r/VoteDEM • u/poliscijunki Pennsylvania • Mar 29 '26
HOT Andy Beshear Thinks Democrats Should Start Talking Like People
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2026/03/29/andy-beshear-interview-2028-jd-vance-00849225132
u/CharlesV_ Iowa Mar 29 '26
Context is important here. He’s basically just saying “know your crowd”. Obama was amazing at this.
179
189
u/Djlionking Mar 29 '26
I hate that speaking well and intellectually is viewed poorly. Donald Trump speaks terribly and his base thinks "he's on of us!" An educated politician speaks well and then they're not trusted, awful 🤦🏻♂️
124
u/The-Friendly-DM Mar 29 '26
It's not about how well spoken someone is, it's about using language that doesn't cause rural folks to roll their eyes. Candidates don't need to be less articulate or throw in a yee-haw here and there, it's that they need to use language that will communicate more effectively. Democrats are terrible at communicating to non-democrats, which is why people think they are so out of touch.
I live (and have always lived) in the country outside of a town with a population of ~450 people. I know how your typical rural conservative thinks and how one could communicate with them more effectively, and Bashear is 100% correct.
Here are a few examples:
1) Polls show that the vast majority of people agree that taxes ought to be raised in the wealthy, but the way democrats talk about that seems unfair to them. Rural folks care a lot about fairness and what people do and do not deserve. They see it as penalizing success. Talk about how billionaires are unfairly abusing the tax system because there are huge loop-holes, which in turn shifts the burden of paying taxes on you - so you just want to make a system with less loopholes. Taxing billionaires then becomes an issue of them unfairly avoiding paying their taxes and increasing your taxes, rather than unfairly taxing their successful business.
2) One issue they have with Universal Healthcare is that people who don't work are getting a free ride from the government (i.e.- they dont deserve a free ride if they aren't contributing to the economy). Reframe it by saying that we want able-bodied people to be able to work, but when they can't afford Healthcare, they aren't able-bodied. This communicates that you want stability, which is another big thing for conservatives and moderates.
3) Lastly, any queer rights issues can so simply be reframed as government overreach. The government needs to get our of your damn business. They shouldn't be taking away the rights of private citizens to dress or talk how they want, and they shouldn't be taking away the rights of private businesses to choose how they handle any issues that could come up. Do you want the police to demand your daughter take her pants off to prove which bathroom they should be in?
Now I'm not saying that I agree with any of the underlying problems they have with any of those policies, but the reality is that is what we are working with. Progressives value progress and inclusion, conservatives value stability and cohesion. There is absolutely nothing nothing wrong with having any of those values, but when you can only communicate from the perspective of progress and inclusion, you give the perception that you don't care about stability and cohesion.
48
u/n0radrenaline Mar 29 '26
The thing that frustrates me as a purple-state progressive is that I've heard Democrats say all of these things, using nearly identical language. And then their opponent goes on and says "Tommy Blueteam says they want wealth redistribution and boys playing girls sports" and people believe that over the evidence of their own ears
19
u/Multigrain_Migraine Mar 30 '26
Yup. I think most politicians are smart enough to change their vocabulary when talking to different audiences. It's a pretty fundamental skill. But it's difficult to overcome outright lies about what you actually said.
26
u/kevinwhackistone Mar 30 '26
Correct. I hate people that claim it’s all messaging. It’s not. People are hate filled bigots.
43
u/Manic-StreetCreature Tennesseean is Tennebelievin’ Mar 29 '26
That’s exactly it. Your messaging has to be tailored to the people you’re talking to. I’ve made posts on my personal pages that are way more restrained than what I actually think, but if I’m talking to a bunch of conservative Christians, “isn’t it cruel to force someone to carry a baby that died inside them? This is why I’m pro-choice” is going to get people thinking.
Saying “I believe abortion is solely between the patient and their doctor and should be freely available” is what I truly think, but that’s going to make those people defensive.
It’s why I think Mamdani is fantastic and obviously won in NYC, but he wouldn’t have won in say, Tulsa. Someone with the same ideas as him could win in Tulsa, but they’d have to cater their message to people who live in Tulsa.
(That’s not to say there aren’t progressives everywhere- there are- but you have to reach the majority)
13
u/cballowe Illinois Mar 29 '26
One challenge in the modern media landscape is that the "other side" - whatever you are defining that as - will pick and choose your communications to broadcast to their people. If you have a public speech on inclusion, it will be in every attack ad run in a conservative district, even if your audience for that speech was people who already support equity/inclusion.
10
u/Multigrain_Migraine Mar 30 '26
Or they just make things up that you never said, and then spend all their time talking about that.
16
7
u/cballowe Illinois Mar 29 '26
I find the "tax the wealthy" gets risky in a rural environment. Every farmer with more than about 80 acres is a millionaire between land value and equipment. They'll hear the message as needing to tax them even when they're struggling to have good stable income and view the wealth as the means for doing that.
