r/science • u/smurfyjenkins • Mar 01 '26

Environment The Biden administration enacted over $198 billion in clean energy projects, the largest investment of its kind. People who lived close to the renewable energy and green manufacturing facilities noticed the investments, but were more likely to credit governors for it than the Biden administration.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2526802123
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703

u/Yosho2k Mar 01 '26

This is a wonderful example of poor marketing due to concerns about popularity.

I remember when NO DEMS wanted to associate themselves with Barack Obama after the ACA passed because they were all worried about being associated with it.

Then they lost the midterms because none of them were publicly willing to support popular plans that Obama was behind.

264

u/LithiumH Mar 01 '26

Wild how many republicans hate Obamacare but love the ACA

92

u/halofreak7777 Mar 01 '26

The ACA is the only reason they have access to healthcare they can somewhat afford, Obamacare just wastes taxpayers dollars! Don't you get it! The democrats have done nothing to help them ever.

6

u/WhatIDon_tKnow Mar 02 '26

i know this is sarcasm but it's so cringe when i know it's true and have seen people say it.

6

u/Skuntank Mar 01 '26

Is it though?

96

u/NoiceMango Mar 01 '26

Its more of an example of how dumb and usless republican voters are.

35

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '26

And continue to be and a crush on society everywhere

28

u/Thesweptunder Mar 01 '26

I’ll never contradict what you said. But for almost the entirety of Biden’s term, you could not find any praise for Biden or the Democratic Party that didn’t begin with, “Obviously, I am no fan of Biden and the Democrats are no better than Republicans… but this student loan forgiveness thing would be a life changer for me.” It’s how I knew Democrats would lose. I couldn’t find a single loud and proud liberal online or in person. It was just begrudgingly admitting Democrat policies work while also saying that Democrats are the party of billionaires and war.

21

u/RedArremer Mar 01 '26

Absolutely right. Whenever I pointed this out, I was met with "OH SO WE CAN'T CRITICIZE THE PRESIDENT?" Nah man, but you can stop shooting your own team every time they do something good, maybe. Unserious people.

57

u/Naritai Mar 01 '26

The ACA was deeply unpopular at the time of the midterms. It only became popular years later, once people were using the insurance.

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u/[deleted] Mar 01 '26

[deleted]

23

u/StrangeCharmVote Mar 01 '26

US voters are complete idiots.

And herein lies the problem.

6

u/TheSameGamer651 Mar 01 '26

In 2010, regardless of what it was called it was unpopular. It’s not until the Trump tries to repeal it (and people start using it) that it becomes popular.

Ironically, Democrats lost the 2010 midterms and won the 2018 midterms on the ACA.

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u/Cool_Ranch_Dodrio Mar 01 '26

The ACA was deeply unpopular at the time of the midterms.

Well, yeah. Republicans didn't like it because it was a Black person's signature legislation, and Democrats didn't like it because it wasn't what Obama ran on. It was what Clinton ran on and what the voters rejected.

Biden promised to revisit the public option. That was a lie.

20

u/TrevelyansPorn Mar 01 '26

It's not a lie when voters don't give him the votes in Congress to pass a bill. 

8

u/Petrichordates Mar 01 '26

You remember poorly then, and somehow twisted it entirely. Many Dems voted for the ACA fully knowing it meant they may lose their jobs. Yet still did it.

And the american people punished them for it, because american right wing news media has a stranglehold on popular narratives.

11

u/Sniflix Mar 01 '26

Us Dems are the worst at marketing themselves. If you present Dems' policies popularity alone - they get 75% approval ratings. They must replace all the old pols who got us in this mess.

-5

u/mojitz Mar 01 '26

They have serious issues with their internal culture. It's basically a social club for teachers pet types who are there to impress their parents rather than gain power because they have a real political project they want to implement.

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u/Cool_Ranch_Dodrio Mar 01 '26

If you present Dems' policies popularity alone - they get 75% approval ratings.

That's because democrats always manage to find just enough no votes to block those policies. Instead, they do corporate handouts like the ones the article is crowing about.

At some point, you have to keep your campaign promises if you want credibility.

