What do you consider a ‘centrist’? Most people I’ve interacted with with your flair would probably call me that, even though that’s not how I would self-describe.
>Centrist Kamala voters, do you feel like Trump II has shifted your ideology in any way?
My values remain the same (I think we should fix problems and build a better future).
…but Trump’s second term — like his first term, and like everything Republicans have done in my adult life — just pushes me closer to the stance: The most important thing is stopping Republicans from winning elections
I would love it if Democrats did more and better, but it isn’t as important as keeping Republicans out of power because Republicans do so much damage when they have power.
It’s led me to be frustrated that the far left won’t take any lesson from the loss other than “we needed to move further to the left”.
No, we needed policies that help working class people, not necessarily further to the left. Young middle class folks are being left out to dry by cost of living and poor job markets.
Primarily, I think housing prices need to be addressed in an aggressive way. And not the “BMR requirements” of the far left, but subsidies for working class housing (which goes beyond BMR). We need to address commercial real estate loans and practices that incentivize leaving units unrented. And we need to go after the RealPage cartel.
We need to be harder on illegal immigration. Obama was much better than Biden on this. Yes we need immigrants, but the level of illegal immigration was uncontrolled and cuts into working class Americans job opportunities. And like it or not, we won’t win elections with Biden levels of illegal immigrantion.
We need to blame Biden for not stepping down earlier, but I’m not sure that would have made the difference.
Online, most self-described “centrists” are Trump supporters who don’t want to admit it. They will look at Trump lying 100 times and Biden lying 1 time and conclude that both are liars so we should treat them both the same.
If they were open to shifting their ideology, they wouldn’t be a centrist in the first place.
Yes. I used entertain the conceit that there were some sensible, centrist Republicans. I have since abandoned that idea. Anyone who is seeking to gain power within the Republican Party is as suspect to me as all of the members of the SS were after World War II.
No. Still the same, which is why I have always thought Trump sucks.
ETA: I will say I am more open to candidates I would have previously thought nonsensical, like Jon Stewart, just for the purpose of beating Trump. I have always valued pragmatism over perfect ideology so that part hasn’t really changed for me.
I live here but is not a citizen so didn’t vote, but would’ve voted for Kamala. This sub probably considers me moderate, but realistically, I’m liberal leaning by American standards. I’ll admit that I’m one of those people that think Trump will be bad, but not earth shatteringly, global order destroying, entirely scorched earth bad. It turns out he is.
Not sure if I qualify as a centrist to you, but I did vote for Kamala.
Why would trumps actions so far change my views? Nothing he has done so far is really surprising. Perhaps he went slightly farther than I expected on tariffs, but outside of that he’s pretty much doing all the shit I thought he would.
I actually thought he was slightly less stupid than this. He’s even way too stupid for an autocrat.
Political capital is a finite quantity, and the Trump/Elon administration is spending it in droves. This level of overreach is a sign of weakness, not strength. It’s the kind of thing that happens at the end of an authoritarian regime, not the beginning of one. This is precisely how oligarchies ends.
i heard one time (i wish i didn’t) that vote for whoever would be your leader in an ideal world. do i like kamala? not really. do i like trump? not really. would either of them be my leader in an ideal world? no.
trump 2.0 hasn’t done anything to swing me, it’s just that i’m more set in my ways than i was maybe a year ago. i’m realizing the world around us is more than any political ideology ever could try to make it.
I had to think about this, because my attitude’s definitely changed, but I don’t know that my politics really have. I’m still closer to a “run of the mill” Dem than to a Bernie. Don’t mishear me — I’d take a Bernie presidency 1000x before I ever signed up for this stupid ride again, but I don’t know that Donald’s bad ideas and particular brand of nastiness has pulled me terribly far from my “globalist free trader” roots. After all, he’s attacking my particular philosophy pretty viciously right now too, and if anything, I might’ve even gotten a little MORE attached to that part of my political identity.
On a personal level though, I definitely feel more kinship towards my friends a little farther to the fringes than me. I do miss talking a little friendly shit from time to time, but God willing, we’ll get back there again someday.