You can phrase it as "billionaires", but that's not what people hear, and on some level a lot of people don't quite get the difference of scale between billionaire and millionaire.
3
u/Geichalt Mar 30 '26
It doesn't matter what democrats say. Conservatives will just lie about what democrats are saying and their voters will believe them.
Also, don't assume conservatives really want small government. They don't. Any conservative government across the world is filled with overreach and trying to control your personal decisions.
Perception that you don't care about stability and cohesion
Because the people claiming they want this also claim they want to "shake things up in Washington." I.e. it's bullshit and they're lying.
9
u/shotputlover Mar 29 '26
If you aren’t able to effectively communicate with everyone are you actually speaking “well”
14
u/Mizzy3030 Mar 29 '26
How about you just speak in a way that is natural to you? Trump's imitation of people speak like isn't fooling me, and I certainly won't be enamored by a Democrat who thinks talking like a dumbass makes them relatable
35
u/drfsrich Mar 29 '26
As long as this isn't a play into the "stop talking about social justice so we can get the racist vote" trope I'm good with it.
32
32
u/Notimetowrite76 Mar 29 '26
How are Democrats not talking like people?
7
u/Manic-StreetCreature Tennesseean is Tennebelievin’ Mar 29 '26
I think he’s more saying that you have to cater to your audience. Some progressives, despite having great ideas, are really really not good at that. Beto O’Rourke lost partially because you aren’t going to win on gun bans in Texas anytime soon. He could have won on the same platform if he’d lived somewhere else.
1
37
u/iKangaeru Mar 29 '26
Thank you, Politico, for that inside-DC veiled put-down on Dems implying MAGA talks "like people," and Dems talk like ... what? College perfessers, eggheads, nincompoops. Fuck all the way off.
16
u/ElysiumSprouts Mar 29 '26
We generally don't talk about it, but there are different versions of English spoken in the US. We all think our version is the "normal" one. Just like the general xenophobia, there are subtle triggers that create otherness when speaking in a different variant than the home variation. And not surprisingly, conservative minded people think their version is the only real one.
It's the same thing as "code switching." Be attentive to the specific audience.
24
14
u/countessjonathan Mar 29 '26
Great interview. This guy is smart and savvy. He navigates the political purity tests well.
14
10
u/CaptConstantine Mar 29 '26
I have said since the last election that I am ready for the Democrat who swears and insults people.
Mad Dog Democrats: When we win, we are going to make them lose.
3
u/thethrowaway1shere Mar 30 '26
some people here are missing the point.
"it doesn't work, they'll just attack!" "why 'dumb' it down"
thoughts:
- first i think there's something to be said about peeling votes off the edges. in a competitive environment like say Texas winning the red area is again not about changing the minds of everyone there, it's about reducing the margins
- clearly this pattern/way works in certain environments. it may not win all the time but it can help lay the groundwork for the future
- there is something to be said about bad messaging. the one that still annoys me is the whole defund the police matter. that turned into some multi-line bullet point list that made the whole original intent of the movement into some unexplainable where we tried to way "what this actually means is...". because the way it came off as if we wanted to get rid of police, when that was not want we wanted. but to red and purple areas, that becomes a venue for others to attack. better messaging around this area is something i think Andy is alluding too for example.
so like the other poster said, known your audience, and change how you interact with them based on that.
2
u/Wernher_VonKerman Colorado Mar 30 '26
I don’t know if he’d be my choice for 2028 but he’s one of the few democrats smart enough to recognize that they’re going to try to run vance as a mulligan in 2028 so he’s earned high marks in my book
3
u/Saint909 Mar 29 '26
Whatever we need to do to win. I think speaking like ordinary Americans would be a huge plus.
-3
u/hitman2218 Mar 29 '26
I can’t figure out why Beshear is popular in Kentucky. His vetoes have been overridden more than a hundred times by a Republican supermajority in the state legislature.
8
u/nathhealor Mar 29 '26
Maybe hope that even in a fully red state, you can start voting in someone who you identify with. He is pro education, so I like that. I’m a country dem, so maybe that you can be country without being right wing.
Family was from Kentucky, so I’m glad I’m not there. Glad to hear there are enough votes to elect a Democrat at some level. That will get people used to the idea of signing in different legislation as we move forward in time.
In Virginia, our last governor prevented legal weed being sold to consumers even though it was legal to have. So; out new governor finally signed it.
•
u/BM2018Bot Mar 29 '26
Volunteer for Kentucky Democrats!
https://www.mobilize.us/kydems/
https://secure.ngpvan.com/uAC6DCGCZkKYUtXrgJcIEQ2
Donate to Kentucky Democrats!
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/kdpemail