This story is not in what’s said, but what’s implied:
A new Fox News poll found Democrats have the edge over Republicans on economic issues for the first time since 2010.
The survey, released Wednesday, found that 52 percent of respondents think Democrats would do a better job on the economy, while 48 percent backed Republicans on the issue.
The last time Fox News recorded a Democratic edge on the economy, it was May 2010 — as the country was emerging from the Great Recession. Since then, the outlet had conducted 10 polls on the subject until the latest one, with the GOP holding the advantage on each and holding as high as a 15-point edge on the economy in January 2022 and February 2023. [The Hill]
What’s important here?
- Fox News polls generally rank highly in terms of accuracy.
- Fox News is best thought of as a conservative news organ, although with some important cracks in the facade, such as making moderate, gay Democrat Pete Buttigieg a frequent guest during the Biden Administration, when he was Secretary of the Department of Transportation.
- The implied trend line is towards the Democrats.
Those readers who know the economy under Democratic management has, for decades, done better than under Republican management, and are shrugging at this story are missing the real point: Most voters make decisions based on personal perceptions, not on research. Nation-wide price research? Stock market valuations?
No.
What are the prices down at the grocery store? How are my stocks or mutual funds doing?
This result suggests the independents, and even parts of the Republican base, are realizing the Republicans really are a pack of fourth-raters.
And they’re led by Mr Amateur-hour himself, President Trump.
So the implied story is that cowering in front of a bully doesn’t appease them, it simply whets their appetite for more. I’ll add that training your voters to disregard such issues as competence, honesty, and credentials in favor of a list of positions on such issues as abortion, transgender, gay marriage, and many others I’ve discussed on this blog will result in voters who’ve lost the facility to assess candidates based on the critical attributes that we want in our leaders, local and national, and this is happening in the Age of Information.
I’ll add that this is a vulnerability no matter whether you lean left or right. Confirmation bias and ego-needs, emotional manipulation and informational deception are devilish tactics, and some folks might be better served ignoring Web-based news sources in favor of a local news source that may be in danger of collapsing, or being bought out.
Are the Republicans capable of recognizing the vast damage inflicted upon them by Donald J. Trump? Or will the Republicans sink into the swamp, being replaced by moderate Republicans flying a new flag?
I’m betting on the latter. It’ll take a few years, probably. But that’s where I’d put my $5.
