Latest news with #politicalstrategy
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Behar says Dem effort to reclaim men is a 'waste of money,' suggests 'teaching them to not be such sexists'
Co-hosts of ABC's "The View" on Friday feuded over how the Democratic Party should change its game plan after losing male voters. After their decisive defeat in November, Democrats are still figuring out how they should change their strategy and move forward as a party. The New York Times recently published a report claiming that Democrats are spending $20 million on a study called "Speaking with American Men: A Strategic Plan." The study is a project to "study the syntax, language and content that gains attention and virality in these spaces" of male voters. Co-host Joy Behar scoffed at the idea, deriding it as "20 million bucks just to talk to boys." "You know what I think? I think it's a waste of money. Maybe these guys should spend their money on teaching men to not be such sexists," Behar said, as the audience applauded. Democrats Need To Embrace Males With Affection, Not Political Strategy, Nyt Columnist Argues "But the stats don't bear that out," co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said, arguing that Trump has done better with multiple demographics across races and sexes than his Republican predecessors did. Read On The Fox News App Behar suggested this was merely because he was "running against a woman." "You think Democrats that were with Biden in 2020 left to be with Trump because they're sexist?" Griffin asked. "I don't know the reason, but it's very suspicious," Behar replied. Other co-hosts argued that Democrats have indeed alienated male voters. Griffin mocked the idea of appealing to authenticity by hiring analysts and strategists to analyze how men speak, suggesting instead, "What made Joe Rogan or Theo Von or some of these manosphere guys huge was there's a level of authenticity." Meanwhile, she noted Democrats not only have an "authenticity problem" but recalled that "Joe Rogan was a Bernie Bro. Democrats lost him. They had their own Joe Rogan and then alienated him with policies." She added that men want to be able to speak about the issues they face as a group, particularly the phenomenon of men falling behind, without being accused of sexism or excluding women. Click Here For More Coverage Of Media And Culture Haines brought up the appeal of both Trump and the manosphere. "What drove people to this manosphere was people were saying, 'It's okay to be a man, you have value.' I think the language around men with 'toxic masculinity' were sometimes misunderstood to make men the problem."Original article source: Behar says Dem effort to reclaim men is a 'waste of money,' suggests 'teaching them to not be such sexists'
Fox News
2 days ago
- General
- Fox News
Behar says Dem effort to reclaim men is a 'waste of money,' suggests 'teaching them to not be such sexists'
Co-hosts of ABC's "The View" on Friday feuded over how the Democratic Party should change its game plan after losing male voters. After their decisive defeat in November, Democrats are still figuring out how they should change their strategy and move forward as a party. The New York Times recently published a report claiming that Democrats are spending $20 million on a study called "Speaking with American Men: A Strategic Plan." The study is a project to "study the syntax, language and content that gains attention and virality in these spaces" of male voters. Co-host Joy Behar scoffed at the idea, deriding it as "20 million bucks just to talk to boys." "You know what I think? I think it's a waste of money. Maybe these guys should spend their money on teaching men to not be such sexists," Behar said, as the audience applauded. "But the stats don't bear that out," co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said, arguing that Trump has done better with multiple demographics across races and sexes than his Republican predecessors did. Behar suggested this was merely because he was "running against a woman." "You think Democrats that were with Biden in 2020 left to be with Trump because they're sexist?" Griffin asked. "I don't know the reason, but it's very suspicious," Behar replied. Other co-hosts argued that Democrats have indeed alienated male voters. Griffin mocked the idea of appealing to authenticity by hiring analysts and strategists to analyze how men speak, suggesting instead, "What made Joe Rogan or Theo Von or some of these manosphere guys huge was there's a level of authenticity." Meanwhile, she noted Democrats not only have an "authenticity problem" but recalled that "Joe Rogan was a Bernie Bro. Democrats lost him. They had their own Joe Rogan and then alienated him with policies." She added that men want to be able to speak about the issues they face as a group, particularly the phenomenon of men falling behind, without being accused of sexism or excluding women. Haines brought up the appeal of both Trump and the manosphere. "What drove people to this manosphere was people were saying, 'It's okay to be a man, you have value.' I think the language around men with 'toxic masculinity' were sometimes misunderstood to make men the problem."