I’m thinking of myself as more of a centrist than I have in the past even though I’m very progressive on social issues. I feel like I understand the extremist ideology of the right and definitely want nothing to do with that. I’ve begun so see parallels with extremist to my left which I’m also repelled by.
I am more okay with weakening our military support of Europe in exchange for a more militarized Europe. Ultimately I do think this will mean we have less say in global politics, but I actually think of this is a good thing. And while it doesn’t look like it in the short term- my hope would be that it would also lead to us scaling down our own militarization.
I don’t actually have any well thought out position on tariffs and relationship with China. To be clear, I don’t think what is being proposed is a well thought one- but I realize that I’m open to ideas about the right relationship with China.
Weirdly I think Trumps base is more resolute than I would have thought- and this is largely due to media bubbles. But I became convinced that Trump could run the economy into the ground with considerably less actual defection that I wish.
I don’t think my values have changed, but my assessment of the best tactics has definitely shifted. I am usually very much against “eat the rich“ style, left-wing politics, but I think all the behavior of the billionaires, especially Elon, has made those tactics a lot more prescient in the public mind
No I’m pretty much the same as I’ve ever been, just increasingly saddened that societies appetite for strong institutions and democracy in general is waning
Trump’s second term has made it ever more clear that Dems need to not only go way more to the center (no, Harris wasn’t centrist just because she accepted the Cheney endorsement, and leftist seething and rage against that is utterly absurd) but also far more vocally denounce the left rather than just turning a blind eye to them
One issue Harris suffered considerably over was her previous left wing primary stances in 2020 and previous stances when she was a senator. Her 2024 platform pivoted considerably, not to a centrist platform but a “merely” liberal platform. But when asked about her past views and stances, her strategy was largely just to ignore or deflect – she didn’t go out of her way to actually explain WHY she shifted on issues, and why her past stances were wrong. This made it easy for the GOP to attack her as a secret leftist who was only pivoting out of political expediency
Trump is now more popular than he was in his first term and has more of a mandate, so it’s clear Dems need to do more to win back the voters in the middle that elected Trump. Especially since after Trump, the GOP could do a “Trumpism without Trump” strategy that could potentially win back many in the center too. Dems need to be as focused on electability as possible, even if it makes the base mad as hell. Elections aren’t won by the base
I think I actually fall into this group. I voted (Happily) for Kamala, but I have voted libertarian and GOP in the past. Bush Bush, Obama, Johnson, Jorgenson, Harris.
Trump has adjusted my views. But probably not in ways you want. The weakness shown by the democrats in the face of this nightmare of an orange shitstain has me questioning them deeply. I would have expected FAR MORE of what we recently saw from Booker with his 25 hour speech and AOC and Bernie touring the nation. To my knowledge they are the only people (those 3) who have done ANYTHING. I’m open to hearing about others who are trying to do SOMETHING. But the crickets I am hearing from the hundreds of democratic people . . . I will probably vote blue in 2025 (I live in Virginia) and then in 2026 . . .
But after that, I might switch back to 3rd party.
If I can get off my ass to go to protests, make calls, etc . . . then why can’t elected officials IN CONGRESS actually do something?
And that’s before you consider that the dems are just about as owned by billionaires as the GOP. Just a different group. I love AOC. I love Bernie. I would vote for her. I would vote for Pete Buttigieg probably. . . but overall I’m deeply disappointed by what I have seen as the democratic response to this monster.
That said . . . I’m not 100% sure we will HAVE an election in 2028 . . . so this might just all be academic
Trump is doing an abysmal job and has a literal cult following that constantly blows smoke up his ass but that hasn’t changed my position on things. There are things I agree with the left on and things I agree with the right on and ultimately the only way we achieve any of it is working together
Yes, I’m willing to give further left leaning candidates a chance. If they win and I don’t like what they do then I’ll move closer to the center again but voting Republican is off the table for the foreseeable future.
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Do you feel like Trumps second term has shifted you left, right or stronger where you currently stand?
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What do you consider a ‘centrist’? Most people I’ve interacted with with your flair would probably call me that, even though that’s not how I would self-describe.
(A socialist might consider me centrist.)
