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Sep 24Edited
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Carol O's avatar

Thank you ! Your whole premise needs to be broadcast.. over & over! Let’s wake up and VOTE DOUBLE DIGIT VICTORY

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Sep 23
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ArcticStones's avatar

I raise my morning coffee in a silent toast to the incompetence of Charlie Kirk, Elon Musk, Lara Trump and the rest of them. "Thank you for your witless and unwitting service to American democracy!"

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Naima  (NM)'s avatar

Vibes to Votes! 💃🏽

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ArcticStones's avatar

First, this morning my wife and I listened to your conversation with Jennifer Rubin. Terrific!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jpsR19AsqA

Simon, for some reason I am not seeing the CBS and NBC polls listed on 538. Does this mean these fresh polls are not yet impacting the 538 average and the Electoral College projection?

EDIT: The NBC and CBS polls were just added! I guess it was just a delay. But there appears to be an obvious data entry error for the NBC poll: 538 shows Harris +6 / Trump +5 – which is impossible.

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/

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Sep 22
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ArcticStones's avatar

Ah, thank you for doing that! I just saw your comment after adding that observation to my post.

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Cindy H's avatar

I watched Simon and Jennifer Ruben's conversation yesterday. So good!

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ArcticStones's avatar

While I have very mixed feelings about The Washington Post, Rubin’s column alone is worth the price of subscription.

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Ctkat1's avatar

Totally agree! She’s the only WaPo political reporter I read.

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Bonny Becker's avatar

What about this idea that if GA is unable to certify its vote (due to shenanigans at the precinct level) that the election could get thrown to the House of Representatives?

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ArcticStones's avatar

We need to work hard and win by a large margin. That is the way to ensure that their shenanigans won’t matter.

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Angela Vitale, PhD's avatar

They will matter. Winning isn’t enough, even by wide margins. We need to defeat them in court before Nov 5.

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ArcticStones's avatar

Marc Elias is on the case. Worth noting that the Harri-Walz Campaign has ten times (!) as many lawyers as the Biden Campaign did in 2016.

When I say "won’t matter", I obviously don’t mean that literally. The cheating and shenanigans must, as much as possible, be neutralized and stopped. What I mean is that we win the election well beyond what I call MoS (Margin of Steal). With an Electoral College blowout, say 300+ Electoral Votes, it will be exceedingly difficult for Trump to contest.

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Ctkat1's avatar

That only happens if GA is the deciding state. If we focus on winning PA, WI, MI, and one of the NC/AZ/NE blue dot (basically if we follow Simon’s strategy), then GA Republican shenanigans won’t matter- she’s won without them.

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Angela Vitale, PhD's avatar

These people do matter! Just the bs they are getting away with now is damaging the credibility of the election immensely. They must be stopped by the courts as it’s apparent Brian Kemp will throw the election away this time just by sitting on his hands and saying little to nothing.

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Bonny Becker's avatar

No my concern is that even if we get to 170, it's not clear what happens if one state remains uncounted. GA precincts could refuse to certify, throw things to the Supreme Court which could likely throw it the House. It won't matter that we got to 170 or, rather, it could easily end up in the courts if one state refuses to certify.

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Ctkat1's avatar

Your fear is that if one state refuses to certify their election results, that will negate the certified results of the other 49 states and overturn an election?

What law or precedent makes you think this is a possibility?

Any court case about Georgia’s election results will be limited to Georgia.

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Bonny Becker's avatar

The fact that what happens in a case like that isn’t clear. There is no precedent or law that covers this that I’m aware of. How would it get resolved?

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Angela Vitale, PhD's avatar

I’m in GA. These dangerous magas must be stopped. They aren’t just the majority 3 out of 5 on the State Elections Board, they’re election reps in most counties including the counties that voted Democratic in Metro Atlanta. They are determined to throw this GA election into chaos. Dems have been countering them in court but so far nothing has been done. If this lunacy continues to damage confidence in the election system, that alone will be a blueprint for the 26 midterms and the 28 presidential. Assuming maga is countered in time to not throw the 24 election into chaos.

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Lonnie E's avatar

ACTIONS BY EVERYONE GROWS FREEDOM

How to Prevent "GOP MASS PSYCHOSIS - How an Entire Population Becomes MENTALLY ILL"

❤️ Discredit totalitarian propaganda everywhere

🤣 Mock GOP worship of dictators

❤️ Promote moral organizations

❤️ c 1st 📈

https://youtu.be/09maaUaRT4M

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Joey Jobaa's avatar

I see the problem being the new rule of hand counting every vote, which will take many days.

