WOW! This is how Democrats could communicate! One of the best ads I've ever seen by the England and Wales Green Party!

[Doodley]

For those that do not know, UK local elections are next Thursday and political parties are allotted a TV slots for their political broadcasts. I love this messaging by the Green Party!

&list=PLak0TwPxWVYxl9Cat9Nm99ZHaqYlA6w6i&index=2

[Beartracks]

1. Democrats, are you listening?

[Doodley]

2. Thank you. Three things I love about this: 1/ He looks and talks like an ordinary guy, not a political leader.

Missing tooth, no suit, no vanity, humble. You can really believe he's struggling like tens of millions of others. 2/ He comes across as genuinely passionate and understanding about the issues that people care about. 3/ The running really grabs your attention like no other ad.

[betsuni]

50. Polanski was an actor before going into politics. No wonder it looks so good, like a short film.

[QueerDuck]

3. UK and US politics and elections are different. This ad would not work well here...

because the UK Greens are playing a different game. They're a minor party in a multi-party system, so their job is to be the 'pure' alternative to fire up a specific 5% of the population.

In the US, the Democrats have to actually win 50.1% of the vote in a two-party system. If they ran ads that only appealed to the 'already converted' on the far left, they’d lose the center-right and moderate voters they need to actually win an election. It’s the difference between being a loud voice on the sidelines and actually having the keys to the building. While something like this fires up the base, it's risky for a national US party. Moderate messaging is more effective for high-stakes general elections where the goal is to be "credible" rather than just "radical".

In the UK, the Green Party doesn't expect to win a majority. Their ads are designed for a multi-party system where "winning" can mean getting 5–10% of the vote to secure a few seats or influence a coalition. They can afford to be "pure" and "angry" because they are building a niche brand. Recently, the Greens celebrated their "best ever" result by winning just 4 seats out of 650. 🥳🎉

In our two-party system, a major party like the Democrats must build a "Big Tent" coalition. To actually govern, they have to win over moderate and center-right voters in swing states. An ad that thrills a far-left activist on discussion forums is often the exact same ad that alienates a rural voter in Pennsylvania.

But, I take your point. It's a great ad... for them... over there.

[Doodley]

5. Thank you for your reply. You are right, it would not work in a presidential election.

But look at the style of the ad for select mid-term elections and other local elections, obviously the content can change, but many of the issues - affordability, healthcare, wealth going to the top are what Democrats are talking about for the mid-terms. There are a couple of things I didn't understand in your post. Why would you think this is only going to fire up five percent of the population in England and Wales? Do you really think the Green Party getting five to ten percent in England and Wales would be considered a win in these elections, given their surge in popularity? Which part of the ad would you describe as "far left?"

[Cirsium]

7. Radical?

You think that ad is radical? Maybe in your neighborhood. Not in mine, and not in the neighborhoods of 80% of the people.

[Doodley]

10. Thank you. It's certainly a lot less radical than the "They are eating the cats and dogs" campaign.

The ad talks of issues that affect the majority of Americans. I agree. It's not radical. It's not "far left" either.

[Magoo48]

29. That ad would fly just fine here in this old-folks-community.

And, many might be surprised at the solutions seniors come up with to hoarding at the top and the collusion of the majority of politicians. Majority? Yes: all republicans and more than a few democrats.

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. Though they are appealing to more than 5-10% - between 10 and 20% in recent national polls

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election#2026

Often the second largest choice - about equal with Labour and the Tories (and you can chart their rise to that position pretty much from when Zack Polanski was elected their leader).

And talking of rural voters, while the Green Party had for many years been only notable in "progressive" cities, 2 of the 4 seats they won in 2024 were rural. They have expanded their appeal well.

