The Impeachment Circus is being cheered on by the Mainstream Media and those on the coasts, while the rest of America is fed up with this nonsense. This three-year-long temper tantrum will propel Trump to re-election, and it will NOT be as close as so many think.
4
It is the message and presentation that is successful. The promise says loudly and often makes it successful. Like Mexico and the border wall. Like peace in our lifetime with North Korea. And many many more vague promises. Dems just don’t get it.
1
I think this article has given me some peace of mind, regarding my family's retirement plans....time to move on.
1
"...all these quiet little Christian women aren’t saying anything right now, but they are going to vote for Trump again."
It boggles my mind that any Christian who has ever picked up a Bible could ever vote for Trump against any of the other candidates running.
8
Democrats, hire expert PR and marketing people. Messages do not deliver themselves.
It is becoming increasingly clear that a willfully misinformed electorate is about to put the final nail in the coffin of our little democratic experiment.
God help us.
18
For me, political beliefs are equivalent to a life philosophy, a moral compass, if you will. Some things are right and other things are just plain wrong, immoral or mean-spirited, and no amount of charisma or chutzpah, government stats or lack of balance in Congress is going to change my mind about who I vote for. While I respect the fence-sitters, who are probably more level-headed or rationale than most, the idea of being politically "independent" is beyond my grasp. It's like saying that your take on existence is neutral, indifferent, TBA...
5
"This group is only a sliver of the electorate — 2 percent of registered voters — and is not representative of all voters. They are overwhelmingly white, 60 percent are male, and two-thirds have no college degree. "
------
How unfortunate that less-educated white males have such an outsize influence regarding the direction of our country.
13
No surprises here. This is why these are battleground states to begin with. They are filled with people who think that if their "luck" is not so good with one party, they might as well try the other one...There is only one way to solve this: education. Education. EDUCATION. We need to form more critical thinkers in the US (and everywhere). Trump can take some merit for the economical situation, of course, but he can't take it all or even the largest part of it. No single POTUS can. The "clock" doesn't go back to zero at the beginning of each presidential Administration...
14
Months out from Iowa and the first primaries, and with Trump devolving in front of our eyes, this is all rank speculation at best. As they say, a year is a lifetime in politics and the election is almost a year away.
4
This is profoundly depressing
They like the cruelty at the border, the failed trickle down of the business tax cuts, the packed Kavanaugh Court, the environmental suicide,the destabilized world order and the daily spectacular string of bald-faced lies?
Yes, they do
Unhappy Thanksgiving to their children and grandchildren
14
This is truly sickening. If Trump wins re-election, it will be time for me to find another place to live. I'm too old to go through much more of this. And anybody slamming me for the sentiment, just don't.
12
All of these people tasting success today an attributing it to Trump -- who has merely overcooked the economy to prolong Obama's sucessful economic moves -- are in for a rude awakening when it all comes crashing down.
I'm always awestruck at the number of people who are genuinely incabale of seeing more than six months into the future. Good luck to these people. They're going to get far worse than they bargained for.
7
The fact that Trump's reelection prospect is looking good after one term and facing impeachment says a lot about Americans, their morality, their discernment, and of American democracy itself.
10
"Nearly two-thirds of voters in six battleground states who voted for President Trump in 2016 — but for Democratic congressional candidates in 2018 — say they intend to back the president"
The actual takeaway from that is that one third of the people who voted for Trump in 2016 will not vote for him in 2020, and if that is true, he will loose all those states.
12
Forty years ago, I started as an Independent, despite the fall of Richard Nixon, I occasionally voted Republican. I abandoned the GOP two decades ago as they began their decline into an anti-democracy and Christian crusade. Higher education increased my critical thinking skills and travel made me aware of the many political factors that influence voters. But I naively believed that Americans would resist the decline into fascism but I was wrong. Americans deserve the govt they vote for. I will continue to fight and vote for policies that will improve the lives for ALL Americans and protect our environment. But for the first time in my 60 years, I am contemplating a move to another country to spend the rest of my life if Trump and his ignorant cult members win the next collection.
11
Several in the survey like what Donald Trump has "done." I like to think that what he has done is a result of what he has "undone," with respect to the reversal of environmental regulation and troubling tax policy, to name a couple. Too many of his supporters, I believe, take little stock in the long-term impact of what they claim Trump has done. 'Happy days are here again,' they sing. Plus, there is no in the Democratic presidential field one who is close to having the charisma of a JFK who could make the American voter swoon to her/his favor.
3
most are happy with the economy these days, how can we continue running trillion dollars deficits into the future? aren't we putting the country and future generations deeper in debt to prop up the stock market . is it wise, or equitable, to indebt the country to enrich the investor class? how sustainable is this , or is no one concerned where this may lead?
2
Trump promised to restore lost mining and manufacturing jobs.
He has not done so.
Building a wall and deporting immigrants will not make coal economically competitive with natural gas and will not affect the wage differential between wages in the US and out of US.
So all Trump can do is spew out hate.
Suppose the laid off manufacturing worker now works at walmart at a much lower wage. The unemployment rate remains the same.
Is the economy still great.
12
Trump loves our country, and despises Socialism. He is keeping his promises to We the People, in spite of the "Resistance". He gets my vote in 2020. Socialists like Sanders, running to be the 1st Socialist President of the USA and who spent his honeymoon in the old Soviet Union (Go figure that one!!) is a betrayal to those who lost their lives trying to flee communism and those who found freedom from it in the USA. Tell the story of Socialism to the thousands of Cubans, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans in Miami. Come tell us.
