Just a moment...
www.axios.com

The deeper they dig into federal and state election results, some Democrats are coming to a harsh, humbling conclusion: America rejected soft liberalism.

  • MerrySkeptic@sh.itjust.works
    81·
    5 days ago

    Totally agree though I do think there’s some nuance in exactly what the status quo meant to each Trump voter.

    For Christian fundamentalists, it meant a secular society and abortion rights

    For the working class it was high inflation

    For young straight men (and their parents) it was a felt sense that they were being cancelled

    For the suburban voters it was the felt sense that we have porous borders and that our tax dollars were being used to support non-citizen

    Not all of these are accurate, but simply being told you’re wrong before feeling like the other person is taking you seriously is only going to drive you to folks who will tell you what you want to hear. And that’s where the disinformation comes in

    We have to do better at listening to the other side’s concerns and offering meaningful answers. I don’t just mean offering policy as a response, I mean they have to feel heard before they are going to be willing to listen

    • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
      91·
      5 days ago

      For the working class it was high inflation [i.e. their declining standard of living]

      For the suburban voters it was the felt sense that we have porous borders and that our tax dollars were being used to support non-citizen [i.e. not getting enough support themselves and feeling the injustice of it]

      These are just different misinterpretations of the same underlying problem. What both groups are experiencing is a feeling of economic instability and being left behind while the rich get richer. But Americans have been so heavily propagandized to for decades that we don’t have the political vocabulary to describe the real solution (at least not without using swear words like “s*****ism”), so we grope for some related issue to provide framing. And, of course, very often what we find is some scapegoat the ruling class’ propaganda has ‘helpfully’ provided to us in order to deflect their blame.

      • MerrySkeptic@sh.itjust.works
        3·
        4 days ago

        I don’t disagree. Just describing it from their perspectives. The root issue is that the entire political system is beholden to corporate interests and there’s not enough political will to change that. But the average voter doesn’t care about the system of government so long as they can afford to pay groceries and they feel that their interests matter. Whether neoliberalism, socialism, fascism, this election shows that the average voter cares less about the system than the results