Biden Surges on DU!

[MineralMan]

At the beginning of the past week, Joe Biden had just 14% of Democratic Primary forum participants declaring him as their favorite. This morning, he is up to 17%.

Bernie Sanders is third in the line of photos of candidates on this forum's thread list page.

What does that mean? Well...I'll leave the explanation to others.

[Peacetrain]

1. Now that makes my day!!!

But I see Bernies picture

[MineralMan]

9. Oops! I edited my post.

I missed it, somehow.

[musicman65]

33. Here is part of the deal folks

yes,He is most qualified and to be sure a gentile soul that we need.
But as yet too many people on the fence with Him.
Y''all gotta step back and think long term what this means for all of us in the race end.
Nothing will happen over nite,but you know,He will put His all into it,,,just sayin'

[rzemanfl]

2. Check your glasses. n/t

[MineralMan]

10. Yeah. Oops. I edited my post.

[rzemanfl]

14. I made a mistake with those tiny pics a while back myself. n/t

[FailureToCommunicate]

3. That's all very well, but look at ol' mister "Undecided" still at 40% !!

[Cary]

4. I have no doubt that Biden will be our nominee

VOTE DEMOCRATIC!

[Demsrule86]

6. I am with you Cary...had the primaries not had three tiny white states and multiple candidates, he

would never have been in the lead. Now it is time to choose a nominee who can and will beat Trump...Joe Biden.

[Cary]

21. Agreed

And we must crush fascism. We must make their ideology untenable again.

[mikelgb]

5. Bernie is still there in 3rd. (4th with undecided)

Interested to see the breakdown after Tuesday.

[Demsrule86]

8. Biden is gaining ground in super Tuesday states and after them...way more friendly territory for

Biden.

[MineralMan]

11. Oops! So he is. I edited my OP.

Thanks to everyone who spotted my poor vision.

[DownriverDem]

15. Sadly

Bernie can't win the Center/Left voters we will need in November. Have you thought of this? They aren't just going to vote Democratic with a not liked candidate at the head of the ticket. Same goes for winning down ballot races,

[targetpractice]

7. It means nothing, because...

... 40% of DU primary forum participants are not following the spirit of the rules for joining the primaries discussion group. 40% chose "undecided" when answering the simple question.. "If you had to vote for a primary candidate today, who would you chose?" That non-choice makes the entire DU preferences feature useless.

[MineralMan]

12. Or, perhaps 40% ARE undecided.

No rules are being broken. The forum is set up that way. Nobody is required to choose until they step into the voting booth, you see. Sanders will learn that, soon enough, too, I think.

[DownriverDem]

16. DU

leans more left than the voters we will need.

[MineralMan]

17. Yes, it does, but still...

[targetpractice]

18. The rule plainly reads as follows...

"If I were to vote in a presidential primary today, I would vote for..."

How is that difficult to interpret or follow?

If I remember correctly, the "Undecided" option was added later after complaints from users who wanted to participate in the primaries discussion group, but did not want to commit to a particular candidate in those early days. I get it. However, the subsequent addition of the "Undecided" option makes the whole thing meaningless.

It's totally fair that folks are truly undecided today. I have changed my mind a few times so far during the primaries... However, as a DU feature, the "undecided" option breaks the intent and spirit of the "preference" exercise.

This is just my opinion, but look at how the preferences scores are so different than current national polling. They don't even reflect the opinions of the DU population... BECAUSE 40% ARE CHOOSING NOT TO PARTICIPATE. It's great to have opinions on politics, but if you don't vote... you opinions are meaningless. That's how democracy works at the end of the day.

As Barack Obama once said... "Don't boo. Vote!"

[MineralMan]

28. You remember defectively. The Undecided option was there

when the forum was set up. Nobody is required to choose a candidate to participate in the forum. If you want to participate in the individual candidate forums, you have to declare that candidate as your choice, though. If you don't choose, you remain undecided. It's that simple. All DUers can participate in this forum.

[targetpractice]

35. I stand corrected, not defective...

Thank you. Then, in my opinion, the feature was ill-conceived from the get-go. And, the preferences numbers are meaningless.

I write about this, because at this point I would gleefully vote for any candidate over Trump... A significant portion of my decision-making process now is based on learning how others feel about things. That's why I crave to understand what those 40% undecided DU members are thinking.

[MineralMan]

36. We are all guests on DU.

And that's the bottom line.

[MineralMan]

38. They are simply waiting before deciding.

Simple.

[targetpractice]

39. I totally get that...

... But, they refuse to answer a simple quesiton... "Who would you vote for today?"

I don't understand how that simple question can flummox anybody? If you can't cast a vote when required, then why do I need to listen to your opinion about politics? If you can't or refuse to vote when the time comes, then you are not participating in the democratic process. Non-votes don't count at the end of the day.

