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I'm glad I'm seeing pushback by @mekkaokereke against the "women hiding their votes from their husbands" meme. I'm sure it exists, but it's not a big factor, and in exit polls in the US, married women vote almost the same as married men - the gender gap is about younger and unmarried voters, whereas a large majority of women married to Republican men are Republican themselves. Go to https://edition.cnn.com/election/2020/exit-polls/president/national-results and scroll down to gender by marital status.
@Alon @mekkaokereke this argument isn't at all persuasive to me because the effect of a voter narrative like this isn't just for the specific character in the ad! It's about foregrounding a shared fate narrative that might motivate people (including those unmarried women) to feel that their actions will align with their values and are possible. It's strategy *not* because someone is imagining a large effect only from this subgroup but because the shared fate message could matter to many
@Alon @mekkaokereke it's very clear gender is a predictor *within groups* for this election, and that's very striking. Everyone votes like their household, that doesn't mean every household is motivated to vote while they imagine *other* households. This ad is for sure an identity play but I don't think it's making the play you seem to think it is.
@Alon @mekkaokereke whether or not it's executed well, people's beliefs about why they're voting matter and it would be really silly for this political party to not make a play on this when there's a gender split that's observable within groups here
@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.ioThe Harris campaign is *really* well run. I honestly think that it is the best run campaign in US presidential history.
Harris has had to clean up clumsy words dropped by Biden and Obama that drove away Black men voters.
https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/113309611321284023
There's a reason that the Harris campaign distanced itself from this ad, and even the stickers, and is vocal about the need to earn the votes of Black men.
The Harris campaign is limited in what it can say. Not being able to state clearly that white women do about half of the racism in the US, and that more than half of all white women vote for Trump, and that most have full agency, makes it impossible for them to then say "some women vote for Trump only because they're forced to by their partners!" without sounding like they're minimizing the accountability of white women voters. So they don't say it.
Something I realized just this year: most white people don't know how often Black people experience racist outbursts from white women.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b5k8bkWYyPQ
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nw-QQokdIzg
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz3q0baxHpc
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yXNKOEd-lgI
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tf7C6sTqTGk
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1VNikzrSdms
Trying to paint these people as victims without agency, decreases Black voter turnout. It makes us not trust you. I don't trust people that think that almost all racism comes from white men.
@mekkaokereke @grimalkina @Alon There are many things that a candidate cannot say, because it would be touching one of the many third wires in American politics. Questioning the wisdom, or essential goodness, of voters is one of them. Pointing out the in-kind contribution to the tune of billions by hostile legacy corporate media is another. But others can say them. And sometimes you can show what you cannot say, and Harris' media strategy is genius.
@mekkaokereke @Alon I don't disagree with any of this? I'm not totally sure of the connection between your replies and mine. My thought was just a general reflection that this campaign has made a lot of shared fate narratives pretty successfully and that sometimes persuasion operates in the context of foregrounding that. Of course I totally agree with you that white women are responsible for their actions & are a source of racism. I wasn't aiming to claim this ad was great or something.
I was making the point that the Harris campaign could have made this ad, and chose not to. Because they knew that this ad would be received negatively by Black men, and decrease Black turnout, which would net lose them votes.
I was reacting to "it would be silly not to try."
I think it's silly to try this particular angle, because it has such a high probability of backfiring with Black men, who are already a precarious block, specifically because of stuff like this.
@mekkaokereke @Alon I am sorry for my clumsy words, which I put badly, I meant that about the overall Democratic base and other Dems lack of campaigning over time/NOT the Harris campaign (one million percent agree this is the most incredible campaign!). I meant to express not so much that this ad worked but my frustration at how Dems might consider still reaching & organizing e.g. those young people mentioned above. Obviously did not express it well. Appreciate your insights and patience deeply!
Ah I see! I'm sorry for not understanding your point before.