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Russell Owens's avatar

Things are looking good. Thank you Simon, thank you Hopium community!

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David Salzillo's avatar

Hello Simon,

If you happen to see this, I was just wondering about a few things:

1) I (think I) heard on Meet the Press that Harris's numbers with men in general are below Biden's 2020 numbers with men. How accurate is that to what you are hearing, and how exactly are we coping with that loss, if there is a substantial loss? Is it purely by upping our numbers with women, or is something else at play here too?

On a similar note, how much is the average male voter in, say, Pennsylvania or even North Carolina seeing of Tim Walz via the airwaves? Are there any ways you can quantify that? And is there any way of making that Tim Walz masculinity presence more effective?

2) How likely is the current fight over getting rid of NE-2 to succeed? According to the articles I've read, it still appears unlikely because the guy blocking the Republican effort is a former Democrat with political ambitions that require Democratic Nebraska's support. Of course, Trump can amp the pressure on him times 100, which is why I ask for your opinion on this.

3) Do we have any recent polling on older voters in battlegrounds? Ideally, we would want to be ahead with them, as we were when Biden was on the ticket for 2024 pre-debate.

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David Salzillo's avatar

P.S. What is your take on the recent Alsobrooks news, and our chances of winning there? I am still feeling pretty good about it, but curious about your take.

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Chris Dwyer's avatar

Noting VPOTUS is up 29 to 32 points in MD.

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Will, from Cal's avatar

I just Googled, and I'm assuming you mean the "she didn't do her taxes right" stuff? Yeeeaaahhh... the opposition will make hay out of it, but this seems clearly to fall into the basket of "Oops! Sorry! My bad! I'll fix it! Thanks for letting me know!"

Given how polarized this country is, and with the Senate on the line, Alsobrooks would have to be caught on tape taking food from a homeless person while high on meth and wearing no pants for a significant enough portion of people in Baltimore to say "that's a bridge too far!" and I really doubt this rises to that level.

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Susan C.'s avatar

Side note: Simon shared a new ad put out by Walz repairing the cruise control on his prized car. Did she see that? He looked pretty masculine, guy next door to me.

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Will, from Cal's avatar

I think my comment to David applies here, too. "Guy next-door" is a good, simple way to put it.

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David Salzillo's avatar

Exactly. And I was more wondering whether people are constantly seeing that, and what evidence we have it is landing with who we want it to land with.

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Freda's avatar

Loved that ad! Looked very guy-guy to me, one you’d want around and as a model for your kids.

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David Salzillo's avatar

Hey Susan,

I said this to Will, but I thought that Walz has a perfect "masculine" brand. I just wanted to be sure it was getting enough exposure. I hear the Harris camp is planning to do more on that anyways.

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Susan C.'s avatar

Agreed. The Couch persona created a strong guy vibe, but what do I know, it terms of what men respond to. ;-]

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Will, from Cal's avatar

I'm not Simon, but...

1) No idea what they talkin' 'bout on Meet the Press, but we literally have polling just this week showing no such thing, in fact the opposite. I would be really surprised if the gender gap grew significantly. A basic social dynamic that folks seem to neglect is that there is not one kind of "masculinity" and no linear spectrum of someone being more masculine. In addition, being more "masculine" does not necessarily mean you will automatically appeal more to men. The Felon traffics in a brand of macho toxic hyper-masculinity that is very effective with some men (primarily older) but embarrassing to others (primarily younger) in a "stop giving us a bad name!" sort of way. Tim Walz traffics in a lovable, down-home, nurturing sort of masculinity that - while traditional - appeals to an entirely group of men (and women). Sadly, the sort of guys who think of The Felon as a Real Man view Walz as an automatic wimp due to the mere fact that he doesn't put women down and is willing to play second fiddle to one, and no amount of car-fixing or gun-toting videos will change that. On the flip side, guys like my Dad and I find Walz our kind of guy, because he lifts everyone up and stands up to the bullies. That is what *our* view of a Real Man is, and all the car-fixing and gun-toting is completely irrelevant.

2) The Nebraska ploy is not likely to succeed, and even if it did is unlikely to impact the election, so we need to stop talking about it.