[MineralMan]

40. The answer is "I don't know yet. I haven't decided."

That is a perfectly valid answer. That does not mean that a person who says that should not participate in discussions on the matter.

[targetpractice]

42. Of course, someone who is undecided has valid opinions...

I want to learn their opinions..

But an "undecided" answer when participating in a DU feature that requires members to declare "Who would they vote for today?" makes the thing useless.

If you are undecided, fine. However, you should not be able to participate in a polling feature that simply, plainly, basically asks you to declare "Who would you vote for today?" I'm not complaining about the fact that someone is undecided... I'm complaining about this DU preferences feature that gives us no useful information.

[MineralMan]

43. I think you are misunderstanding how DU works.

There are no such rules as you describe them. This forum is set up so people CAN say who they would vote for. Nobody is REQUIRED to declare.

[targetpractice]

45. Nope... I've been here since the Bush v Gore recount...

I have a low post count, but I've been here since the beginning of DU...

Just click on "Your preference:" link in the upper right and read the rules. They simply, unambiguously state in plain Helvetica Bold...

"If I were to vote in a presidential primary today, I would vote for..."

Of course, nobody is required to declare, but I hope there is an understanding about how to participate in such things here, of all places. But, I feel I'm tilting at windmills at this point.

[ariadne0614]

52. You're kinda bossy. n/t

Authoritarian tendencies make me recoil.

[ahoysrcsm]

47. If I were to vote in a presidential primary today, I would vote for...

Unfortunately, my state has a presidential caucus... Do I choose my first choice, second, realignment, top five?

[targetpractice]

48. Bless you.. I have no clue...

That seems nuts, but I trust you wholeheartedly to do the right thing.

[DownriverDem]

13. For months

I've been saying that Biden is the best candidate to win enough states in November to beat trump. Folks seem to ignore the Center/Left voters we will need in November. Biden running with Harris, Amy or Abrams would be a formidable ticket. I hope folks wake up and see it this way.

[DonaldsRump]

19. For me, "undecided" on DU says one thing

People here are looking to who can beat the Idiot-in-Chief. That's becoming clearer and clearer, where we are really down to two people.

If Biden does win the nomination (and this is just for the sake of argument, since we have a ways to go), I am surprised that more folks here aren't talking about a Biden/Warren ticket. Wouldn't that get both moderates and progressives?

I agree that there is no way a Biden/Sanders ticket would happen for many of the reasons already stated here.

[MineralMan]

20. I think there are two things militating against a Biden/Warren ticket.

1. Warren is in her 70s. Voters will prefer to see a relatively younger VP nominee, I believe.
2. Warren and Biden are sort of far apart in their positions. That's not a huge factor, but would play into the decision.

I can see Klobuchar or Buttigieg as the VP pick, though, among candidates who have accrued some delegates. Amy is likely to harvest a good crop of delegates in Minnesota on Tuesday.

[Cary]

22. Now 18% MM

You raised him a whole point!

[MineralMan]

25. The Surge Continues!

[Iamaartist]

23. K&R....😎

[totodeinhere]

24. I don't think it matter what happens at DU. How many active participants are there here?

A few thousand at most I would guess. But compare that to the millions of registered Democrats.

[MineralMan]

26. Uh-huh...OK, then...

[targetpractice]

41. I wish I knew...

... Not many, apparently. I've asked, but no replies. I'd guess around 200 or so.

[ahoysrcsm]

50. Three, there's three.

And just a shit ton of bots.

[Skid Rogue]

49. Maybe... but it feels so good! :) nt

[NYMinute]

27. 18% now

[emmaverybo]

29. Thanks!

[subterranean]

30. "Undecided" is down from 43% last week to 40% now.

It appears many of them have decided on Joe.

[MineralMan]

32. Thanks!

That's what it looks like to me, as well.

[targetpractice]

44. Back up to an unhelpful 44%...

... Which makes me think that 200 or less folks are part of this forum.

[subterranean]

53. Most likely they were Mayor Pete supporters.

[DarthDem]

31. I just noticed this as well and . . . .

Frankly DU just feels different today. Bolder. More hopeful.

[bearsfootball516]

34. I there was a clear "rally around Joe" moment last night

[PatSeg]

51. Yes, it does feel different

I agree, much more hopeful.

[flamingdem]

37. Finally... really

we needed to get this train moving a LOT earlier!

[customerserviceguy]

54. Look again

Joe's up to 19% here, within striking distance of Sen. Warren.

[jcmaine72]

55. DU skews a little older and whiter than the majority of the base.

Actually, quite a bit so.

[yortsed snacilbuper]

56. Go Joe!

[ArtTownsend]

57. DU / the country or the Democratic electorate.