>Centrist Kamala voters, do you feel like Trump II has shifted your ideology in any way?
My values remain the same (I think we should fix problems and build a better future).
…but Trump’s second term — like his first term, and like everything Republicans have done in my adult life — just pushes me closer to the stance: The most important thing is stopping Republicans from winning elections
I would love it if Democrats did more and better, but it isn’t as important as keeping Republicans out of power because Republicans do so much damage when they have power.
It’s led me to be frustrated that the far left won’t take any lesson from the loss other than “we needed to move further to the left”.
No, we needed policies that help working class people, not necessarily further to the left. Young middle class folks are being left out to dry by cost of living and poor job markets.
Primarily, I think housing prices need to be addressed in an aggressive way. And not the “BMR requirements” of the far left, but subsidies for working class housing (which goes beyond BMR). We need to address commercial real estate loans and practices that incentivize leaving units unrented. And we need to go after the RealPage cartel.
We need to be harder on illegal immigration. Obama was much better than Biden on this. Yes we need immigrants, but the level of illegal immigration was uncontrolled and cuts into working class Americans job opportunities. And like it or not, we won’t win elections with Biden levels of illegal immigrantion.
We need to blame Biden for not stepping down earlier, but I’m not sure that would have made the difference.
I’m not a “centrist” because I voted for Kamala Harris
Online, most self-described “centrists” are Trump supporters who don’t want to admit it. They will look at Trump lying 100 times and Biden lying 1 time and conclude that both are liars so we should treat them both the same.
If they were open to shifting their ideology, they wouldn’t be a centrist in the first place.
Yes. I used entertain the conceit that there were some sensible, centrist Republicans. I have since abandoned that idea. Anyone who is seeking to gain power within the Republican Party is as suspect to me as all of the members of the SS were after World War II.
No. Still the same, which is why I have always thought Trump sucks.
ETA: I will say I am more open to candidates I would have previously thought nonsensical, like Jon Stewart, just for the purpose of beating Trump. I have always valued pragmatism over perfect ideology so that part hasn’t really changed for me.
I live here but is not a citizen so didn’t vote, but would’ve voted for Kamala. This sub probably considers me moderate, but realistically, I’m liberal leaning by American standards. I’ll admit that I’m one of those people that think Trump will be bad, but not earth shatteringly, global order destroying, entirely scorched earth bad. It turns out he is.
Not sure if I qualify as a centrist to you, but I did vote for Kamala.
Why would trumps actions so far change my views? Nothing he has done so far is really surprising. Perhaps he went slightly farther than I expected on tariffs, but outside of that he’s pretty much doing all the shit I thought he would.
Both sides are bad so I’m going to tell everyone I meet not to vote at all, are you happy with yourself?
I actually thought he was slightly less stupid than this. He’s even way too stupid for an autocrat.
Political capital is a finite quantity, and the Trump/Elon administration is spending it in droves. This level of overreach is a sign of weakness, not strength. It’s the kind of thing that happens at the end of an authoritarian regime, not the beginning of one. This is precisely how oligarchies ends.
i heard one time (i wish i didn’t) that vote for whoever would be your leader in an ideal world. do i like kamala? not really. do i like trump? not really. would either of them be my leader in an ideal world? no.
trump 2.0 hasn’t done anything to swing me, it’s just that i’m more set in my ways than i was maybe a year ago. i’m realizing the world around us is more than any political ideology ever could try to make it.
I had to think about this, because my attitude’s definitely changed, but I don’t know that my politics really have. I’m still closer to a “run of the mill” Dem than to a Bernie. Don’t mishear me — I’d take a Bernie presidency 1000x before I ever signed up for this stupid ride again, but I don’t know that Donald’s bad ideas and particular brand of nastiness has pulled me terribly far from my “globalist free trader” roots. After all, he’s attacking my particular philosophy pretty viciously right now too, and if anything, I might’ve even gotten a little MORE attached to that part of my political identity.
On a personal level though, I definitely feel more kinship towards my friends a little farther to the fringes than me. I do miss talking a little friendly shit from time to time, but God willing, we’ll get back there again someday.
I don’t know if I was ever a centrist but I’m fine with firearms for sport shooting and hunting.
