XtremeJibber2001 wrote: ↑Nov 11th, '24, 13:41
Just my $02, but progressive economic reforms are not universally popular with the electorate. Things like Higher Minimum Wage, Predatory Lending, Apprenticeships, Loan Forgiveness are just not popular among voters.
Doesn't mean I don't think some of these policies should be more popular, but just look at what voters said were the most important issues going into the election. Going into vote we had Inflation 2.1%, Unemployment 4% and GDP 3%. In spite of a good economy Voters said the economy was still #1, even more important than our Democracy.
If there's one thing I learned the last 8 years it's that the overwhelming majority of voters vote for what will benefit them most. They don't care if immigrant Americans are deported at the cost of a trillion in tax payer dollars so long as they pay <$2 a gallon for gas.
Importance-of-Issues-to-Vote-Among-U.S.-Registered-Voters.png
false.
healthcare:
57% say government should ensure health coverage for all in U.S.
53% favor health system based on private insurance; 43%, a government-run one
72% of Democrats, 13% of Republicans support government-run system
https://news.gallup.com/poll/468401/maj ... hcare.aspx (from 2023)
Among the public overall, 63% of U.S. adults say the government has the responsibility to provide health care coverage for all, up slightly from 59% last year. Roughly a third (37%) say this is not the responsibility of the federal government, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted July 27 to Aug. 2 among 11,001 adults.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads ... -coverage/ (from 2020)
universal healthcare is broadly popular. its also a broader left position, with leftists (bernie and the squad, for example) supporting a government run system and liberals (obama and most establishment dems and some moderate republicans, such as romney) supporting a public-private partnership (ACA/obamacare). a growing number of people are moving from the liberal to left position, after seeing the faults of obamacare (while better than nothing, still not enough) and the long term effects of covid on society.
minimum wage:
About six-in-ten U.S. adults (62%) say they favor raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, including 40% who strongly back the idea. About four-in-ten (38%) say they oppose the proposal, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted April 5-11.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads ... imum-wage/ (from 2021)
From 1996 to 2023, there were 28 ballot measures to increase state minimum wages. Voters approved 26 (92.86%) and rejected two (7.14%).
https://ballotpedia.org/Results_for_min ... ures,_2024 while not a spotless track record, for the most part especially historically, people support pro labor policies especially raising their wages.
apprenticeships:
youre totally wrong. the concept has a wild amount of bipartisan support.
Eighty-three percent of respondents supported increased government funding to support apprenticeship. That’s about the same percentage of Americans that admire scientists and firefighters. And that support crosses party lines. Ninety-three percent of Democrats and 73 percent of Republicans favor additional spending on these programs.
https://www.newamerica.org/education-po ... nticeship/ (from 2018)
Voters—Republican and Democrat alike—strongly support skilled trades education. Among likely
voters:
■ 83% say school districts should make funding for skilled trades classes a high priority.
■ 83% say the government should provide more funding for skilled trades classes, and 81% say
they favor a federal program to allocate this funding.
■ 89% of Democrats, 76% of independents, and 73% of Republicans would favor a federal program
to allocate this funding.
■ 69% say a federal program rebuilding infrastructure in the United States should include funding
to train high school students with the skills to do that work.
■ 66% say they would be extremely or very likely to support a candidate who favored increasing
government funding for skilled trades training.
■ A majority of Democrats (77%), independents (64%) and Republicans (54%) would support a
candidate who wanted to increase government funding for skilled trades training.
https://hftforschools.org/wp-content/up ... C-poll.pdf (from 2020) granted, this is from harbor freight, who has an economic incentive to want more trades workers that will buy their tools. but absolutely damning about what you assume to be true, versus the actual truth.
predatory lending:
i was referring to the student loans that my generation were coerced into signing up for, but thats just one form of predatory lending. in more general finance stuff fighting predatory financial policies has a crazy amount of support that even surprised me. but again, you couldnt be more wrong!
An overwhelming majority of voters across party lines – roughly nine in ten – agree
that regulating financial services and products to ensure they are fair for consumers
is important (91% total important).1
o Two thirds – including strong majorities across party lines – say that financial
regulation is very important (67%). Intensity is even higher in the 2024 key
presidential battleground states (71% very important).
o Wide majorities of voters agree on the importance of financial regulation
regardless of their party affiliation, with high intensity.
...
Voters across party affiliation support lessening the burden of student loans.
➢ Over three quarters of voters (77%) support a new federal government Income
Driven Repayment Plan for student loans, lowering the amount of borrowers’ income
they have to pay from 10% to 5%, and the period in which their debt may be repaid
to as little as 10 years from 25.
o While Democrats are most supportive, two-thirds of independents and seven
in ten Republicans also support the policy.
https://www.responsiblelending.org/site ... ep2024.pdf (from 2024) 91% support federal regulation of the finance industry! ninety one percent!!! that whole paper is a must read. democrats should be taking notes, maybe write down all those polling numbers about finance regulation on a chalkboard over and over again like theyre in after school detention. maybe then it will get through their thick f*** heads what they need to be focusing on.
student loans:
while not nearly as popular as other left positions, theres some support, but more importantly, those who have been promised help by biden and then denied are staying home. but its not as unpopular as you make it sound, and with proper messaging (talking about juicing the economy by freeing up a mortgage payment every month for a large amount of people) some reforms could gain even more support.