9
@Susy
His two signature campaign promises were to build a wall and repeal and replace Obamacare.
He didn't do anything like that.NO bill AT ALL.
He also promised to cut the deficit and increase taxes on the wealthiest. He did the exact opposite, and that's the only major bill he signed into law.
And no, Medicare for all isn't Soviet dictatorship. It's Norwegian, 20th century Western democratic universal healthcare. What's your problem with that ... ?
19
Yeah, right after you tell the story of the Native American and the black slave slaughtered by capitalism.
1
35 year Public Record of malfeasance and you support 46th, a person that Russian Oligarchs actually own?! Willful ignorance is a problem in our nation.
9
These are the quintessential low information voters who are unhappy with everyone and blow hot and cold from election to election, usually because their situation is continuing to worsen no matter who is in charge.
Many have some vague idea that Trump is better but can't come up with a specific reason why. Others cite reasons that are promises, not achievements, such as bringing jobs back or protecting America with tariffs. If they bothered to check, the states worst hit by Trump's tariff war are Midwestern states that voted for Trump. The coasts are doing just fine.
In one case, one voter says his construction work is up, so he's voting for Trump. If I were him, I'd check my tax bill before thanking Donald Trump. What do you bet that his promised $4,000 tax refund hasn't quite arrived yet?
In actuality, as the article points out, these voters will not be a decisive factor. Most people are already locked in and will vote for who they voted for last time, regardless of the circumstances. The key to this election, more than ever before, is getting your side to turn out. The November elections in Virginia, Kentucky and Louisiana are elegant proof of that.
16
here is the thing...
Most people dont pay attention to politics like readers here or watch anything but the nightly news which has become unwatchable.
But most are paying attention to their bank accounts which are growing. Wages have grown 3%, stock market hitting all time highs which are great for investors and people with 401k plans and taxes changed which helped people see more when filing taxes and when people see their paycheck.
with this said Economy is doing better than it has in over 50 years.
People already know who Trump is character wise and have already judged him t this point. Moderates dont care he is morally bankrupt. that doesnt matter to them.
what matters are tangible things. health care is an issue but thats it. the problem is Dems arent offering any alternatives to better healthcare. Medicare for all is very expensive and cant be paid for without putting us into deeper debt.
Most people dont want to be licked off their plan. other issue is the only person thats a viable candidate Biden has many issues outside his record with Obama that hurt RTustbelt or didnt help it.
Trump is the favorite to win states like Michigan, Ohio, Penn and Wisconisn due to this. setting him up for re-election
25
But the trump administration has put us way over $300 billon “deeper into debt,” during strong economic times. The trump economy is a farce built on a republican deficit credit card. Dems need to drive that point across.
12
@Marcus
Republicans are busy trying to destroy the ACA.
What do they have in place?
What wages are higher?
I see people working full time who are homeless.
9
@Jose Pieste Yes, "their wages, their bank balance, their 401k, their taxes" --- their money, their money, their money. Thomas Merton once said, in his autobiography "The Seven Story Mountain," that Americans will tolerate any evil at all if it's for the sake of making money. Trump voters, dramatically, have proven him right.
4
As ever, these comments and most others one can find at this paper prove to be as bigoted as those they oppose. I have happily voted for Democrats most of my life, but Trump or whomever the Republicans put up will be getting my vote because the Democrats have made white men into the enemy. Egregious behavior and hiring choices run rampant in the name of racial equality, but however one feels one cannot even bring up the subject in polite company. Rather, white people have to talk about privately to avoid being overheard, and let me tell you this is a recipe for all kinds of trouble. I've gone from supporting my friends and colleagues in their quests for equality to voting against them because their party decided that I am the enemy. I may be supportive of their goals, but since they have made me and everyone who looks like me into the bad guy I will be voting for my own people.
39
@P.S. The Democrats have as their leading candidate a white man, named Biden. I understand your frustration that egregious behavior and hiring choices seem arbitrary, but everyone hates HR. Neither Obama nor Trump can do anything about it.
3
@P.S.
FYI: most Democrats are white men, remember?
And Obamacare mostly benefits white men. So did his turning around of the economy. And so will Medicare for All.
Compare that to Trump's deficit doubling massive tax cuts for the wealthiest. Those are white men too; But only 0.01% of them.
6
Obama should get significant credit for turning the economy around. Trump is riding his coat tails while destroying the environment, our moral fabric, and any trust we have with other countries. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to keep this corrupt person in office. Even if the economy is in decent standing (thank you Obama) it’s not like that will change overnight when a Democrat is elected President in 2020.
160
@Ann sure dear...right up there with your 2500 savings and keeping your doctor. Yup.
20
@Ann
Obama is gone and under current law can't run again. Lets find someone to beat Trump and stop our walks down memory lane.
2
@Citizen Kane Market is on a 11 year rally. Trump started with 4.6% unemployment. it's 3.6% now. There is no statistical difference between Trump's GDP and Obama's.
And I kept my doctor.
