Democrats shape US popular culture.
Republican ideology is not popular at all. Most celebrities are Democratic. And most television shows and movies promote Democratic values. That's why Republicans are so jealous and resentful of us.
When we Democrats are unified in our love and/or our support for a candidate, public opinion follows. Independents and low information voters fall in line.
When Democrats have ambivalence or are shaky on where we stand on a candidate, Independents and low information voters pick up on that as well.
Another important aspect that I've noticed is that Democrats are inward looking. Because we shape popular opinion, we talk about our own team the most. We overanalyze and critique our own. We don't really pay a lot of attention to Republicans unless they are really fucking up like trump. Unfortunately, this failure to pay attention to Republicans is also how the GOP has managed to reach the point of almost complete lawlessness, but I digress.
The crisis regarding President Biden's age is mainly driven by Democrats who are not comfortable with Biden's age. They look at him and don't like what they see. They see the memes and have internalized them as well. It's not surprising that public sentiment has followed. And now, those same Democrats who are key in driving public opinion are worried about what Independent voters think and what Independent voters will do this fall.
On the flip side, the age questions don't exist with trump because Democrats have not made age an issue for trump--our issue with trump is that he is a vile, incompetent and criminal pedophile rapist, racist, grifter and coup plotter (traitor).
This has always been a Democrats vs Democrats issue.
The question at this moment is: Will all Democrats, especially those with access to a megaphone, be able to STFU and enthusiastically support Biden enough so that the message seeps into popular culture before voting begins?
Because we are running out of time.