, www.businessinsider.com/progressives-good-reasons-vote-for-joe-biden-democrats-election-liberal-2020-8.
Green, Mark. “‘Joe Biden Will Not Ban Fracking.’” Www.Api.Org, 9 Oct. 2020, www.api.org/news-policy-and-issues/blog/2020/10/09/joe-biden-will-not-ban-fracking.
Kaplan, Thomas. “Biden’s Response to Voters Concerned about Socialism: ‘I Beat the Socialist.’” The New York Times, 14 Oct. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/09/22/us/politics/bidens-response-to-voters-concerned-about-socialism-i-beat-the-socialist.html.
Reardon, Marguerite. “Joe Biden’s Views on Tech.” CNET, 21 Sept. 2020, www.cnet.com/news/joe-biden-views-on-tech-democratic-presidential-nominee/. This source was used only for the photo of Joe Biden.
“What We Do.” Progressive Turnout Project, www.turnoutpac.org/what-we-do/.
