If we’re evaluating evaluation the democratic party under accepted geopolitical terms
We're not. We're evaluating it within the confines of the United States of America. And in the United States of America a party that supports creating and bolstering social support programs is on the left of the spectrum since the other side seeks to (and is) eliminating social support programs.
the 2016 primaries were pretty close
55% 34 states (Hillary) to 43% 23 states (Bernie). Personally I wouldn't consider that close. Could have been worse.
Would be hard to tell
Not really. On a national scale far left candidates and 3rd parties get crushed to the point of irrelevancy. That's pretty solid proof that, while they might be popular in deep liberal regions, they aren't on a national level and can't win a national election. That's why I warn against thinking candidates like Bernie and AOC are popular because they're big on the internet. Reality has proven there's a big swath of America that is not represented by internet hype but show up at the polls.
That’s just chasing after Republicans
There aren't just two types of voters in this country. There are a TON of independents. You will scare them away with far left candidates. AOC is a bridge too far for MANY voters. Just like Bernie was. Look at our country. Look where we are right now. We are deeply conservative. You can't just leap frog us to a far left scenario. That's wishful thinking and that's what children do.
The only thing left to do is to galvanize young voters to the polls.
Young voter turnout is always awful. Everyone really thought this last one would be different. It wasn't. They had bad turnout like they always do. A lot of people just don't vote until they get older and more invested.
What long winded way to say that progressive voters don’t want to vote for someone advocating for a genocide
Great. Cool. Genocide. Awesome. The word of the year. Let me restart my counter for how many minutes I've gone without hearing it. Regardless of genocide, there was a better and worse choice to make regarding OUR OWN nation. People let a situation on the other side of the planet drive them to make a poor decision regarding their own nation. You can say the word "genocide" until the day you die, nothing changes that. If you don't like ham are you going to starve or eat dogshit instead of just dealing with a ham sandwich? It's not like the other option was NOT genocide. It was a guy being clear he was 100% onboard with Israel no matter what. How dumb do you have to be to not vote or vote 3rd party to help that guy win if you give any shits at all about Palestinians?
Such a high bar
My bar is not allowing an actual fascist from being placed in the highest office in our federal government which the Supreme Court gave almost unlimited powers to, and watching him systematically disassemble our federal government and violate our Constitutional rights. I do actually care more about preventing that than I do about a religious conflict taking place on the other side of the planet.
the fucking cop…
Oh no. A prosecutor (not cop) vs a felon rapist pedophile fascist or a 3rd party candidate with literally no path to victory, or not voting at all. Damn, this one is real hard. Better put my thinking cap on.