Japan Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Japan Times
K-pop and breakdance power South Korea's high-stakes presidential race
In South Korea's high-stakes presidential campaign, K-pop isn't just a cultural backdrop — it's a political strategy. Both major parties are leaning on Korean pop hits to energize voters, blending choreography and catchy lyrics with political messaging. Among the favorites at campaign rallies: Kim Jong-kook's Lovable and Young Tak's Next Door Oppa, are now fixtures in events across the country. But unlike the last U.S. presidential election, where Kamala Harris secured endorsements from Beyonce and Taylor Swift, South Korean artists have shied away from direct campaigning, which risks alienating fans. The opposition Democratic Party has deployed a 48-member "Shouting Korea' team, which travels nationwide in mobile units designed to create festive, street-level rallies. Their goal is to produce crowd-friendly events using choreography and classic Korean pop songs before and after the party nominee Lee Jae-myung takes the stage. The conservative People Power Party has taken a similar approach, with candidate Kim Moon-soo's campaign team choosing retro hits like Lovable, over songs by current idols. "Kim's frequent use of heart gestures inspired us to highlight a 'lovable' image, playing on the song's message to enhance his public appeal,' Kim Dong-hwan, a PPP campaign official, said. South Koreans head to the polls Tuesday after six months of political turmoil, hoping a new leader can begin to heal a fractured nation. The snap vote comes after impeached former President Yoon Suk Yeol was removed by the Constitutional Court in April for his abrupt decision to declare martial law. Lee Jae-myung during an election campaign rally in Seoul on Thursday. | bloomberg The state of the economy and fighting U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs are among the hot topics for voters, according to recent opinion surveys. Lee had 49% support while Kim trailed with 36% in a survey of 1,005 people commissioned by local media News 1 and released this week. "This election follows a period of martial law and impeachment,' said Kim Dae-young, a Democratic Party official. "There were debates about including strong political messages, but we decided instead to build a space where people could gather naturally — through music, dance, and video.' The campaign's setlist draws heavily on late-1990s and early-2000s pop acts chosen for their energy and broad appeal. They include Koyote's Pure Love, from 1999, diva Uhm Jung-hwa's Festival from the same year. Professional dancer Yim Young-hwan, who was hired by the liberal party to join the campaign, has choreographed several of the performances. The dance routines are deliberately simple, with occasional flourishes to grab attention, and to make it easy for people to follow. "We wanted people to say, 'Wow,' when they saw us,' Yim said. Lyrics are often adapted to highlight the candidate's character or policy goals. And choosing older tracks instead of licensing new idol music from the big K-pop companies such as SM Entertainment and Hybe reduces costs, according to Kim, the PPP campaign official. Licensing fees per song could reach around 3 million won ($2,170) to tens of million won, depending on its popularity. While TV and radio still play a role, Kim noted that digital content now dominates political engagement. Candidate Kim has appeared on major YouTube shows and launched a dedicated channel featuring a 13-song playlist to court online audiences. Yet despite the digital pivot, the energy of in-person street performances still resonates with many voters. "When young people perform like this, it lifts the older generation's spirits,' said Lee Soo-young, a Seoul resident, who joined Lee's campaign.
Fox News
6 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
Dem strategy session to stop hemorrhaging of male voters ridiculed
More than six months after the Democratic Party suffered major setbacks in the 2024 elections, the party is seeking a path to escape the political wilderness. Part of that effort includes a recent gathering by top party consultants and donors trying to figure out how Democrats can improve outreach to male and working-class voters. President Donald Trump won back control of the White House while Republicans flipped the Senate and defended their fragile House majority in November, and the GOP made gains among Black and Hispanic voters, as well as younger voters – all traditional members of the Democratic Party's base. "Everything we've done up to this point has resulted in re-electing Donald Trump," longtime Democratic strategist and communicator Joe Caiazzo told Fox News Digital. "If anyone tells you that we don't have to course correct, they don't know what they're talking about," added Caiazzo, a veteran of Sen. Bernie Sanders 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns. In the face of Trump's sweeping and controversial moves since his return to the White House in January, an increasingly angered and energized base of Democrats is pushing for party leaders to take a stronger stand in leading the resistance to the president and Republicans. The anger directed not only at Trump and Republicans, but also at fellow Democrats, appears to be a factor in the party's polling woes, with Democratic Party favorable ratings sinking to historic lows. Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin vows the party will compete in all 50 states going forward. In an interview earlier this month on "Fox News Sunday," Martin highlighted that the party's focus right now is "squarely on making sure that we stand up for hardworking Americans who are being left behind in this Trump economy." A 2024 election DNC postmortem is currently underway, with the findings expected to be issued later this year. However, grabbing the spotlight in recent days was a gathering hosted by the Democrat-aligned super PAC Future Forward at a luxury resort along the California coast. Among the strategy discussions at the gathering was a $20 million effort titled, "Speaking with American Men: A Strategic Plan." The recommendations of the effort, which is code-named SAM, included having Democrats drop what is described as a "moralizing tone" toward male voters, changing the party's language used toward men and purchasing more ads on video games as part of male outreach. Some former key staffers on the 2024 campaign of former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, who replaced Biden as the party's nominee last summer, heavily criticized the effort, which was first reported by the New York Times and later confirmed by Fox News. "Instead of studying working-class voters and men, why doesn't the Democratic