Key points:

  • The Democrats talk about climate change and student loans a lot. They do not talk about healthcare as much.
  • The public is significantly more aligned with the Democrats on healthcare than it is on climate change and student loans.
  • This is dumb.

I suspect analogous points can be made for liberals and progressives around the world.

Here in Germany, for instance, the left and center-left parties like to talk about feminism, gendered speech, trans rights, and refugees’ rights, all things that while morally commendable, they do not have a popular position on. The politicians that tend to get the votes are the ones that take more moderate or even conservative stances on these questions.

Climate change, meanwhile, is a topic that the center-left has popular support on around here. Even there progressive politicians and pundits often focus on the negatively connoted things, such as bans of environmentally harmful practices and industries. Instead they should communicate their successes more forcefully and focus on an abundance message based on cheap wind and solar energy.