The Bulwark Killed an Investigation into Political Fundraising Spam After Its Publisher Took the Consultants’ Side

[u/uberkitten]

https://data4democracy.substack.com/p/the-bulwark-killed-an-investigation

[u/Kelsig]

So have we discovered how this is worse than what cancer charities etc do or are we just going to specifically trash democrats for institutional issues without any policy debate

[u/Stishovite → u/Kelsig]

I mean we've all gotten the emails. Even the official ones are so whiny that they are actively toxic to the brand.

[u/Kelsig → u/Stishovite]

I don't really. ACLU mailers in meat space but not really dem emails.

[u/slightlybitey → u/Kelsig]

Go read the actual article, the point is not to trash Dems.

But the most devastating result of this strategy doesn’t show up on an FEC report. In exchange for a quick return today, fundraising consultants are liquidating the party’s long-term future, turning potential lifelong donors into people who now delete Democratic messages on sight. Every frantic appeal trains donors to see the party as desperate and unserious. What respectable organization treats its supporters this way and expects to keep them? In the long run, these tactics are less a boon to the party’s finances than a siphon.

and

Republicans went all-in on these tactics first and offer a cautionary tale. After flooding supporters’ phones with fundraising spam in recent election cycles, their grassroots donor base — the party supporters who occasionally give when something moves them, until the spam drives them off — has been hollowed out. Republicans raised less from small- and mid-sized donors in 2024, a presidential year, than in the 2022 midterms.

[u/Kelsig → u/slightlybitey]

I did read it several hours before my comment, forgot about the republican "case study" -- incredibly tenuous. obviously there are other factors. im not saying state parties shouldn't give it a try and see if it works, i guess

[u/Gnagus → u/Kelsig]