24
What has he done exactly to strengthen the economy? I'd like to ask these people truly. All those jobs he claims to have created? Lies. He's started trade wars that American farmers won't recover from for decades. American soybean customers now have new suppliers in other countries, for example. The numbers of jobs he's supposedly helped create or keep are either outright lies or massively inflated. The reason the economy is so good is twofold: one, we're seeing Obama's hard work laid for eight years come to full fruition; and two, the economy is cyclical no matter who is president. Those huge tax cuts Trump gave to the wealthy and corporations? Check out how many corporations used the money to hire more personnel. And maybe construction is healthy but my husband has been out of a job for almost two years. He's a design director so his isn't a low-end job but hey, if the economy is so great, then why is he still unemployed? The only thing Trump has done that's good for business is to gut environmental regs. Sure, there may be a few more jobs but we won't be able to breathe and drink water in a few years. Anyone remember the smog/pollution of the 70s? Want a return to that? Trump does. I'm sick of reading people's comment saying things that are patently false. People, practice some critical thinking skills and don't believe everything out of their lying mouths.
22
Tax cuts for the rich and an increased deficit. This economy will not last another 2 years. Wake up Trump supporters.
13
Some poor journalism from the NYT here, in that the article never challenges the assertions the people quoted make. Job growth IS slower now than under Obama; GDP growth too. Democrats have passed more bills than the House did under Republicans.
I understand the beliefs in Trump these people are spouting, but that doesn’t make what they believe true. Nowhere does this article challenge the people to identify exactly what Trump has done. Nowhere does it include any facts to confirm or disprove what they’re saying.
14
My understanding of the purpose of this NYT article was that, in order to understand why people swing their support and/or intentionally vote for divided government do those things, just ask them why. Listen to their reasoning. Bring that thinking in front of people. It did that. But the article frustrated me, too, because I felt an overarching purpose of it was to alarm readers who fear a Trump second term, and disgust them/anger them with quotes from people whose support of Trump is based on willful ignorance and faulty reasoning. The NYT succeeded in doing that to me. I also think the NYT is still trying to provide election coverage in the form of articles like these that will help them avoid what they did in 2016: fatally, catastrophically miscalculate the outcome of the Presidential election...right up until 11:00 pm on that night. So while I disagree with your particular complaint about this article, I agree with you that it has a flawed agenda.
1
The operative word in this article is
“ uneducated “. Apparently these people can’t see beyond their own noses and care nothing about living in a democracy , because if they did they would know that a vote for Trump is a vote for an autocratic leader and many steps closer to a corrupt dictatorship. Never in my wild imagination did I ever believe that the cornerstone of what used to make this country great and proud would be of so little value to so many.
The Founders did a lot of good things but the skewed and undemocratic Electoral College was not one of them . Now we suffer as a nation at the hands of those in the minority who care nothing about the values upon which our country was formed and upon which we have thrived on the world stage . This article worries me.
21
@KarenE This mindset is exactly what translates into votes for Trump. The idea that people without a college education are less intelligent doesn't serve the Democrats well because it isn't true.
Rather, people who avoid a college education often end up relatively uncorrupted in their thought processes precisely because they skip four years of indoctrination from liberal professors.
Their formative years aren't spent inhaling the oppressively woke campus spirit or kowtowing to a liberal instructor's views in exchange for a good grade.
Many were simply too energized to sit in classrooms racking up debt for four years before they started living the life they wanted.
By contrast, it is the Democrats, resolutely encased in their bubble, who have proved themselves an unteachable lot with their non-stop - and clearly non-productive - efforts to bring down Trump.
4
These descriptions of what happens at colleges and of what kind of people go to college and what kind do not is so off base as to make one suspicious. It sounds like a product of foxnews culture war agitation. These descriptions seem confused over what education is and does and over what college is and does. They also also seem confused over what ignorance is and does and how misinformation plays with the mind.
4
The politically correct description for their support of Trump is Cultural when in fact it is about race.Trump is the protector of pecking order in America and nothing else matters. Knowing that I would think it would be wise to built a coalition of people who find putting children in cages as not the American Way.
9
@Steven McCain In a study that came out after the 2016 election, one of the biggest predictors of who voted for Trump was a person's degree of "racial animosity."
People who *actually* felt "economic anxiety" tended to vote for Clinton.
4
False signals? Nate Cohn, please get another job.
Congratulations! You've found another handful of ignorant voters in various states. However, your continual barrage of hand-wringing articles about how doomed we all are because there are some people out there that support Trump because of their own ignorance has worn thin beyond belief. Trump won in 2016 because it turns out enough voters really didn't like Hillary Clinton much (what a surprise!). Plus an appeal to said voters' basic racist views and their inability to process information apparently didn't hurt Trump either.
But last time I checked, Clinton, one of the most polarizing figures in modern politics, isn't running in 2020. We've seen your track record on polling, Cohn. It sure doesn't seem like you've learned much since then. My money is on the candidate that fits the description of: "anyone other than Trump".
3
2/3’s of Trump’s voters in battleground states means he loses there, whether the other third sits out the election or votes for a Democrat.
2
We're not in a good place. The affluent blue states loathe this buffoonish president and the working class people in the red states that enabled him. Understandable. The red states will vote for trump simply because that sticks a thumb in the eye of the "coastal elites" they think loath them. Understandable.
7
So so happy!!! I hope all the silent voices come out in 2016!!!!
In 2016 Trump had 100% of these voters now In 2019 66% say they will vote for him in 2020 again...am I missing something or is losing 33% of your voters a bad new story for Trump.
2
Does anyone ever bother to ask any of these anecdotal voters to specify these “policies” and “accomplishments”
they reference? They sound like regurgitated generic Trump tweets and Fox News taking points. They make claims that run counter to demonstrable objective evidence; claims that are never challenged and then reported on as if fact.
