• flandish@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      neat. i have been voting for longer than that. there have been years where there was only one person on the primary, which efficiently means “primary votes are cancelled” - when the dnc say they want the incumbent.

      that is a de facto cancellation. telling the people who could vote that they are ignored.

      my point stands: the dem side needs to do a better job.

      • 13igTyme@piefed.social
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        6 days ago

        I’ve been voting since I was 18 and I’ve never seen that in the past 16 years. 2024 was skipping because Biden was the incumbent at the time. Incumbent are almost always given the primary. The GOP does the same and is entirely different.

        • flandish@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          yeah. see. i disagree that incumbents should be given anything. earn it. primary every time.

          i have been voting since 1997.

          • FudgyMcTubbs@lemmy.world
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            6 days ago

            I agree with you, but as devil’s advocate, why would a political party vie against itself for a seat it already holds. At best, it would only slightly sully the incumbent’s name. Take Biden for example: either he’s doing a good job, or he needs to be replaced because he’s not doing a good enough job.

            • DaMummy@hilariouschaos.com
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              6 days ago

              So primaries are only so politicians can choose their voters, and not the other way around? I was told only MAGAts are the cultist?

            • flandish@lemmy.world
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              6 days ago

              why? imho because its supposed to represent the current situation and overton window not be a reminder the parties are “clubs” that set their own rules.

          • Armok_the_bunny@lemmy.world
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            6 days ago

            From what I’ve read the reason primaries aren’t done on incumbents is because every single time it’s been tried the incumbent lost the actual election and the seat went to the other party.

            • flandish@lemmy.world
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              6 days ago

              ? If incumbent wins the primary its the same as if they didn’t have one but at least the party members chose.

              primaries are separate by party.

                • Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip
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                  6 days ago

                  I mean, in the current system if there’s enough desire from within the party to push to primary the incumbent president, they were already pretty unpopular.

                  It’s not the primary that’s causing them to lose, it’s that the party had thought a primary was even necessary because they were already likely going to lose.

                  • Armok_the_bunny@lemmy.world
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                    5 days ago

                    My assumption is that primary related mud slinging depresses enthusiasm among the public for the incumbent, combined with attempts at it only being made when the incumbent is relatively unpopular anyway.

    • Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip
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      6 days ago

      Sure, but a proper one? 2020 and 2016 were both ratfucked. 2012 was an incumbent year. So we’ll be at 2 decades since the last time we had a proper primary.

      • TacoSocks@infosec.pub
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        5 days ago

        What was ratfucked about 2020? 2020 didn’t feel that different from 2008 or 2004.

        • triptrapper@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          In 2020 Bernie and Biden were the front-runners, and then all the other candidates dropped out and endorsed Biden. So it wasn’t ratfucked in an illegal way, but in a “torpedo a popular leftist in favor of a right-of-center establishment neolib” way.

          • Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip
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            5 days ago

            Biden wasn’t even in the top 5 for the first like 4-5 races. He did ok in one, then the whole orchestrated dropout occured to manufacture consent

    • W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      5 days ago

      Nope. Bernie should have won the primary but the dems decided it was “Hillary’s turn” so they fucked Bernie.

    • butwhyishischinabook@piefed.social
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      6 days ago

      That’s absolutely not true. I’ve been voting since 2012 and the only presidential primary I’ve voted in that had more than one candidate was the Hillary-Bernie primary. That’s the only one.

      • 13igTyme@piefed.social
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        6 days ago

        It absolutely is true. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Democratic_Party_presidential_primaries

        In 2012 Obama was the incumbent, which again as I mentioned, incumbents typically aren’t primaried if they are doing a decent job and up for re-election.

        Since then there was 2016, 2020, where both years had a primary for the DNC. 2024 was just a fluke because Biden should have dropped out. Or even stuck with his original campaign promise of not running for re-election. You’re young and your sample size is 4. My sample size is 5, but it’s been consistent in years prior.

        • butwhyishischinabook@piefed.social
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          6 days ago

          Depending on your state. In mine, there was a single candidate. That’s a primary in the same way the USSR had elections. If you lived in one of the states that had two candidates in 2020 then good for you. I didn’t.