3) I don't think we have in-depth numbers on older voters, but a key thing to keep in mind is that polls can often get the topline number right but have reversed or otherwise wacky results with the smaller samples of different constituencies. Biden didn't win older voters in '20, and the idea he was ever ahead with them in '24 - no matter what any poll said - flies in the face of all recent history and common sense. In current America, younger=increasingly Democrat, older=increasingly Republican, all that matters is the relative margins.

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David Salzillo's avatar

Hey Will,

Sorry for not clarifying. I meant that Tim Walz HAS the type of masculine brand we want. I just wanted to ensure it was getting enough exposure. Thanks for the rest of your answer. Seems to make sense.

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Janet HB's avatar

He was just in Pa doing a rally ( maybe 2 ?)

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Will, from Cal's avatar

Oh, I agree with you, by and large. My point is that the folks for whom the Walz brand of masculinity appeals to are the same people who are *already voting for Harris.* I don't think giving his brand more exposure will move the needle in terms of votes, but I do think it is worth giving exposure to anyway because he is just such a healthy role model for young men.

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David Salzillo's avatar

I get what you're saying, but I think you're underestimating the Midwestern appeal. He may be somewhat socially progressive, but by and large he basically represents a traditional American dad (of the 50s? 60s?). Harris was smart in that with Walz, you get rid of the conservative monopoly on "tradition" and "family values."

Walz might not move mountains of rural voters, but all he has to do is move very small pockets in this election. Then, long-term, you can try to gain back the old farm-labor coalition of Hubert Humphrey. That's important for democracy's sake at this point.

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Joey Jobaa's avatar

I’d love to find statistics (if there are any) on how many baby boomers in their 70s and older have died in the last 4 years compared to the number of kids who have become voting age in the same time period. A lot of Republicans are dying off.

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Merrill's avatar

I've been thinking about the Harris/Walz potential vote total in Nov. I'm reaching out across Substack readers to get your thoughts.

From fund raising, grassroots activity, new voter registrations to national polls, many key activities have moving in the right direction for Harris/Walz.

To forecast the range of their potential victory, I'm trying to assess the degree to which Harris/Walz are likely to receive the vast majority of the 2020 Biden/Harris voter coalition which totaled +81 million votes.

In my cloistered world of hundreds of Democrats, I don't know a single voter who voted for Biden in 2020 who isn't voting for Harris in Nov.

I'm really interested in hearing your impression of the current situation.

Thanks,

Merrill

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Merrill's avatar

Thanks Gregg

Do you know of Biden voters who have switched to Trump? Do you know of any research on this issue?

Tks

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Susan C.'s avatar

MA is blue. No friend of mine will vote for 🍊👿. I've seen an occasional 🍊 sign.

But I know several ongoing 🍊🫥 in a classical music group I am in, and wonder why the leader is so keen to praise Russia ALL the time ('we should all visit') and lOVes 🍊 economy. She lives in a Repub (wealthy) community and is friends with people who live further away from the city (I can't spend too much time this group).

No one switching that I can imagine.

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Merrill's avatar

Tks..Susan,

Sadly, part of the Trump support, comes from wealthy voters who believe low taxes is more important than the democracy that protects their wealth.

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Freda's avatar

Russian classical music is beautiful. Perhaps she just wants us to know that not all Russians should be tarred with the same Putin oligarchical brush.

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Susan C.'s avatar

Of course the music is. I played Shostakovich when soloing with symphony orchestra.

She just seems so familiar with the country, places to visit, loves the govt. It feels overly eager politically myopic (indelicate due to the murderous Ukraine, dictator thing). She rolls her eyes when someone says something to question her statements about the greatness of the country. I told a friend that she could be a spy and trying to turn me 😌. He laughed. I feel like she is trying to talk me (us) into something. 🤭

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Freda's avatar

Oh, i hear you. I felt the same about a comment recently on one of HCR’s blogs which was just a little off and fairly negative. Your remark that she “loves the govt” definitely bears looking into. Or staying away from! I studied Russian in high school and there’s much about Russia’s literature and music that i love but not the govt!!

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Irene's avatar

🌊 🌊 🌊 🌊

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Mary Bushnell's avatar

We are SO EXCITED!!! GO NORTH CAROLINA!!

