{"id":555,"date":"2024-11-11T09:31:20","date_gmt":"2024-11-11T09:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/take-a-breath-and-keep-these-10-things-in-mind-if-youre-nervous-about-next-week\/"},"modified":"2024-11-11T09:31:20","modified_gmt":"2024-11-11T09:31:20","slug":"take-a-breath-and-keep-these-10-things-in-mind-if-youre-nervous-about-next-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/take-a-breath-and-keep-these-10-things-in-mind-if-youre-nervous-about-next-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Take a breath and keep these 10 things in mind if you&#8217;re nervous about next week"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-testid=\"byline-container\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/author\/claire-mccaskill-ncpn967501\"><picture data-testid=\"picture\"><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" ><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_focal-60x60,f_auto,q_auto:best\/newscms\/2019_06\/2742401\/190205-mccaskill-mn-1635.png\" alt height=\"48\" width=\"48\"><\/picture><\/a><\/div>\n<div>\n<p class><em>This is an adapted essay from <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/insiders-2024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>&#8220;BLN Live Democracy 2024: The Insiders,&#8221;<\/em><\/a><em> a virtual event featuring  Jen Psaki, Steve Kornacki, Michael Steele and Claire McCaskill. <\/em><\/p>\n<p class>The days before <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/2024-presidential-election\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an election<\/a> are always a time of high anxiety. But as we approach this critical moment for our democracy, it&#8217;s important to take a step back, take a deep breath and relax. <\/p>\n<p class>So, here are 10 reasons why supporters of<a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/kamala-harris\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Vice President Kamala Harris<\/a> shouldn&#8217;t freak out in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/politics\/2024-election\/live-blog\/election-trump-harris-2024-live-updates-rcna176537\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">these final days<\/a>: <\/p>\n<h3 class>Number 1: We are more motivated.<\/h3>\n<p class>Democrats&#8217; enthusiasm has been <a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/652853\/half-votes-likely-cast-election-day.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a continuing trend across the polling.<\/a> This isn&#8217;t always the case, it certainly wasn\u2019t the case in 2016. But ever <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/all-in\/watch\/-the-vibes-have-changed-harris-candidacy-injects-enthusiasm-back-into-the-campaign-216868933640\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">since President Joe Biden stepped aside and Harris stepped in<\/a>, we have had more enthusiasm on our side of the aisle.<\/p>\n<h3 class>Number 2: Harris has closed the gap on economic issues. <\/h3>\n<p class>The vice president started out way behind <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Donald Trump<\/a> on key economic questions, like who voters believe<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2024\/oct\/21\/harris-trump-economy-poll-election\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> is better for the economy <\/a>and who they believe will look out for them. Those are the kinds of things that drive &#8220;feel&#8221; voters \u2014 people who make up their minds in the last two weeks of the election. That&#8217;s a good sign for Harris. <\/p>\n<h3 class>Number 3: We know what we\u2019re doing in the field. <\/h3>\n<p class>Just think about Trump&#8217;s buddy Elon Musk \u2014 he\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/tech\/tech-news\/elon-musk-raises-payment-offer-100-voters-sign-petition-rcna176075\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">offering people $100 to sign a petition <\/a>that says they support the First Amendment. Do you think Democrats signed that petition? I think some did. I think there\u2019s probably a boatload of $100 bills going out to folks who are voting or already voted for Harris. <\/p>\n<p class>Musk&#8217;s approach isn&#8217;t an accurate way to get data to find <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/opinion\/msnbc-opinion\/trump-bet-low-propensity-voters-2024-election-rcna176522\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">low-propensity voters.<\/a> It&#8217;s just another example of the billionaire thinking he&#8217;s the smartest guy in the world. With no political campaign experience, he thinks he can handle getting people to the polls in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/ana-cabrera-reports\/watch\/who-will-win-pennsylvania-kornacki-shares-which-counties-are-most-crucial-222951493848\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">crucial battleground state like Pennsylvania. <\/a><\/p>\n<p class>But our team <em>actually<\/em> knows what they\u2019re doing. We\u2019re more experienced. We\u2019ve been building our ground game for over a year. That ground organization is one thing the Biden campaign did well, and Harris inherited it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3 class>Number 4: It&#8217;s Trump&#8217;s bros and billionaires versus you and your family. <\/h3>\n<p class>The former president&#8217;s campaign is geared toward people who think Hulk Hogan pulling off his shirt is important. It&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/alex-wagner-tonight\/watch\/-infantile-petulant-masculinity-trump-aims-low-in-appeal-for-american-male-bro-voters-221475909975\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">geared toward white men, bros who listen to Joe Rogan <\/a>and billionaires like Musk.\u00a0That&#8217;s not very appealing to people like you and me. I believe that will cost them at the ballot box.<\/p>\n<h3 class>Numbers 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10: Dobbs and its impact on women. <\/h3>\n<p class>We&#8217;ve already seen the data. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2024\/10\/29\/gender-gap-early-voting-00186155\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Women are showing up.<\/a> The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asc.upenn.edu\/news-events\/news\/abortion-not-inflation-directly-affected-congressional-voting-2022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">polls were off in 2022 <\/a>because nobody expected the Democrats to do as well as they did. Reproductive rights was and still is <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/younger-women-abortion-survey-c8c504a7b9b5a92b4c101a57a3e3a4dc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a driving force <\/a>for women voters. <\/p>\n<p class>And anybody who thinks that emotion has gone away when<a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/top-stories\/latest\/abortion-stories-roe-dobbs-election-rcna177867\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> we\u2019re watching women die and when we\u2019re watching women who have troubled pregnancies lose the ability to have children<\/a> \u2014  it&#8217;s not going away. <\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s more acute, more emotional and more passionately felt by women of America now than ever before. That includes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2024\/oct\/21\/liz-cheney-kamala-harris-abortion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Republican women and women who are married to Trump supporters.<\/a> And I don\u2019t care if they tell them they\u2019re doing it or not, I guarantee a whole bunch of them are casting their ballots for Harris this election.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div data-activity-map=\"expanded-byline-article-bottom\">\n<div data-testid=\"byline-thumbnail\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/author\/claire-mccaskill-ncpn967501\"><picture data-testid=\"picture\"><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" ><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_focal-60x60,f_auto,q_auto:best\/newscms\/2019_06\/2742401\/190205-mccaskill-mn-1635.png\" alt height=\"48\" width=\"48\"><\/picture><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span data-testid=\"byline-name\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/author\/claire-mccaskill-ncpn967501\">Claire McCaskill<\/a><\/span><span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/clairecmc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, was the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Missouri.\u00a0She is currently an BLN and NBC News political analyst.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Allison Detzel<\/p>\n<p>contributed<\/p>\n<p>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/top-stories\/latest\/harris-odds-2024-election-relax-claire-mccaskill-rcna178109\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is an adapted essay from &#8220;BLN Live Democracy 2024: The Insiders,&#8221; a virtual event featuring Jen Psaki, Steve Kornacki, Michael Steele and Claire McCaskill. The days before an election are always a time of high anxiety. But as we approach this critical moment for our democracy, it&#8217;s important to take a step back, take [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-trump"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}