Laura Ross

I think it's tempting to think of this election as if everyone was working from the same information and the country just made a very dark choice. How could all these women vote for someone who hates women? How could all these latino men vote for someone who hates latino men? Et. Cetera. But the data doesn't really support this. Everywhere (except the Dakotas) that abortion rights were on the ballot, it won a majority. Which means there were people who voted for Trump (who took away abortion rights) while voting highly in favor of abortion rights. Same with the economy. There are people (most Trump voters!) who say the economy was the biggest issue. Yet, Biden built the best economy in the world and endless economists agree Trump's policies (such as one can discern them) would crash the economy. Finally, no, latino men are not voting for their own deportation. They're just not. There's something more complicated going on. In all of these cases, PROPAGANDA WON. Trump said he would protect women (he won't). Republicans said they would build a better economy (they won't). Et cetera. So this gets to the heart of the matter: the issue is the INFORMATION. By large majorities, voters are pro-choice, they are pro-Bidenomics and anti-deporting millions of people. Poll after poll said this and statewide measure results confirm it. Yet the anti-choice, anti-Bidenomics, pro-deporting millions of people candidate won. The only logical conclusion one is left with is that we are simply not reaching voters with the information they need to vote their interests. Some of this is no doubt the right-wing media propaganda machine. Some of it is that we have always been bad at messaging these voters. And if there's some soul searching we should earnestly do in the coming months, it can't just be doomsday, "America hates women! America wants inflation!" stuff, tempting as it may be. And instead, to start asking the question which can turn the tide, which is: How do we COUNTERACT the right-wing media propaganda machine? How do we reach voters who care about Democratic priorities and basic American values with messaging that speaks to them? That is a question with an answer. That is an answer which change the direction of the country.