this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2024
227 points (93.5% liked)

United States | News & Politics

7205 readers
333 users here now

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
 

More than a dozen former Ronald Reagan staff members have joined dozens of other Republican figures endorsing the Democratic nominee and vice-president, Kamala Harris, saying their support was “less about supporting the Democratic party and more about our resounding support for democracy”.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You're presupposing that Republicans are more informed than other Harris voters.

If this won't hurt Harris because people who hate Reagan are too uninformed to care, then it won't help either because Republicans are going to be equally uninformed. Almost no one will hear about this other than politics nerds who have already made up their minds.

[–] MimicJar@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

I am not at all presupposing that Republicans are more informed. In fact anyone swayed by endorsements is likely less informed overall.

My focus is on Republicans who can not vote for Trump and are likely to either sit out the vote or suck it up and vote for Trump anyway. Seeing other members of their in group endorse Harris gives these people the justification to also vote for Harris. These endorsements are easily digestible headlines, I'm certain people do see them no matter how removed from politics they are.

Now a potential Harris voter, who doesn't like Regan, seeing these endorsements and then concluding both parties are the same and not voting for Harris just doesn't add up. If you don't like Regan it's not for some superficial "he's a Republican" reason. Go watch any Regan speech, ignore the substance, he's a likable guy. If you don't like Regan it's because of policy. If we're talking policy then endorsements don't matter at all. Harris has policy X. Republicans endorse Harris. Harris still has policy X. Who gives a shit who endorsed Harris.

Endorsements aren't for everyone. I think they convince low information voters. I think Republicans endorsing Harris helps.