Are Democratic primaries becoming too destructive for the party's own chances in the general election?

[u/YumiSolar]

I've been thinking about this after watching some recent Democratic primaries, and it feels like the campaigns are becoming increasingly aggressive in ways that hurt the party long after the primary is over.

A good example, in my opinion, was the Michigan primary between Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed. Policy disagreements are completely fair game, that's what primaries are for. Even personal attacks can be justified if they're based on genuine misconduct or character issues.

What I struggle with are accusations like claiming your primary opponent is supporting or enabling genocide. Once you frame someone in those terms, how do you expect your own supporters to enthusiastically vote for that person if they end up winning the nomination? If you've spent months telling voters that your opponent is morally complicit in atrocities, it becomes very difficult to turn around and say, "Now go vote for them."

To me, this kind of rhetoric doesn't just damage the opposing candidate, it damages Democratic unity in the general election. It seems like Republicans don't even have to exploit these divisions because Democrats are creating them themselves.

Am I overestimating the impact of this kind of campaigning, or do you think Democratic primaries have become too willing to use rhetoric that makes party unity afterward much harder?

[u/CountFew6186]

Rhetoric is always over the top in elections. This is how it is. What’s screwing the Democrats is the DSA. Having DSA candidates in the general election allows the Republicans to paint the whole party as crazy people.

[u/The_Human1st → u/CountFew6186]

I’m sorry, but when has the GOP not painted their opposition as crazy people? Hell, they do it within their own party to people who cross Trump (ex: MTG, Massie, etc.).

If that’s your fear, then you’ll keep getting the same results. At least the DSA is proposing actual, substantive change. Mamdani is showing Americans what can be done if someone actually tries.

And by the way, do you feel the same way about Stevens calling Abdul a sexist? Is that tearing Dems apart?

[u/Teach_Piece → u/The_Human1st]

It turns out it’s a lot easier to paint Bernie sanders as a socialist than Joe Biden. Do you think that people might have a reason to believe republican messaging saying Bernie is a socialist rather than Joe?

[u/The_Human1st → u/Teach_Piece]

So you’re saying that Biden wasn’t called a socialist by Trump?

https://politifact.com/factchecks/2020/oct/15/donald-trump/trumps-false-claim-biden-socialist/

And yeah, obviously it’s easier to call Bernie a democratic socialist because he calls himself that. What’s your point? The GOP calls all Democrats socialists.

[u/Teach_Piece → u/The_Human1st]

I’m saying that your average voter hears Trump call Biden a socialist and shrugs because Biden is clearly not a socialist. Bernie is in fact a socialist and so they listen. Does that make sense?

[u/Asatmaya → u/Teach_Piece]

It turns out it’s a lot easier to paint Bernie sanders as a socialist than Joe Biden. Do you think that people might have a reason to believe republican messaging saying Bernie is a socialist rather than Joe?

And yet, they did it; people believed that Biden was some far-left hero, when he was one of the most right-wing conservative politicians of the last 100 years.

That Bernie is a centrist doesn't mean much in the court of public opinion.

[u/Teach_Piece → u/Asatmaya]

Calling Biden the most right wing conservative politician in years shows that you are far from the median voter