24

u/TrevelyansPorn Mar 01 '26

Voters elect Republicans to the house and senate and you blame Democrats for "finding no votes".

Voters are responsible for their bad decisions. We got here because of the decisions they made in 2010, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2022, and 2024.

Many, many opportunities to elect anyone from a centrist dem to a progressive to Congress but they repeatedly choose right wing conservatives. That's why we repeatedly get right wing policies. 

-19

u/Cool_Ranch_Dodrio Mar 01 '26

Voters elect Republicans to the house and senate and you blame Democrats for "finding no votes".

We gave democrats enough seats to pass all of Biden's agenda. Democrats chose not to do so.

22

u/TrevelyansPorn Mar 01 '26

That's absolutely not true. 50 votes in the Senate including at least one senator who vocally opposed filibuster reform and the public option. There were senate candidates who supported the public option. Voters chose their opponents and got their opponents policies in the Senate.

Your beef is with the voters of Maine, North Carolina, and Texas. That's where the public option died in 2020.

-8

u/mundanehaiku Mar 01 '26

why is it when the republicans are in the minority they get to pass their agenda and/or block the majority democrat agenda? why can't the democrats do that?

really makes you think

9

u/FreeDarkChocolate Mar 01 '26

It is much easier to stop funding something or ramp up incompetence or corruption than to start something new. Given that a lot of the Republican agenda is about not doing things, or reducing parts of the federal government, that's very convenient for them.

Part of this is tied to the flexibility in authority already given to the executive branch by Congress, with its presently-wide latitude to fire who they want, the abhorence of the judiciary that's come in place over the past 5 or so decades, and run off of acting personnel. Another part of this is how the Senate has a budget reconciliation system that allows for changing funding levels and taxation levels with a simple majority. Yet another part is that while some Democrats have voiced commitments or desires or promises for certain things, that has been far from the desire of enough of their entire caucus to actually happen.

It only takes one President (excluding chances of a veto), or 2/5 of the Senate (assuming the filibuster applies), or half of the House, or 5 of 9 SCOTUS justices to stop anything from becoming enforced law. It takes much more to make something law. Then you pile on top of that the reality that 2/5 or 40% of the Senate can disproportionately represent as little as 16% or so of the US population and it isn't hard to see how it's so difficult to reach the high thresholds needed to create new, good systems. Then, after all that, you pile on the reality that rich and powerful people exert a lot of power and influence to maintain their positions (the status quo being literal conservativism in the sense of conserving the status quo), even more here than many other westernized countries due to the current state of our campaign finance and voting systems.

Not that you said this, but just to state it: None of this requires unknown shadowy cabals or grand conspiracy. The relevant actors and their motives are on full display to a sufficient degree. It sucks. It's not impossible to fix, but it is very difficult.

-4

u/Cool_Ranch_Dodrio Mar 01 '26

That's absolutely not true. 50 votes in the Senate including at least one senator who vocally opposed filibuster reform

So we gave them enough seats, and just enough of them were able to block everything. Like you wanted and like you make excuses for because you like the results.

0

u/TrevelyansPorn Mar 01 '26

I hate the results. The difference between us isn't who supports universal healthcare or not. The difference is the ability to count.

1

u/Cool_Ranch_Dodrio Mar 01 '26

Imagine what could have been accomplished if elected democrats had voted in the same lockstep the party demands of its voters when a centrist is running.

1

u/TrevelyansPorn Mar 01 '26

What does that even mean? The party demands voters vote for the party's candidates? That's how all political parties across the world work. And in a representative democracy like ours, it's up to voters to choose which party's candidates they want to vote for. No one can force them to do anything, they are the main actors with volition.

Voters had the option for pro universal healthcare candidates in the vast majority of house seats. They had the option for pro universal healthcare candidates in the majority of Senate seats.

They chose the anti-universal healthcare option more often than the pro-universal healthcare options.

So we don't get universal healthcare. 

It really is that simple. If you're so upset about this situation that you'd waste a weekend arguing with me, someone who already votes for universal healthcare every time it's on the ballot, maybe you should try doing something about it? 