According to a February Beacon Research/Shaw & Company Research for Fox News poll, conducted just before the oral arguments took place, a majority of respondents (62 percent) said that at least some student debt should be forgiven — though they didn’t agree on just how much forgiveness was appropriate. Of that total number, 25 percent said that all college loan debt should be forgiven, while a larger percentage (37 percent) said that only amounts of up to $20,000 — which is double the amount of Biden’s plan for most borrowers — should be forgiven for people making up to $125,000 annually. Thirty-six percent of respondents, meanwhile, said no loan debt amount should be forgiven.
Other polls have similarly shown broad support for Biden’s plan. A YouGov/Economist survey conducted from Feb. 20-21 found that 53 percent of U.S. adults either “strongly” or “somewhat” supported the federal government canceling up to $10,000 in student loans for people who earn less than $125,000 a year. In the same poll, 44 percent of respondents said that the federal government has at least some responsibility to address student loan debt, while 40 percent said that it doesn’t.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/sa ... ness-0303/ (from 2023) worth a read, if for all the links.
Asher Marshall was rooting for Biden’s first cancellation plan. It would have chipped away at his $52,000 in student loans. But in hindsight, Marshall says it’s clear Biden made a promise he couldn’t deliver without going through Congress.
“He suggested something that sounded good to a lot of individuals in this country, but there was no way for it to move forward from the onset,” said Marshall, 33, of Jacksonville, Illinois.
Marshall, an independent, still plans to vote for Biden as the “lesser of two evils,” but he questions whether cancellation will energize other Black voters, especially since Biden’s latest plan helps fewer borrowers than the first one.
Melissa Mata feels let down by the president. The Houston resident has $14,000 in student loans from a program she never finished, and she could have used the help that Biden promised.
Now she plans to sit out the November election or vote independent.
“They make these promises to get votes, but they don’t deliver. So I think for me, I wouldn’t trust it,” said Mata, 34, a bookkeeper.
Some others say Biden isn’t to blame.
Samantha Kempf, a social worker in Howell, Michigan, has $78,000 in federal student loans from her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Kempf, a Democrat, was upset when Biden’s initial plan failed, but she doesn’t hold it against him.
“It was the Supreme Court that shut him down,” said Kempf, 32. “I don’t blame him for it, because he at least made an attempt to get something approved.”
Americans overall had a dimmer view on the Supreme Court’s handling of the issue, the poll found: 15% approve of its work on the issue and around one-quarter disapprove.
About 4 in 10 adults think it is extremely or very important for the federal government to provide student debt relief. A similar share say it’s not too important or not important at all, with about one-quarter in the middle, saying they believe it’s somewhat important.
Younger adults are more likely to prioritize government action on student debt, with about half under 45 saying it’s extremely or very important, compared to 3 in 10 older adults who said the same.
Political divisions are even wider, with 15% of Republicans saying it’s extremely or very important, compared to 58% of Democrats. The issue has become a rallying point for Republicans, who often say taxpayers shouldn’t get burdened with repaying other people’s college debt.
https://apnews.com/article/student-loan ... 321f532836 (from 2024) i think losing the base is way worse than losing republicans who would never vote for a democrat in the first place. who cares if its a republican rallying point, so is the completely false and outrageous notion that public schools are making children trans. republicans can think whatever they want, theyre not who the democrats need to be energizing to go out and vote. the democrats abandoned their base and lost in a landslide as a result. half of people under 45 believe its really important for the government to take action on this (because we are the most burdened by it, college degrees used to be paid for by a part time summer job, now theyre a house) and a whopping 58% of democrats think this issue is important. and that quote from the woman whos sitting out or voting independent, sure, shes one person, but shes one of many who find the empty promises to be the final straw that breaks their back when it comes to holding their nose and voting for the dems.
im so fed up with democrats routinely shitting on the left, ratcheting to the right, and losing elections to fascists. i really am.
and back to your quote
Going into vote we had Inflation 2.1%, Unemployment 4% and GDP 3%.
that inflation number is completely imaginary to the point that it would be laughable if the outcome of it werent so dangerous, unemployment numbers have been imaginary since 2008 and dont account for the amount of workers who completely dropped out from looking for work, and the gdp doesnt matter if all the gains go to the top 10% or so of society. democrats too busy sniffing their own farts and making up imaginary numbers to make themselves feel good while living in their bubble world of remote work and bottomless brunch completely ignoring the reality on the ground. if they actually
talked to everyday people about their realities instead of smugly dismissing them maybe they wouldnt of lost an election?