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Catherine Giovannoni's avatar

OK, Simon, although I'd given all I was going to give, I helped out NC and Nebraska a little bit more. I'm phone banking every day here in Virginia, I've voted, and I distributed sample ballots yesterday. Thank you for all the good information.

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Russell Owens's avatar

Thank you Catherine.

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Sarah B's avatar

Thank you for all you're doing :)

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JOHN DAVID COFIELD's avatar

Georgian here. The Peach State is going to go blue again this November, I feel confident of that. Enthusiasm for Harris-Walz is high, and Trump enthusiasm is down. The all important Atlanta suburbs despise Trump as much today as they did back in 2020 when they tipped the state to Biden, plus there are massive numbers of newly registered voters, most of them young. Anecdotally, I live in the heart of MTG's district in NW GA. In 2020 this area was awash with Trump signs. There are too many of them still today, but far fewer than 4 years ago. My reasonably affluent neighborhood has one Trump sign out as of today, and there were at least a dozen by this time 4 years ago. (There are two Harris sings, mine and a neighbor's down the street.) And ;there's not a single new MTG sign out anywhere in the area, not one. Probably just means she's confident she'll win in a landslide, but it still wouldn't be a bad idea to drop off a donation to her Democratic opponent Shaun Harris on ActBlue.

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Ashley AD's avatar

Sending out 100 postcards to Georgia voters tomorrow, encouraging them to vote early and vote Dem all the way down the ticket. Let's gooooo! 💪🏼🍑🌴🥥

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Betsy's avatar

Mailed 100 postcards to GA last week to get their absentee ballots and vote!

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Freda's avatar

Me too, via Blue Wave!

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Natalia Ilyin's avatar

Suddenly I'm envisioning merch. Smokin' Hopium buttons and t-shirts, and, for those of us who avoid t-shirts, the ever-popular Smokin' Hopium canvas carry-all.

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Sarah B's avatar

Smokin' Hopium, love it!

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ArcticStones's avatar

Smokin’ Hopium merch – for a few seconds I thought this was referring to an artisanal Cannabis variant. My bad!

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Natalia Ilyin's avatar

Hmmmm. Well there is that.... but perhaps a double take is good?

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Cindy H's avatar

I, too, was! 😂

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Will, from Cal's avatar

I mean, legalizing weed is a really popular position. (I don't partake at all, but polling-wise, that is clearly the case.) So any confusion on that front would actually play in your favor lol.

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Rich LaVoy's avatar

Welcome back Simon. Maxwell Frost is a treasure. I have family in North Carolina. They run the gamut of retired folks, working class people, professionals, and students. They are all ardent supporters of Harris/Walz. Self reporting a donation to North Carolina today. We are going to win North Carolina! When North Carolina is called early on election night polls will still be open out west where some of those late to the polls Trump supporters will give it shrug and go to dinner instead. Cheers Hopium Mates

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Irene's avatar

Rich,

I’m praying and donating and postcarding for NC! I’m so excited to read a locals enthusiasm for Dems winning. I believe there are 16 EV and that would be such a great help to Harris/Walz campaign.

🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

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Blue Virginia's avatar

Simon, what a nice surprise to receive your newsletter today, when I thought this is your day off. Thank you. I look forward to reading it, as I do everyday.

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Linda (Evanston IL)'s avatar

When will we have new voter registration numbers by state? These numbers alleviate my anxiety! Looking forward to Tim Walz debating JD Vance on October 1 on CBS. Back to postcards.

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Dr. Kent Boyer's avatar

I've been following you, Maxwell, and you are a superstar! We need to get your generation into leadership roles in our government NOW and move toward the future. Thank you for your service!

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Sarah B's avatar

Team Hopium, I cannot express enough how much you mean to me! You inspire me every day! Just a word here: I've been FLOODING tens of thousands of people on pro-Harris Social Media sites with the Vote on Day One and relational organizing message (thinking through ALL people we know in the crucial swing states and literally calling or texting them w the Vote on Day 1 message and telling them to tell their networks the same and so on). I've posted this, plus a graphic, to tens of thousands of people, twice, and I'll keep posting it to break through. I'm sure you similarly have vast networks.

We are all disciples of Vote on Day 1! Please join me in this, now is the time to flood the zone w our pro-Harris networks. It requires some repeated exposure. As Simon always says, let's win this in October.

So very proud to be working alongside this amazing group :)

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Irene's avatar

You’re ROCKING it Sarah!!!!💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻

Thank you, thank you🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

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