The English local elections (for which this ad was made - along with, perhaps, the Welsh Senedd elections) this coming Thursday will be a good test. The 2 projections that I know of (admittedly, projections are hard for this) have them winning the second most number of seats (behind the horrible Reform party of Farage, unfortunately).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_Kingdom_local_elections#Polls

[peppertree]

27. And yet - wouldn't a strong Green Party showing mostly end up benefiting the Tories?

Not being British, I'll defer to your obviously better insights on this - but I can't help but suspect that, in a first-past-the-post system, that's just how the cookie would end up crumbling.

Or, should I say, the tea biscuit (which reminds me - I'm out of Digestives!).

[muriel_volestrangler]

31. By now, it's Reform who benefits from the split on the left

They've been ahead of the Conservatives in all recent polls. They are benefitting from the "we need new politicians" feeling on the right, like the Greens are on the left. If you regard Lib Dems as centre-left rather than centrist (I would, personally), then the split on left is between 3 parties in England (4 in Wales and Scotland, where the independence parties are left-leaning).

So we see, in an "MRP" poll that attempts to applies figures from national polls to each seat (about 630 in Great Britain - Northern Ireland having entirely different parties):
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/blogs/ec_vipoll_20260423.html
Party-% of vote-seats
Reform 24% 188
Con 21% 159
Lab 17% 86
Green 15% 71
LibDem 11% 61
SNP 3% 44
Plaid 1% 17
Other 8% 6
('Others' who'd win seats are probably all ex-Labour - pro-Corbyn types, and who may now be in the "Your Party" party)
You could say that's right wing parties with 45% of the vote, getting 347 seats, and left with 47% getting 279.

I suspect that Reform, which has a history of selecting racist, misogynist, crooked etc. candidates, will bleed support from now on, but they could still be the most popular single party by the next election.

[peppertree]

35. One for the bookmarks. Thank you!

I've never read such a detailed - yet concise - recap of the current state of U.K. electoral politics.

Multi-party democracies really are so much more interesting - and you just illustrated why.

I'm sure Needy Amin is very much hoping that the left/center-left can indeed be divided just enough to put Farage or some-such Milei-style goon in power at Downing Street (though, of course, not quite that ludicrous!).

And he may just get his wish, it seems - as the Pig for Hell has so often in the past decade or so, as you know.

Thanks again.

[Emrys]

42. Just to add to Muriel's statistics there, and put Plaid Cymru and the SNP's polling in context,

bear in mind they only stand in Wales and Scotland respectively, so their percentages aren't directly comparable with UK-wide parties.

There's a good chance that both Plaid and the SNP will be the majority parties in their respective national parliaments. In a Welsh Parliamentary by-election last October, it was expected that Reform might win the seat due to Labour's atrocious polling. As it happened, Plaid Cymru won it (albeit with a very strong local candidate). See here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/108823606

This may be interesting with the dynamic of Reform's strong polling over the last year or so. There have been signs of slippage, and they've underperformed in the recent by-elections we've had. The Greens unexpectedly won the Gorton and Denton UK Parliamentary by-election in February - see here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/108823702

It's evident that tactical voting's playing a part, and that's where the existence of credible third parties beyond Labour and the Tories is important in fending off Reform, which has gained polling percentages from both Labour and the Tories.

In Wales, voters have the option of voting Plaid Cymru in seats where it looks like having the best chance of prevailing over Reform, and in Scotland voters have the SNP (not that Reform is as much of a credible challenge there as it is in the rest of the UK, though it's likely to scrape a number of seats thanks to the regional lists in the PR voting system). In the rest of the UK, the Greens are polling well enough that there are seats where they'd be a credible tactical vote.

Only Wales and Scotland are holding their parliamentary elections in this cycle, the rest of the seats up for grabs are in local councils, so they may serve as a handy reality check given some of the fevered polling out there.

[Mysterian]

17. LOL

LOL

[mountain grammy]

18. oh you are so right, right now

but chip, chip, chip... this would inspire many Americans.. nowhere near 50% but chip, chip, chip...