Additionally, per the article, they reflect less than two percent of the electorate. Despite not being meaningfully reflective of any dispositive demographic, they continue to receive a disproportionate amount of attention by the NYT. Oddly, alternative voices and concerns from similarly situated constituencies, some mentioned ever so briefly in the article, remain absent from these articles. And the voices and concerns of other constituencies, particularly constituencies of color, continue to remain marginalized, overlooked and/or ignored altogether.
3
Hey, NY Times. And every other news outlet that runs stories like this.
It’s ok - and actually really, really needed - for you to write this same story, but rather than have it about 'how some voters are making different decision for the next election’, actually have it about the fact that very few voters put any intellectual effort into deciding who they should vote for. You have to admit that that is what the message is here.
It is a crisis. So say so.
5
So my takeaway from this article is that what Dems really need to do over the next 12 months is hope the inevitable recession comes sooner rather than later. The people interviewed credit Trump for the recovery he had next to nothing to do with, and will blame him if hiring slows and people they know start losing hours.
The GOP is constantly warning about capital strikes and/or layoffs if we raise the minimum wage or provide people with healthcare or try to make sure companies don't dump glowing orange sludge directly into our waterways. Maybe Dems in positions of power need to consider doing their own version of that if we want to give whoever the nominee ends up being the best chance to win.
2
@Shirley0401 I am honestly beginning to think Democrats will be giving Obama credit for a roaring economy in 2040, should it happen to be doing the slightest bit well at that time.
7
Please tell me what, other than packing the courts, trump has accomplished. Healthcare? Infrastructure? Help for the climate and our Earth? Uniting the country? Tax cut for those who need it? NO.NO.NO.NO. And NO. Anything?
7
Another wrote the comment below. It resonates with me - and explains I could easily vote for Trump if Bernie is again subverted buy the DNC (and the MSM as well?).
" . . . The only one of the candidates that will beat Trump is Bernie Sanders. He has a strong appeal to independents and others disgusted with the system. Bernie is also a critic of the current Democratic Party leadership. They'd rather lose to Trump and retain their power than allow Bernie to win. It says everything."
1
Like so many, Trump's "game show" way of speaking, big ego and other flaws turned me off, especially prior to the 2016 election. Yet, he really is attempting to "Make America Great Again" - and accomplishing some of it.
Too many Democrats are promoting policies and laws that sound lovely in la-la land - but do not work in the real world. And their focus on hating trump, 24/7 rather than on trying to work with Republicans and "come together" on policy is also a big turn off.
Trump is the first President to select an openly gay man for an ambassadorship, to work with the Log Cabin Republicans to find out what he can do to help and stop homophobia and hate around the world. He is helping people without jobs find them, resulting in stats like the lowest unemployment every in our nation for blacks. Trump received an award from a bi-partisan organization working to right the wrongs in our prison system, and has commuted the sentences of black people who would have otherwise spent decades more in prison for minor crimes.
Hate his hair and his speech and other non-presidential qualities. But he's getting the job done and has far more practical plans for our nation than Democrats do today.
7
@justme
He named Ted Osius as ambassador to Vietnam? No, he fired him. So spare us the inaccuracies.
6
It's long been a truism that votes for House members are highly localized and don't reflect the vote for president.
5
This article backs what I have heard from many acquaintances in the middle of the country. It is very difficult to defeat an incumbent and I am afraid that radical progressive change candidates will guarantee defeat. When I hear some of the liberal commentators on CNN and MSNBC say that the Democratic candidate just needs to get out the vote and procure more minority and progressive votes to win, they frankly sound delusional. For a Democrat to win there really need s to be a broad coalition of support. There also needs to be a candidate who sounds like a real person rather than a canned, product-tested politician. Say what you want to about Trump, and I completely disagree with his posture and policies, he does not come across like he has passed the focus group test. Unfortunately, the current group of Democratic candidates often come off sounding fake and uninspiring.
7
@David K I completely agree... and they will change their stance at the slightest headwind.
3
There have been other countries in the past who have taken the path that Trump and the Republicans currently have us on.
It is the path to fascism, and it seemed like a great idea to the supporters at the time.
There was no talking them out of it then, and there is apparently no talking them out of it now.
It looks like it can happen here, and it just might.
3
It's not the fact that those voters switch parties that should worry us.
It's the fact that NONE of the reasons they give to vote for Trump, are fact-based. It's all fake news.
In a democracy, you can only have a government for the people if it's a government by the people.
The GOP decided to install a government for the wealthiest by massively spreading lies and fake news, 24/7.
And as access to education is so horrible in the US, the only thing that this article proves is that they are succeeding.
4
I have spent the last three years asking, with civility and respect, any Trump supporter I meet exactly what they like about Trump; what it is that he has accomplished that they appreciate.
And I have never, even from the most educated voters, gotten a really coherent answer.
But I have gotten fragments of a less clear, but no less compelling answer.
"They want us to disappear. Virtually everything government does is for others who look different, think different, scorn my values, take our jobs, show up from God knows where and immediately expect to be handed things I worked hard to get. I refuse to be a minority or be marginalized in a country that I and my ancestors built. Their progress will NOT be made at my expense."
It doesn't matter that countless flaws can be launched at this this nonsense. It doesn't matter that their imagined past and present hardly resembles reality. It doesn't matter that they are drenched in the same racism that has always complicated the American experiment.
They're scared out of their mind and, when someone is driven by fear and insecurity, somebody has to pay.
7
@Horace Dewey You should read Arlie Hochschild's "Strangers in Their Own Land"
It is about exactly that.
