[BostonCard]

This election to me showed that we remain a middle slight left, middle slight right country.  Moderates prevailed in this election.  Which I think is a good thing.  Even in Calif, the Propositions trended toward moderates.  

This is a very good point, and probably suggests that being on "team blue" or "team red" is as much a cultural issue as a political issue.  So, while California went overwhelmingly for Biden, it shot down affirmative action, any sort of changes on prop 13, and voted for allowing gig workers to remain contractors.  If you look at just the propositions, you might have thought that California is a conservative state.  On the other hand, Florida, which went for Trump, voted for a $15 minimum wage, Mississippi, for goodness sake, approved a medical marijuana bill, and recreational marijuana was approved in Montana and South Dakota, all states that voted for Trump.

Democrats lament that their policies are broadly popular with most Americans, even in red states, but that they can't seem to win there.  I hate the term "liberal elites" but there is certainly a bit of arrogance that comes with the belief that people will magically vote for you just because your policies are more popular.  Americans time and again say that they don't believe that their politicians listen to their concerns, and Donald Trump's success in channeling that should not be disregarded, and it certainly shouldn't be dismissed as racism.  You want to win a lot of these places that you've struggled in before?  Earn their votes.

BC

[BostonCard]

This election to me showed that we remain a middle slight left, middle slight right country.  Moderates prevailed in this election.  Which I think is a good thing.  Even in Calif, the Propositions trended toward moderates.  

This is a very good point, and probably suggests that being on "team blue" or "team red" is as much a cultural issue as a political issue.  So, while California went overwhelmingly for Biden, it shot down affirmative action, any sort of changes on prop 13, and voted for allowing gig workers to remain contractors.  If you look at just the propositions, you might have thought that California is a conservative state.  On the other hand, Florida, which went for Trump, voted for a $15 minimum wage, Mississippi, for goodness sake, approved a medical marijuana bill, and recreational marijuana was approved in Montana and South Dakota, all states that voted for Trump.

Democrats lament that their policies are broadly popular with most Americans, even in red states, but that they can't seem to win there.  I hate the term "liberal elites" but there is certainly a bit of arrogance that comes with the belief that people will magically vote for you just because your policies are more popular.  Americans time and again say that they don't believe that their politicians listen to their concerns, and Donald Trump's success in channeling that should not be disregarded, and it certainly shouldn't be dismissed as racism.  You want to win a lot of these places that you've struggled in before?  Earn their votes.

BC