I think I’d have to go all the way back to Teddy Roosevelt for a Republican I’d vote for.
He pulled the line so hard to the right that I now find myself farther left than I ever thought I would be.
I’m thinking of myself as more of a centrist than I have in the past even though I’m very progressive on social issues. I feel like I understand the extremist ideology of the right and definitely want nothing to do with that. I’ve begun so see parallels with extremist to my left which I’m also repelled by.
I would say here is how I’ve shifted.
I am more okay with weakening our military support of Europe in exchange for a more militarized Europe. Ultimately I do think this will mean we have less say in global politics, but I actually think of this is a good thing. And while it doesn’t look like it in the short term- my hope would be that it would also lead to us scaling down our own militarization.
I don’t actually have any well thought out position on tariffs and relationship with China. To be clear, I don’t think what is being proposed is a well thought one- but I realize that I’m open to ideas about the right relationship with China.
Weirdly I think Trumps base is more resolute than I would have thought- and this is largely due to media bubbles. But I became convinced that Trump could run the economy into the ground with considerably less actual defection that I wish.
I don’t think my values have changed, but my assessment of the best tactics has definitely shifted. I am usually very much against “eat the rich“ style, left-wing politics, but I think all the behavior of the billionaires, especially Elon, has made those tactics a lot more prescient in the public mind
No I’m pretty much the same as I’ve ever been, just increasingly saddened that societies appetite for strong institutions and democracy in general is waning
Trump’s second term has made it ever more clear that Dems need to not only go way more to the center (no, Harris wasn’t centrist just because she accepted the Cheney endorsement, and leftist seething and rage against that is utterly absurd) but also far more vocally denounce the left rather than just turning a blind eye to them
One issue Harris suffered considerably over was her previous left wing primary stances in 2020 and previous stances when she was a senator. Her 2024 platform pivoted considerably, not to a centrist platform but a “merely” liberal platform. But when asked about her past views and stances, her strategy was largely just to ignore or deflect – she didn’t go out of her way to actually explain WHY she shifted on issues, and why her past stances were wrong. This made it easy for the GOP to attack her as a secret leftist who was only pivoting out of political expediency
Trump is now more popular than he was in his first term and has more of a mandate, so it’s clear Dems need to do more to win back the voters in the middle that elected Trump. Especially since after Trump, the GOP could do a “Trumpism without Trump” strategy that could potentially win back many in the center too. Dems need to be as focused on electability as possible, even if it makes the base mad as hell. Elections aren’t won by the base
I think I actually fall into this group. I voted (Happily) for Kamala, but I have voted libertarian and GOP in the past. Bush Bush, Obama, Johnson, Jorgenson, Harris.
Trump has adjusted my views. But probably not in ways you want. The weakness shown by the democrats in the face of this nightmare of an orange shitstain has me questioning them deeply. I would have expected FAR MORE of what we recently saw from Booker with his 25 hour speech and AOC and Bernie touring the nation. To my knowledge they are the only people (those 3) who have done ANYTHING. I’m open to hearing about others who are trying to do SOMETHING. But the crickets I am hearing from the hundreds of democratic people . . . I will probably vote blue in 2025 (I live in Virginia) and then in 2026 . . .
But after that, I might switch back to 3rd party.
If I can get off my ass to go to protests, make calls, etc . . . then why can’t elected officials IN CONGRESS actually do something?
And that’s before you consider that the dems are just about as owned by billionaires as the GOP. Just a different group. I love AOC. I love Bernie. I would vote for her. I would vote for Pete Buttigieg probably. . . but overall I’m deeply disappointed by what I have seen as the democratic response to this monster.
That said . . . I’m not 100% sure we will HAVE an election in 2028 . . . so this might just all be academic
Trump is doing an abysmal job and has a literal cult following that constantly blows smoke up his ass but that hasn’t changed my position on things. There are things I agree with the left on and things I agree with the right on and ultimately the only way we achieve any of it is working together
Yes, I’m willing to give further left leaning candidates a chance. If they win and I don’t like what they do then I’ll move closer to the center again but voting Republican is off the table for the foreseeable future.