1
Seems obvious to me most of these folks in the article get their news from some of the worst, truth-twisting hosts on FOX TV. Until we rid ourselves of this slanted and biased network, the truth will continue to be subverted everyday and millions of Americans will continue to vote against their own best interests.
3
@Nina
Butbutbut Rupert Murdoch is an immigrant! And a good friend of Mitch McConnell.
Let me break it down so that we are all quite clear as to what and whom exactly this very small sub set of voters actually represents
1. It was apparent to the majority of Americans in 2016 that Trump was unfit to be President. Hence Clinton received 3 million more votes than Trump. The voters that are the subject of this piece however felt that Trump was perfectly fine and happily cast a vote for him.
2. Trumps first act after his swearing in was to do good on his promise and enact a Muslim Ban.Thankfully the courts and the Majority of Americans did not concur .Yet these Trump supporters remain loyal .
3. Lets move on , Charlottesville should have been the straw that broke the camel’s back, Trump’s equivocations after the deadly right-wing march in Virginia in 2017. Once again the Majority of Americans were appalled , but not these voters who still support Trump.
4. In 2018 Trumps immigration policies facilitated the breaking up of refugee families at our borders. Separating children from their parents, and locking up both, adult and child in cages. This travesty likely cost the Republicans the house in the Midterms, but these voters still support Trump.
5. Finally in 2019, it has been proven that Trump tried to bribe the President of Ukraine into investigating a political rival. Again this is well documented ,but it does not deter these people from supporting Trump.
They will Never support a Democrat nominee, can we move on and just forget about them .
3
Democrats had better hash out their problems between the Socialists and the Corporatists. They aren’t compatible and it shows.
1
“You’re all going to be very surprised because all these quiet little Christian women aren’t saying anything right now, but they are going to vote for Trump again,” she said.
Ms. Foster, um no. DJT is the antithesis of a Christian and I fail to understand how anyone who believes in or tries to live out Christian ideals could support him.
11
@MatthewJohn Because we're voting for a president, not a pastor.
Read the story of King Cyrus in the Old Testament, then maybe you'll get it.
2
@Terrence Jeffrey Johnson Exactly, we are voting for a president not a pastor which is why the idea of any politician being anointed or chosen by God sounds like a dangerous fantasy to me.
3
Vote with your good conscious but if our great country is stuck with Donald J. Trump for four more years, we’ll know who to blame. It’s that serious!
Danny Destival: Republicans are blocking all the work Democrats are doing. Put the blame where it belongs.
1
Deplorables voted for Democrats in 2018 because the findings of the Mueller report hadn't yet been released. Now they know it was all a scam, just like the DNC's "hacking." Schiff's impeachment circus is a joke to any objective observer and the Bidens look, well, corrupt. Trump isn't the problem, he's the symptom. Both parties sold out the American people and until that sinks in, the national electorate will communicate their dissatisfaction by voting for the orange man.
7
@Average Citizen he is done. People want him out.
3
40 miles north of NYC in the town of Yorktown, NY they voted in a GOP operative to be town supervisor. He has no prior experience working in a municipality and prior experience was being a mouthpiece for many failed GOP legislators. What he did was buy voters pizza, and inflate his resume and send out mailings that were not fact based. This is the same GOP operative that people in Westchester should watch out for, as he was the behind the scenes guy who produced many racist hate mailings. Yes, this is Matt Slater. https://www.theexaminernews.com/yorktown-dems-decry-racist-gop-campaign-mailer/
2
The NY Times should talk to the 90-120 million Americans who are eligible but don't vote.
It would be much more productive to get non-voters to vote than to get people who have fallen for Trump's con to admit they were marks.
5
Reading article after article like this feels like putting a hot poker into my eyes.
3
I love all the people here crying about Dems not "working with trump". What they really mean is catering to trump and doing everything he wants. Where were you people when Republicans did far worse to Obama for 6 years? Oh right "that was different". Forgive me for not taking the words of 60+ white non college educated people seriously. These are the same people who screamed Benghazi!!! Furthered birther nonsense and threw tantrums about everything Obama did. I guess the 200 bills sitting on Mcconnells desk are fake too? These people are giant hypocrites.
3
The Democratic debates, so far, have served to diminished the candidates, as has the "progressive" wing of the party. It seems that the party, as a whole, has given little thought to why they lost votes that should have been theirs.
3
@Want2know
You are so right.
There are many reasons why Trump was elected. Everyone knew what kind of person he is before voting for or against him. There have been no surprises.
Trump is weakened but if Democrats do not act more strategically. If they refuse to actually make the effort to hear what the people are saying and find the courage to address the problems that got Trump elected in the first place .... Trump could win again.
Are Democrats too afraid of "their base" to look beyond them to all Americans?
3
Trump is only the most visible symptom of the problem that Americans have with their elected and appointed government.
The two major parties have created, and are maintaining, the almost war-like divide each one seeming to want absolute power.
Yet, We the People are almost evenly divided on all issues. However the idea that once-elected our officials are to pursue the extremist views of their party make discussion, let alone compromise, impossible.
At this moment Democrats are "Running Against Trump" when they should be "Running for Americans - All Americans."
We seem to have forgotten that We-the-People are the sovereign power of this nation. While a "strong executive" seems better than a deliberative congress, courts, and administration the problem is that we get people who think of the president as a "Unitary Executive" who holds all powers and answers to nobody but himself.