[flashman13]

19. Exactly what part of what he said doesn't apply to the situations we currently face?

Red or blue, we are all getting screwed by the same people for the same reasons. I'm in favor of raising everyone's boat. It's time for once in a century change.

[SSJVegeta]

24. The only candidate that actually seems to be replicating this on a statewide race

Is James Talarico in Texas

And boy is it working

https://democraticunderground.com/100221211510

Platner too actually. But that is less surprising in a blue state like Maine. Nonetheless it would work in almost every deep red and purple state.

[flashman13]

28. I honestly believe the primaries are going to produce more Talarico and Platners.

Some incumbent Democrats are going to end up kicking their lunch box down the road before this is over.

[SSJVegeta]

32. one can hope!!

[SSJVegeta]

21. Its almost exactly what is working in deep red texas

Talarico is leading by 8 in the general election on this exact type of platform. If it can work in texas it would work in the presidential election. The UK and US are different in many ways. But not in the humanity and reality that this ad hits deep at.

https://democraticunderground.com/100221211510

[TBF]

49. We got Pearland, TX last night - the mayor is now a dem!

I live in a neighboring suburb -- this city is now top 30 in population in Texas I believe. It is an older suburb with fast growth on the western side of the city. It's about 15 miles south of Houston with great public schools and a toll road to ease the congestion (could've used a commuter train straight to med center, but this is TX).

[Luvcatz14]

40. I think that this would be great

In a presidential election. If Democrats want to win again they need to be a party for the people not corporate greed.

[QueerDuck]

41. Democrats are ALREADY the party for the people and NOT corporate greed... why suggest differently?

[Smokster]

45. Kamala Harris recently said just about the same thing as the video in a little different way.

There's a problem and burying the problem won't make it go away.

From a recent Harris speech.

If we look around today, it's clear that so much of the economic, political, and civic power has increasingly been concentrated among those at the top. Concentrated in the hands of an entrenched elite. Take for example our economy. It is clear that deliberate policy decisions made over decades resulted in a drift away from the needs of working people. Trade deals that hollowed out communities as jobs got outsourced and offshored. Deregulation of a financial system that let big banks prey on everyday people. The cost of living steadily rising while wages did not keep up, making child care, health care, and rent more unaffordable and putting the dream of home ownership further out of reach for so many.

These decisions and more, I believe, contributed to how we got here today. And let's be honest, many of these policies were supported by leaders from both parties. Now, of course, Democrats, we never bought into trickle down. That was Ronald Reagan's doing. But plenty of Democrats did buy into the flawed assumptions, many of those flawed assumptions behind it. for example, that if we trusted the wisdom of the market, working people would eventually get taken care of. The assumption that growth at the top would take care of everybody else. That brutal cuts to social programs for the sake of reducing the deficit was the best path to economic growth. But those assumptions were proven wrong. And even though working people did everything right, worked from the day through the night, we saw that the economic system essentially stopped delivering for them.

And over time, the American dream for many has all but turned into an American myth. As power consolidated in economic systems, we saw the same same kind of trend in our political system, a broken campaign finance system which disproportionately allowed big money to dictate the political agenda and a policymaking process increasingly influenced more by Washington insiders than everyday working people. So, it's no surprise in the midst of all this, our country has experienced an erosion of civic life, growing distrust in government and each other, increasing economic inequality, and a polarized nation.

[dlk]

43. Given Americans of all political leanings are currently struggling,

I think this type of ad, one that recognizes everyone’s struggles, would be very appealing and successful. (And I’m not suggesting support for the Green Party.)

[popsdenver]

4. The green party here in the U.S.

exists purely to hijack votes from the Dems........

[Doodley]

6. Thank you. Yes, I agree! They only appear at election time and green issues don't even seem to be a priority!

[popsdenver]

39. Jill Stein

was unquestionably a Russian Agent............

[BannonsLiver]

48. It's the same in the UK

They’re Putinites over there too just like here with Jill Stein.

