2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Hillary Clinton is a very smart person. She saw the support [View all]MineralMan
(146,317 posts)wasn't that supportive of same-sex marriage, either. That did not stop LGBTQ voters supporting his election. But, they told him what they wanted, again and again, and he actually became part of the reason people can marry the people they love. That's just one issue. Support the Democratic nominee and tell her what you want, again and again, from that position of support. That's how you do it. Try to keep her from getting elected, and you'll get nothing from her at all.
It's a simple equation, really. To influence people, you have to first show them why they should listen to you. No presidential candidate can possibly be for all things that all people want. There are too many people with specific goals out there. The answer is to work for the better candidate of the two available and then work with that candidate once elected. That's how you gain influence and get heard.
Sometimes a candidate supports what you want already, but that's rare, really. And others would prefer that the same candidate not support that thing. Getting the support you need means giving your support and then convincing the person you helped to elect to support your issue.
What never works is calling the person you need to help you ugly names. Never. Simply psychology, really.