Party donor class go out and meet some? What the hell is this?" James Singer, a spokesman for the 2024 campaign, wrote in a social media post. "As a Democrat, it's embarrassing." It was a similar message from Ammar Moussa, another veteran Democratic strategist and communicator who worked on the Biden and Harris campaigns. "This is embarrassing. Truly," Moussa wrote on X. Democrats have long had a problem attracting male voters in presidential elections. Trump won the male vote by 12 points over Harris in the 2024 presidential election, and according to the Fox News Voter Analysis, that margin ballooned to 15 points among men 45 and older. Fast-forward to this spring, and the Democrats' ratings stood underwater in the latest Fox News national poll at 41% favorable and 56% unfavorable in a survey conducted April 18-21. That is an all-time low for the Democrats in Fox News polling, and for the first time in a decade, the party's standing was lower than that of the GOP, which stood at 44% favorable and 54% unfavorable. The figures were reversed last summer, when Fox News last asked the party favorability question in one of its surveys. The Fox News poll was far from an outlier. The Democratic Party's favorable ratings were well in negative territory in a Pew Research national survey - 38% favorable, 60% unfavorable - conducted in early April and at 36% favorable, 60% unfavorable in a Wall Street Journal poll in the field a couple of weeks earlier. Additionally, national polls conducted in February by Quinnipiac University and March by CNN and by NBC News also indicated the favorable ratings for the Democratic Party sinking to all-time lows. However, there is more. Confidence in the Democratic Party's congressional leadership also sunk to an all-time low, according to a Gallup poll conducted early last month. The confidence rating for Democrats' leadership in Congress stood at 25% in the survey, which was nine points below the previous low of 34% recorded in 2023. The semi-annual Harvard Youth Poll, which was released late last month, indicated that approval ratings for Democrats in Congress among Americans aged 18-29 nosedived. An ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll conducted in mid-April indicated that more respondents trusted Trump (40%) than Democrats in Congress (32%) to handle the nation's main problems. Additionally, a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted late last month suggested Republicans hold a significant advantage over Democrats on two top issues: the economy and immigration. "If Democrats want to be competitive in this country and build lasting majorities in both chambers and be competitive for the White House, we've got to broaden the tent," Caiazzo insisted. He lamented that Democrats have "become hyper-focused on a certain set of issues that only speak to a certain set of people while letting the most important issues of the day fall by the wayside. Every single day, Democrats should be focused on how we make things better for working people. And the way we deliver that message has got to meet people where they are."
The Guardian
22-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on Starmer's U-turn: change direction – or keep losing support
Sir Keir Starmer's U-turn on winter fuel payments did not just represent a policy reversal. It was the moment when the prime minister, elected on promises of national renewal, was forced to confront the political reality that his strategy had refused to acknowledge. It may also prove to be the moment he lost control. The original policy, hatched in the Treasury and defended for months, had cut winter fuel payments, worth up to £300 annually, to millions of pensioners. It was unpopular, and unnecessary. Local election losses and a looming backbench revolt over disability benefit cuts made it politically toxic. The result? On Wednesday, Sir Keir reversed course at the dispatch box – with his chancellor, Rachel Reeves, notably absent. Too little, too late: voters saw delay; activists cried betrayal. This wasn't just a policy slip. It was a strategic, ideological and sociological misfire. The Labour leadership had convinced itself that its electoral base was composed not of university-educated social liberals and younger renters – key to its election-winning coalition – but of Reform-curious, socially conservative voters yearning for fiscal discipline and border control. That misreading, fuelled by factional folklore and backed up by the Labour MP Luke Akehurst, a key figure among the party's centre and right, was always a mirage. Most Reform UK voters are not Labour's to win back. They are largely embedded within a 'right-Conservative' bloc, as noted by Manchester University's James David Griffiths. Chasing them means alienating Labour's base. That appears to be happening. Sir Keir recorded the lowest net favourability of his spell as Labour leader in May. And now, with U-turns piling up, the story has acquired another dimension: a cabinet revolt. A leak blew open the ideological rift between Ms Reeves and the deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner. The latter's memo to Ms Reeves, proposing tax rises on the better-off instead of cuts to meet self-imposed fiscal rules, revealed the schism. This is not just about tax policy. It is a flashpoint in the struggle over Labour's identity. Ms Rayner represents a politics grounded in contemporary Britain: professional, socially liberal, economically redistributive. Ms Reeves represents a cautious centrist revivalism that imagines Britain as it was in 1997. But this isn't Blair's Britain any more. The electorate is more middle class, more educated and more diverse. The realignment is done. Labour's survival depends on recognising it. Labour's centrist power brokers are fighting the last war – not against the Tories, but against Jeremy Corbyn. The party risks joining Europe's centre-left casualties – triangulating through turbulence with a broken political compass. If Labour continues to ignore electoral bloc dynamics and strategic coalition-building, it will cede ground to both the left and the populist right. Meagre public sector pay awards suggest Labour won't budge – yet. But its economic strategy is running out of road. A pivot is possible: towards tax fairness, green investment, a new language on immigration, electoral reform, ending austerity and rebuilding trust with the young urban voters who put Labour in power. But it should be decisive. Sir Keir must lead a government of transformation, not Tory-lite continuity. If he won't shift course, 'stepping up' may soon look just like standing in the way. The winter fuel fiasco wasn't only a tactical error – it exposed Labour's flawed view of the electorate. And voters, inconveniently, noticed.
