Last edited Tue Sep 2, 2025, 01:42 PM - Edit history (11)
I don't doubt that racism and misogyny was a huge factor too, but something like 2.8 million more people voted for Hillary than Trump and I don't know how many more millions voted for Obama over his opponents, but I guess I'm supposed to believe a two-in-one package (both female and Black) was too much for a lot of people that could hold their nose and vote for one or the other, but not both.
And I certainly reject out-of-hand that we need to have only white male candidates to be sure of having a chance to win, or at worst, no more than having one of the two problematic gender or race .
We forget in our DU silo, we bubbly-boo'd over the great economy, and blew off inflation since it was coming down, but poll after poll after poll had wrong track over right track by 2 to 1 margins, and economics was the key issue. But yes, yes, I know, only stupid fucks with landlines answer surveys, at least that's what we tell ourselves when we see polls that don't fit our ideology. (On the other hand, when we see a poll we like, we use words like "the poll shows that" as if it were revealed truth).
Speaking of polls we don't like -- Gallup: Economy Most Important Issue to 2024 Presidential Vote, 10/9/24 https://news.gallup.com/poll/651719/economy-important-issue-2024-presidential-vote.aspx
In a country where like 40% can't handle a $400 or $1000 emergency expenditure without borrowing (there are various surveys with different numbers), this is hardly surprising
We didn't hear much here about cumulative price increases of 20% or more (many important items more), but I can assure you it was a constant theme out where most people get their information.
Homelessness increased 33% over the past 2 years https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143362703
and there are ever-increasing demands on food banks with longer lines and barer shelves - I'm seeing story after story about that. E.g. visits to Minnesota food shelves up 18% in 2024 over 2023, and nearly 2.5 times the 2019 levels (CBS 2/26/25). I know, wages are keeping up so this can't be happening.
Yes yes, we told ourselves, that wages were keeping up, but for a lot of people they weren't, and many whose wages kept up perceived they weren't. That's just one of the unfortunate side effects of inflation. And most people see at least some of the wage increases they get as compensation for increased seniority and competence / performance on the job and feel higher prices have devalued raises they worked hard to get. We can sneer and hate them for feeling that way, and go on and on about FAFO and face-eating-leopards, and ridicule it as all being about the price of eggs (pro tip: it wasn't), but that's not going to change their perceptions.
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/minneapolis-metro-grocery-store-gas-price-check/
2/4/25 -
Recent research shows 81% of voters said the economy and inflation were the main issues driving them to the polls. That includes the rising price of gas and groceries.
Actually, the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of wages and benefits, the Employment Cost Index (ECI), lagged the CPI the whole post-pandemic until it finally caught up in Q4 2024 (to the same level as pre-pandemic Q4 2019).
It doesn't help that the CPI and PCE don't include house prices, on the idea that it's an investment, not a consumption item. The CPI and PCE does include rent and "Owner's Equivalent of Rent" where they ask homeowners what they think they could rent their house for. But that's it. Home insurance that has been soaring like crazy, and not just in California and Florida? (our Twin Cities' 60 townhome complex's insurance
more than tripled over the last 4 years). Not in the CPI nor PCE. Higher mortgage payments caused by higher home prices and higher mortgage rates in a toxic combination? Not in the CPI nor PCE. Higher property taxes driven by higher home prices? Ditto.
Higher financing costs on auto loans and credit cards? Ditto.
Americans Fall Behind on Car Payments at Highest Rate in Decades, Bloomberg 3/6/25
https://www.democraticunderground.com/111699838
So CPI-land and PCE-land don't match the situation out there for most people.
Plainly speaking, compensation did not keep up with real inflation, as opposed to the official CPI and PCE measures.
(For people unfamiliar with the abbreviations, CPI is the Consumer Price Index, and PCE is the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index - the latter is the inflation measure preferred by the Federal Reserve)
There was also the ending of the pandemic stimulus payments and the end of enhanced economic security programs such as enhanced child tax credit, higher SNAP benefits, expanded Medicaid eligibility, a freeze on student loan payments and the end of the eviction moratorium in 2022 or thereabouts that resulted in a sharp jump in child poverty and increase in economic hardship for many.
Even the one good major aspect of the economy -- the jobs situation -- had a problematic side, namely the shortage of skilled workers and professionals, such as doctors (especially very long waits to see specialists), dental hygienists (mine has stretched out the time between cleaning appointments), service technicians (like having to pay a triple rate for emergency furnace repair). A shortage of bus drivers, both transit and school bus, has resulted in service cutbacks. Even less-skilled workers like day care and nursing home workers have been problematical.
More and more doctors becoming concierge, harder to find regular ones that take Medicaid/Medicare, 8/8/25 ==
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220545106
Then there are economic-related microagressions that have been increasing in recent years, like
Things being locked behind glass cases at Walgreens and Target due to shoplifting
Postal service deterioration (our home-owner assocation looking to move to electronic payments because of long and erratic delivery times, plus having to worry about checks being stolen and "washed" (edit: they couldn't find a no or low cost alternative, so they installed a physical mailbox in the compound).
Homeless camps on the sidewalks and in the city parks, propane fires...
Ever more scams and ever more security measures to navigate (e.g. last time my computer was bumped off, it was a project to log into my Facebook and gmail accounts)
And as far as messaging, it didn't help that Harris told The View 10/8/24 that she couldn’t think of anything she’d have done differently than President Joe Biden during the last four years, aside from having a Republican in her Cabinet. Here in our DU silo, it was a one day story, but the Cons ran ads repeating it the whole campaign. Not good messaging when the Wrong Track / Right Track is trending 2:1. Campaigning with Liz Cheney didn't help either with our base or much of anyone else either.
Edited to add above about the Employment Cost Index, loss of pandemic-era stimulus and economic security measures, skilled worker shortages and service cutbacks, and homelessness.
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