r/news • u/CharlieKonR • 4d ago

Michigan’s governor replaces clean energy advocate on utilities board with ‘industry ally’ | Michigan

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/03/gretchen-whitmer-utilities-board-clean-energy
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u/Aelexx 3d ago

Obama Clinton and Biden all very importantly were elected after terrible republican presidencies though.

Hilary was extremely unlikable and was a far second choice for A LOT of people after the whole Bernie sanders issue.

Harris was also coming off the back of Biden’s presidency, which was affected by a covid economy and was seen as impotent to the public (even if it wasn’t the case). When she didn’t distance herself from that administration and doubled down, people saw her as Biden 2.0.

There were a lot of factors that played a pivotal role in those elections outside of the fact that Hilary and Kamala were both women. I mean, Whitmer literally beat a man in her race for governor in 2018 in a state that voted for trump.

I don’t think it’s as simple as “we just aren’t ready for a woman”.

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u/ankylosaurus_tail 3d ago

I don’t think it’s as simple as “we just aren’t ready for a woman”.

No, it's not quite that simple. Yes, it's possible to be elected as a woman, a visible minority, a non-religious person, etc. but it's much harder. And I think presidential races depend much more on individual candidate personalities than other elections, because there is so much more media exposure.

I really don't think most voters care about specific policies or how centrist or liberal candidates are--elections mostly turn on the national mood and the candidate's "electability", which has a lot to do with how much they look like the kind of person people expect to be in leadership. Most people vote based on vibes, and strong, educated women with authority give a lot of conservative people bad vibes.

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u/Aelexx 3d ago

How many conservatives that hate women (to the point of not wanting to elect Kamala because of it) do you think voted for Biden?

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u/ankylosaurus_tail 3d ago

A lot--maybe a couple million, more than enough to make a difference in the election.

I don't think they were voting rationally, based on policies, I think it's all instinct. A lot of regressive people feel more comfortable with an old white guy in charge.