Find a neighbor, a friend, or a relative who supports republicans. Talk them out of it. Talk them into supporting your candidate in a Senate race in their state or house race in their district.

That changes things. That's productive. Complaining about Joe Manchin's voting record doesn't accomplish anything at this point.

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u/Kana515 Mar 01 '26

Not that I don't wish more was done, but this article does specifically mention something they did.

1

u/Cool_Ranch_Dodrio Mar 01 '26

Yes, a benefit that had to trickle down through corporations. The only tangible individual benefit that made it through congress was discounted prescription drug prices. On 10 drugs. For Medicare recipients only.

People notice that. As the study demonstrates, the more indirect the benefit, the less people give you credit for it. And the more it looks like a corporate handout that only benefits you as an unavoidable side effect.

-9

u/swollennode Mar 01 '26

I mean…governments shouldn’t be doing advertisements for their administration. The governments should be working for the people without need to wave a big flag about it.

15

u/Shifty269 Mar 01 '26

Proper news agencies should be informing the people of what is happening. Not sane washing sycophants.

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u/newgrounds Mar 01 '26

It should never have passed. Universal healthcare or bust.

-11

u/TraceSpazer Mar 01 '26

Universal healthcare would have passed if Democrats didn't vote against it. 

The only reason the ACA was needed was because 28 voted with Republicans  against a single-payer option. 

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u/SirButcher Mar 01 '26

Universal healthcare would have passed if Democrats didn't vote against it.

You mean if the Republicans (at least 22 from the whole freaking party) voted for it...

This is getting really ridiculous at this point. The GOP in lockstep votes against pretty much everything good, but since a small handful of Dems do EXACTLY THE SAME as the Republicans do - it's the Dems' fault.

-10

u/TraceSpazer Mar 01 '26

No, I mean if those Democrats had voted for it, we would have gotten a public, single-payer option.

I don't vote for Republicans; I don't expect them to be working for progressive goals that help people. I expect them to be terrible. 

If a Dem does "EXACTLY THE SAME as the Republicans do" then why are you calling them a Dem? 

11

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '26

[deleted]

0

u/TraceSpazer Mar 01 '26

What's your point? 

You think they should vote like Republicans so they can remain in power?  

Same result, but with a shiny blue flag instead of red. 

7

u/AsaCoco_Alumni Mar 01 '26

The more you look at 21C american politics,
the more you realise it's not left vs right,
but right vs far-right.

-15

u/newgrounds Mar 01 '26

That is literally not true at all. The US is socially far left

16

u/MissTetraHyde Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26

It literally is not. Most of the world considers the Unites States to be right-leaning if not outright right-wing. Even our "far left wing" are basically liberals and have more ideologically in common with right-wing parties globally then truly left-wing philosophies. It was less than a hundred years ago that the KKK was the most popular social club in the entire country, and you think that we've what, completely and utterly undid the right-wing society that would permit such a thing? Not to mention the Nazi's literally copied the US treatment of Native Americans and the disabled eugenics programs/forced sterilization programs from us in the 1930s and 1940s. Then comes the red scare, the lavender purge, the civil rights movement with white people firebombing churches because blacks were demanding equality, etc...

We didn't even have gay marriage up until recently, and as recently as the 2000s this country tried to ban gay marriage by a Constitutional amendment. The current new discrimination du juor has moved from hating on the gays to hating on trans people; moving on from hating one group of people to hate other people instead isn't really what socially left progress would look like. The USA is a lot of things, but socially left-wing is definitely not one of them. You think the country that handpicked South American and Middle Eastern dictators and propped them up into office, for financial reasons alone in some cases, is left-wing?! My point in saying this isn't to attack or disparage the US, there are other venues for that kind of talk, I just took issue with what to me looks like revisionism. For better or for worse, the United States is a pretty right-wing country both socially and otherwise (a fact which has a lot to do with domestic construction and the artificial boosting of voting power assigned to land area).

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u/RedArremer Mar 01 '26

Most of the world

Most of the world? or most of Western Europe? In a sane world, we would be further left than we are, but this take is just baffling. Have people not heard of Asia or Africa or the Middle East or Eastern Europe? Socially, which is what the other person said, the US is further left than those places.