There is a subset of center-left folks in the United States that I like to call the Liberal-ish. They are also a subset of what is also known as “undecided voters.” So, that makes them important for Biden and other Democrats. But, they are especially vital for Biden.

Liberal-ish people tend to live in a world that they want to exist in and will fight hard against any indication that it doesn’t. They view America based on the mythology of America, which is that we’re the greatest nation.

Liberal-ish people also like to “look forward,” and want unpleasant things declared solved, especially if it doesn’t affect them. An example is their declaration of the Day of Jubilee when Obama was elected, that racism was dead. This meant we no longer had to talk about THAT, and any person of color telling them otherwise was dismissed.

They also strongly cling to Both-Siderism, equating in their mind AOC with Matt Gaetz. They do not react well to having this questioned, such as in the first three paragraphs of this Rude Pundit blog post.

Being pseudo-undecideds, they also have confounding, contradictory, and sometimes outright bizarre political ideas. In my own experience canvassing undecided voters, I echo what Chris Hayes has noted based on his own undecided canvassing – they often make zero sense. A Liberal-ish person, for example, can claim to be about civil rights but strongly oppose judicial reforms to remove racial bias from our courts.

Some of this is due to being low-information. They pride themselves as someone not paying attention, as if not knowing equals wisdom. They also tend to be avid readers of The New York Times, a conservative newspaper read by Liberal-ish people who do not know any better. NPR is also a favorite. While NPR often does better, it is getting harder and harder to argue that there is not something going on with the Times, especially when they do things like offer a very tepid coverage of the key witness in the Biden “Impeachment” being a Russian asset. This shapes what the Liberal-ish voter understands about the current state of affairs.

The Liberal-ish is very worried about Biden’s age because the Times focuses so hard on it. They are also not aware of how bad Trump has been lately:

The poll found that only 31 percent of non-MAGA voters in PA, MI, and AZ have a lot of awareness of Trump's most explicit authoritarian threats. The poll tested 10 of these.

The survey is by veteran pollster @geoffgarin for the group Save My Country. 2/https://t.co/tjIecbzP7G pic.twitter.com/PyrBJGzLHO

— Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) March 5, 2024

They also believe the economy is terrible, crime is out of control, and that everything Israel is doing is fine. Because of this, I can only imagine how shocking Biden’s STOU address was last week to the Liberal-ish voter.

Biden was not feeble and gaffe-prone. He talked about things that must have confounded them, such as how violent crime is falling and how our economy is doing way better than other similar countries in the wake of covid. He also talked a lot about the stakes of the election, how our very democracy is in danger.

It is good he does this. One of the most important things to the Liberal-ish voter is how everyone is good. Writer David Roberts notes this regarding the interview of Moms for Liberty founders on 60 Minutes last week:

In some sense, the entire last decade has been about libs coming to terms with the unpleasant fact that deeply shitty people exist. They're not confused or misled or angry about some other legitimate something. They're just shitty.

— David Roberts (@drvolts) March 11, 2024

The Liberal-ish still haven’t fully come to terms with this. It’s hard for them to think that their Republican friends (whom they are very proud of having) could be cruel. Not to mention, it really challenges their sacred Both Sides Are Just as Bad beliefs.

Because of all this, the Liberal-ish voter is an under-discussed risk for Biden. Because you will hear them say things like Trump wasn’t so bad and Biden’s policies are too far to the left, they are open to third-party candidates, especially from No Labels. The president can’t afford to lose them to whatever two centrist dipshits No Labels conjures up as candidates.

Biden has to remind them of what the Trump presidency was like. You have to slow-walk them, as their desire is to shut all of that out of their mind and create rose-colored memories. Get them back to the place where they were in November 2016, when they walked around stunned that someone like Trump could possibly win in the “America that *I* know.”

Because they are low-information, because they get most of their news from an outlet that is no friend to Biden, the president’s re-election campaign has to cut through the barricades put up by the New York Times to get them to see how dangerous Trump is. Thankfully, as the election campaign progresses, Trump will do some of that for him. We need every last one of their votes to avoid disaster, and Biden and the Democrats can definitely get them. They just need some gentle reminders.

The last word goes to Ellie Williams.