[IronLionZion]

8. The wealthy are doing very well

But we'll all grow old and die waiting for it to trickle down.

[Doodley]

11. I've never heard it put that way. It's very sad, but true. I will use it in future!

[IronLionZion]

37. If wealthy people trickled it down, they wouldn't be so wealthy

they don't spend enough, ironically. They like to preserve it through the types of investments that grow their wealth rather than mythical hiring more workers as "job creators". That's why common ways to wealth are private equity and hedge funds, more known for mass layoffs than job growth.

[patphil]

9. Reading some of the replies to this post was very discouraging.

I'm not buying the defeatist attitude some of the posts put forth. That attitude is how we lose.
This may be a UK political ad, but the message is just as pertinent, just as timely, and just as clear as can be for Americans right here and right now.

[canetoad]

12. I agree

Years ago when Obama visited Australia he spoke of three things the USA shoud adopt to calm the political divide:
1. Preferential voting (ranked choice)
2. Compulsory voting
3. Paper ballots

Can the idea of any of this even get traction on DU? Never, no way. Because none of them are the American way. BTW, I love the ad in the OP. It's real and relevant.

[Doodley]

14. Thank you. Having lived for decades in the UK, I notice Americans tend to be less likely to see what other nations

are doing better and how we can learn from that. In America, we have two options, and are told we have two options and we are the best, so no need to look outside.

[Doodley]

13. Thank you! 100%

[Doodley]

15. Thank you. I really wondered how this new Green Party leader has gone from 68,000 members

in September to 226,000 now, has more than doubled party support in the polls, and won its first ever special election for a member of parliament. This ad explains a lot. In the 1990s, I wanted to be part of my local Green party in my town when I lived in England, but I discovered there was no green party in my town!

[KPN]

25. Get ready for being labeled an idealist.

[calimary]

20. DAYUM!!!

Sign me up!

[Bluetus]

22. For all those people who say that every candidate needs to be a free agent

because their district is just so much different from everybody else.

BULLSHIT !!!

These are the core feelings that animate races in EVERY district in the country, except maybe the heart of Silicon Valley.

And guess what? Americans all over the country have been feeling this way for 45 years, since Reagan brought us the blessings of trickle-down economics. We need to be hitting these core issues hard, and Dems would be wise to copy this video frame-by-frame.

The old saying, "all politics is local" might have had a tiny kernel of truth many decades ago, but it is not even slightly true now. Americans understand the system is broken for working people, but working great for the already rich and powerful.

We need campaigns that are based on EAT THE RICH (figuratively speaking, of course).

[malaise]

23. Brilliant

Rec

[KPN]

26. Awesome ad. The criticisms above seem out of touch. Yeah, I don't see a Presidential candidate jogging like this guy

in and ad like this ... but other than that, this ad would be effective at almost every level (local, state, congressional) in almost everywhere in America.

[Ilsa]

30. Jon Ossoff's ad is similar without the running, and he

spends more time pinpointing the causes, such as Citizen's United, amoral justices, fake religiousity, extreme capitalism, etc, IIRC. He nails the gop and maga.

[SSJVegeta]

33. He's easy to overlook I think cause he's been around a bit.. But being around as long as he has in Georgia is no small

feat. And largely again dependent on the facts you just pointed to.

[highplainsdem]

34. Great ad!

[Gum Logger]

36. Great marketing moxie

It would be great to have marketing the Scotch-Irish would take interest

[spanone]

38. K&R

[Emile]

44. Sounds similar to Graham Platner's campaign. Despite

what some are saying, it works here too!

[BlueTsunami2018]

46. Yes, capitalism sucks.

For everyone except the capitalists.

[BannonsLiver]

47. I didn't watch the video.

But I just wanted to stop by and say fuck all the Putin loving Green Party goobers wherever they may be.

[Jilly_in_VA]

51. Great ad!

Dam candidates, are YOU watching this??????