The Democrats have to start to listen to what Americans, all Americans, consider to be the problems that need to be solved and get We-the-People to come up with solutions that can and will work for everyone. Yes, compromise is hard and unsatisfying, but in the end it works better than being between two sides claiming that "Only I have the answers and solutions."
It's time to stop running against Trump (after all that is playing on his turf) and start running for America. While anger can be cathartic, it is draining while optimism is energizing.
6
@George N. Wells
Look at the bills passed by the GOP Congress under Trump, and by the Democratic Congress under Obama and Democratic House under Trump, and you'll immediately see that ONLY Democrats have answers and solutions.
2
2018 Democrats had "RussiaGate" in full swing before it was debunked. Not so now. Americans have seen through the hoaxes.
10
@Truth Gun
It's not a hoax for all the Trump collaborators that Republican Mueller has jailed, you know .. ;-)
1
@Ana Luisa Not one of which charges pertained to Russian collusion or the 2016 election. Note that Carter Page, who was the means for the deep state to obtain the bogus FISA warrant, was not charged with anything at all.
It was a fishing expedition; they caught a small fry or two, but not Moby Dick, nor will they.
3
There was no “debunking”, But there is clear evidence of Russia wanting Trump to win, and clear evidence of Russia reaching out to Team Trump, and clear evidence of Team Trump welcoming said efforts.
To ignore facts and to embrace the falsity in your claim is to advance the Russian agenda at the expense of our democratic republic
5
The Dems are going to get CRUSHED in 2020. They have been braying ever since Trump got elected that they were going to impeach him. First effort by Mueller was a flop to smear him and now the Troglodyte Brigade headed up by Shifty Schiff is Russiagate 2.0. Thinking people see through all this and what they see is their 401Ks and their jobs going gangbusters and the stock market hitting its 100th record high. Like I said: CRUSHED.
12
@August Braun Polls show otherwise.
6
@August Braun
FYI: Mueller is a Republican, appointed par Trump supporter and AG Jeff Sessions.
Time to leave myths behind and wake up!!
2
@August Braun Polls show otherwise. Also trump has literally done nothing the economy is only good for the rich and people are tired of trumps nonsense. Republicans are done in 2020.
2
“If these voters remain open minded”: given policies put forth at democratic debates they will need to be gullible.
7
Trump has done what he campaigned on and tried to do more but was stymied by the House democrats who are more interested in taking him out of office then passing legislation. When he took office the first thing he did was go through Obama's executive orders placing disastrous regulations on businesses to get rid of them. Then he pressured companies to stay in this country rather then leave by changing tax laws. I could go on and on but most voters get it. Bush the younger and Obama were do nothing Presidents.
10
@Ed Trump has done nothing at all.
6
@Kevin
If he's really done nothing, why the outrage and continual scandal 24/7?
Of course he's done something. That's why you're mad.
4
Not true. He has given tax cuts to the rich, rolled back clean air and water protections, locked children in cages, taken away newborns from migrants at the border, ruined relations with allies , fomented hate, interfered in the military justice system, lied about the big and small, installed his family in the white house as advisors, profited from his presidency. He has done plenty; none of it good. And those who cite the economy: he inherited it from the previous administration. Imagine how robust it would have been without needless tariffs and interference with the Fed.
5
Truly informative article, even if upsetting for many.
My belief is that partisans rarely change sides, I can't imagine a partisan Republican ever voting for a Democrat, no matter how great their policies. Same applies to partisan Democrats ever voting for Trump, regardless of any success Trump has with the economy or employment or Isis or anything.
My opinion is it is independents who truly decide elections, and as upsetting as some may find it, people who voted for Obama twice, then flipped, and helped elect Trump. In so many states with razor thin margins, this elected Trump, as much as any thing else did.
My opinion is for Democrats to win back the Presidency, their candidate should spell out their policies, and be positive. Directly criticizing Trump obviously doesn't work. Why get in the mud with a reality TV star? Don't keep falling for it... it has been a monumental failure as a strategy the past four years. I honestly believe continued character assassination of Trump will only serve to hand him re election, because independents don't relate to this strategy, only partisans who will never vote for Trump anyway. To defeat Trump requires using a strategy that independents can relate to.
4
@Chantal James But these people aren't particularly partisan.
Considering the 2016 margins, if Democrats get back one-third of the 2016 battleground state Trump voters, all other things being equal, it would be enough to win.
3
Beto was once flavor of the month.Then Warren was and now Mayor Pete is.if this keeps up Trump is assured another term.Pete has almost zero support in South Carolina with African Americans but we as a party we are concerned about Non College educated whites who love Trump.If the party keeps worrying about Trump's base and taking its base for granted it will lose again.
9
After Kavanaugh and the endless Hate Trump hysteria I think a lot of people realize who truly is the real party of intolerance and hate. You will reap what you have sown and I hope it does not go well for the Democrats and their socialist agenda.
22
@William Plummer The majority are on our side. 2018 was the largest wave election in history.
1
@Kevin Yup, and 2010 and 2014 saw shifts to Republicans in Congress while Obama won re-election. Mid-terms are no predicators.
3
@Kevin In case you don't know we have the electoral college which sometimes makes the majority irrelevant in presidential elections. We shall see how the other elections go in 2020 but I would not count your chickens before they hatch. I have a lot of "progressives" on my wifes side of the family that have had enough of the Democrats and their antics. I seriously doubt they will pull the lever for any Republicans but a lot of them have said that unless there is some serious policy changes they are staying home.
