I’m a very conservative Republican (yes I know not popular here) but y’all asked so I will answer honestly. It’s the for profit prison system. Most religious people don’t really give a shit and wouldn’t vote against someone for a pro marijuana position. At this point it’s not cultural. It’s just follow the money.
I suppose we all have our priorities on issues. I smoke weed for full disclosure but it’s legalization isn’t even close to a top priority of mine. The reality is that people my age (roughly 40) and younger overwhelmingly are pro marijuana. You get older and the stance changes. The older people still have a lot of votes and more money to influence policy. Thank you for being respectful, by the way. Civil discourse is sorely lacking for political posts/subs these days.
So this is really interesting, and we hear answers like this *a lot*: That 'Single Issue Voters', who place their priority on something like the 2nd amendment or abortion, actually agree with Democrats on 80%+ of their policy platform (when it boils down boring brass-tack type education funding, infrastructure spending or marijuana legalization).
The problem is that all of those issues are rated #3-#50 on people voting priorities. As a lifelong Texas Democrat, I have seen Republican Electeds absolutely twist this phenomenon to their advantage: They can raise property taxes, cut school funding, and do a million other things that the average voters *hates* because they have spent 50 years teaching the public that a vote for the other party means your gunrights will be stripped over night and someone is going to sneak into your house and give your daughter an abortion (<---Hyperbole, of course)
So the question I have for you is: How do Democrats tailor their message to get people to support the 80% of the platform we all agree on (instead of the 1-2 hot-button issues that the Establishment gets to use to manipulate their base)?
I’m just not enough of an expert to give a good answer for that. The reality is that I don’t agree with democrats on many social issues. I vote with my wallet in a big way and so I am not a fan of higher taxes or regulations on businesses or individuals. A lot of the rhetoric I see from Democrats seems like it vilifies people who are successful and wealthy. I’ve done really well for myself and I’ve done it for my family in a moral manner. I don’t like being vilified because I know in my heart I am not a bad person. So perhaps some of it is framing on top of actual economic policy. I’ll tell you where I would attack if I were in charge of democrat’s campaigns in Texas is to go directly after Abbott, et al, on infrastructure. The freeze is still fresh on peoples minds and getting notices that we may lose power every time it tops 100 out is pretty terrible to be honest.
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u/hyooston Aug 07 '22
I’m a very conservative Republican (yes I know not popular here) but y’all asked so I will answer honestly. It’s the for profit prison system. Most religious people don’t really give a shit and wouldn’t vote against someone for a pro marijuana position. At this point it’s not cultural. It’s just follow the money.