By Douglas V. Gibbs
Typically, when it comes to federal elections, endorsements don’t make or break a candidate’s chances when it comes to the voters. Endorsements are a big deal when it comes to local elections, but in bigger elections most voters pretty much know who they are voting for from the start. This is especially true in presidential elections. Last minute changes of minds or determining who to vote for based on endorsements just don’t exist when it comes to voting for President. Lefties vote for Democrats, and conservatives vote for Republicans, and those in the middle still lean one way or the other. Most of the time its about willingness to vote for one’s party’s candidate. If a Republican doesn’t like their GOP candidate, in another words, there is no danger they will suddenly bolt to the Democratic Party, and the same tends to be true on the other side. However, if a member of a party doesn’t like their candidate, they may simply refuse to vote at all, which not only takes away a vote for that candidate, but also the candidates down-ballot. So, the key is not necessarily flipping voters as much as it is getting one’s base to vote in the first place. Bad candidates push voters away, and lose elections as a result.
That all said, Donald Trump has been testing the tendency I just described. More so than ever before (even more so than in Reagan’s election), Democrats are abandoning their party and are switching sides. So, the “people don’t ever bolt to the other side” narrative is not necessarily as true as it usually is in this election.
Here’s a few examples of people rejecting the progressives and moving to the GOP:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/10/young-woman-who-served-as-georgia-delegate-2020/
Kamala Harris is suffering from the idea that if a Democrat doesn’t like their candidate, they just don’t vote. Enthusiasm simply does not exist among the Democrats when it comes to Kamala. They know she’s an extremist, and a loser — which brings us back to endorsements. While endorsements may not convince people to vote for certain candidates, a lack of certain endorsements might have the opposite effect. The Washington Post, a very leftist publication, and the Los Angeles Times on the Left Coast have both refused to endorse Kamala. Giving their endorsements might not have been the thing that tipped voters over in favor of Kamala, but NOT giving their endorsement might be just the evidence some voters have been waiting for to decide Kamala is not worth voting for in the first place.
In the end, it simply draws from an old axiom: Sometimes what is important is not what is said, but what is not said.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