2
Democrats should shut down the impeachment, the swing state voters aren't buying it - The last thing the democrats need is a trial in the senate where republicans are in control - Schiff gave his best shot and it hasn't worked - Talk about health care and other issues the voters care about instead of impeachment
5
liberals believe that rhetoric ("we're in a CRISIS, the sky is falling!") will convince people that energy prices aren't stable, that markets aren't historically high, that unemployment isn't historically low, that we are in a war, etc.
when moderates see trump, they see a personal style they don't support, and a long list of policies that they do support. sometimes the vehicle is less than perfect, but if it's a choice between a party that is anti-success, anti-semitic, race/gender obsessed, pro limits on free speech, etc and trump, trump wins. easily.
17
"It's the climate stupid". How anyone could support a candidate who rejects the wealth of scientific evidence about the current horrific effects of climate change is beyond me. We need an intellectual in the White House who doesn't ignore science and who is able to bring a torn Country back together again. Everything else will follow once this is done.
10
I'm still trying to figure out what these Trump supporters mean when they say that Trump has accomplished so much.
10
@sohy If you haven't figured it out by now, you never will.
14
@John He's playing the old game, exploiting the people Lyndon Johnson once commented on: those whose greatest need is to have someone to look down on. Trump makes people believe they are superior to others, and they don't hold him to any standard of performance, so they don't notice they are being manipulated and fleeced.
3
Midterm victories in the upper Midwest were always about moderate Democrats. Kitchen table, back to basics issues. Job growth, healthcare that's actually affordable, wage growth.
Not decriminalizing border crossings and free stuff for anyone who lands here.
The issues that elected Trump have not changed yet national Democrats obsessively focus on the man rather than the root causes and regional issues.
Get back to the issues that matter to traditional Democratic voters rather than insulting and demeaning them.
9
Extrapolation to a year from now is really pointless. That's what they say at the moment, and they will keep watching Fox News, but, even so, Trump will continue to decline, more testimony will come out, and the anti-Trump ads write themselves. Moreover, whoever is the candidate will not be part of a large and confusing field, but will have an opportunity to stand in direct juxtaposition to Trump and that will elevate their stature automatically, This may not drive these people to vote for an Elizabeth Warren, but it may very well keep them at home.
5
@Frank Why is that so many Democrats always demonize Fox News for its biases but don't admit that MSNBC and CNN are just as biased for the Democratic side and are stridently anti-Trump?
7
What else is new? People vote their pocketbooks. Trump is no fool. Anti-immigration, pro-business policies even at the expense of the environment, it resonates with people who struggle economically.
Well, there's always the chance of a recession...although I would be loathed to wish for people to suffer.
2
@Wilhelm It is what these people need honestly. I say bring on a recession.
5
@Kevin So, you wish a return to economic hardship for those of your fellow citizens finally enjoying a little less of it? That's nice to know. Your party is against the downtrodden. At least you are candid about it.
12
@Ellen Evans When the downtrodden support and promote hate, racism, and environmental destruction that the rest of us have to suffer through then, yep, I'm OK with them feeling some repercussions for that.
3
How can so many Americans be ignorant of facts? If you are objective, not Democratic or Republican, Trump has proven to be an empty suit. His continued presidency is a disaster for the country. There is no way to sugar coat it. You can be blind to the facts and there is no one to blame.
9
@Elniconickcbr Really? It isn't a disaster for those who are finally working again - increased workforce participation, record-low unemployment for minorities - and particularly Black and Hispanic women - rising wages, and the Dow at a new record for the 100th time under Trump.
People do tend to vote their pocketbooks - and the rising support for Trump among Hispanic and Black registered voters should scare Democrats - a lot.
14
@Ellen Evans There is no rising support. At all..
2
All of that was happening under Obama. Just look at the charts of employment year-by-year. Furthermore it could’ve been more robust under Obama but the Republicans stifled the infrastructure spending. And they still haven’t spent any money on infrastructure!
2
One of the most perplexing things about the Trump era is the voters who praise Trump for keeping his promises or getting things done. In articles like these, the voters who are quoted never cite anything specific.
Go down the list of Trump's top campaign promises, and you will see that no only has he not kept those promises, you have to wonder when is the last time he spent any effort on any of them. Repeal and replace Obamacare? Border wall funded by Mexico? Deporting 11 million "illegals" by creating a "Deportation Force"? Fixing trade with China? Bringing factory jobs back to the US from abroad? Infrastructure investment? Balanced budget? Middle East peace? Drain the swamp? 4% annual economic growth?
Serious question: isn't the Trump administration just a repeat of the W. Bush administration (tax cuts, conservative judges, moderate economic growth), minus foreign warmaking, and plus corruption and scandal? What is Trump's current agenda? What is his administration working on? Does Trump do anything all day besides watch tv and tweet?
13
@The Judge
The same thing happens when you ask them what Republicans have done for the country and/or average Americans.
Nothing.
1
@The Judge Are you serious? How has your 401k fared, with the 100th record just set by the Dow Jones under Trump? The 3.6 percent unemployment rate? Record employment for minorities? This is about as good as our economy gets.
3
@ Mr Jones. You are talking about my friend who says now she is a Democrat. She does not like Trump. I Think she really is an independent who votes her wallet, as you say. She cannot stand Warren. She won’t vote for her but she very much likes Pete Buttigieg. I pointed out to her that Mayor Pete has no support among the African American base which we Dems need to vote in large numbers. From the blank stare I got, I realized she doesn’t care about the Democratic Party, per se, but what she personally wants. That is true of these voters in swing states too.
4
@Mary Beth
Why would anybody care about the DNC or RNC, per se?
2
Comments from voters cited here are verbatim falsehoods propagated by Fox News. The Democrats they voted into Congress in 2018 did nothing? Voters who say that show their main source of information is right wing media. So what's the solution? Is it to nominate Biden? How will that overcome their misinformed impressions? Or to promote subtle distinctions: Public option instead of Medicare for All? The problem is not only that these people just hear one side, it's that they have no motivation to think critically. If the economy were poor they would be inspired to ask more questions about the news they receive. Why try to sell something to people who are not in the market to buy?
4
I don't have to love or like a candidate as a person to vote for them, the same way that I don't have to love or like an artist, actor, musician, etc. as a person to be a huge fan of their artistic work. It's all about their job performance and the outcome of their efforts. There will be plenty of people who may vote for Trump, even though they wouldn't choose him for a friend, because they think he is doing a good job with the economy, he is attempting to scale back illegal immigration, he is nominating conservative judges, etc.
15
And one-third of those voters said they will not vote for Trump. That's enough for him to lose the next election. Let's accentuate the positive, and not the fact that two-thirds continue to be misled.
4
Why did you vote for Trump in 2016?
Why do you plan to vote for Trump next year?
Thank you in advance
1
I am 42, Asian- American. I am a registered Democrat. As soon as I was 18, I Voted Democrat every chance I could. I don’t think I ever will again. I don’t consider myself a “Trump supporter” but The Democratic Party has lost its way badly. The Socialist wave is not the way to go. Many progressives think everything will magically get better if Trump is not in office. Many people believe everything they read. Problem is they are all reading and watching the same things. All you have to do is actual research on a topic. Dig deep. once you think you’ve dug enough, dig some more. The truth is there. I feel like I’m in the movie “They Live” where I put on the sun glasses and realize I’m being fed a narrative. Look beyond it. this comment will probably be deleted. No, I am not a bot.
20
@Bahn Mi Stop, what? "Problem is they are all reading and watching the same things.". You sound like a bot or troll making such a broad uninformed statement. At least clarify what you think "they are all watching and listening".
7
@Bahn Mi yes. I am now forced to question information I received from the Mainstream Media for 30 years!
Nobody in this article says “I vote for Trump because he is against climate change, because he gave a tax break to the rich, because he is racist, xenophobic and demeans and abuses women and people who do not flatter him in general, because he is incompetent, lazy, ignorant and incurious, because he is corrupt and a liar, because he is vengeful and because as an elderly person he is the opposite of a role model for my kids”. So it is just the matter of Americans living in their narrow slice. Thus not all is lost.
6
So maybe so-called "centrist Dems" and the NY Times should pause for a minute: is impeachment on the narrow basis of the Ukraine mess the best way to get rid of the total disaster playing at being president? Some Dems are ready to focus on the real issues and they are those that Obama targets.
The media followed the Moonves rule in 2016 (maybe bad for America but focus on Trump is good for us). Now this 24/7 Trump and Ukraine is having the same effect. There is no bad publicity so talking about the childish narcissist all the time 1- appeals to him 2- crowds out any other issue.
1
Bernie Sanders is the worst thing that ever happened to the Democratic Party. And he’s not even a Democrat!
You can rationalize till you’re blue that his policies will achieve this or that — but the main takeaway by swing voters is that he’s a socialist. And they think the whole Party has become socialist.
He pulled Hillary to the left, and he and Warren are now the faces of the Party. If it came down to Trump vs Sanders, despite my loathing for Trump, I’d still vote for him as the lesser of two evils.
9
@David G Amen! In 2016, I told a relative that given all the effort Democrats have put into distinguishing themselves from Socialists, they would make a huge mistake by nominating an avowed Socialist. Especially one who won't even join the party! The very idea is bonkers.
6
I'm sick of these ridiculous "battleground" states. Let's have a national election without regard to to states or regions within them and whoever gets the most votes wins. If Trump is reelected through this sham system, in which farmland Ohio and Pennsylvania determine the outcome for everything including the 200 times more people who live in Los Angeles, I honestly can't tell you whether California will want to remain. No more outsized Iowa and New Hampshire primaries. No more cow counties who reject science and reason determining who the president of this sophisticated country should be.
17
@Joe
Please import the failed governance of CA to the rest of the country. Good riddance amigo
11
@RJ CA is the most successful state.
3
@Joe
I am waiting for the first Democrat who is always saying we need to get rid of the electoral college to actually submit a bill to change the constitution and have direct elections. You do know that the electoral college is a part of the constitution, don’t you? Let’s see how well the idea of direct elections plays outside of New York City and the coastal areas of California. Democrats, please, please run on the platform of direct elections.
4
A big part of this problem is that Republican Party is standing behind Trump and this gives a license to those voters to support this corrupt president. Shame on the Republican Party!
Add to this a Murdoch 39% owned Fox News ... rather than following democratic values they chose to enrich themselves by sanctioning and supporting demagogic populism.
Unless Republicans, Fox and likes become at least moderately civics minded it will be difficult to change those voters worldview.
It is truly heartbreaking.....
1
Much research shows the state of the economy drives national elections. These economy-first voters may change their minds after the climate is so clearly wrecked that it's too late to do anything about it. On the other hand, they're such fools they may not change their minds at all.
4
This points directly to a failure of the Democratic party. Namely that it has backed global, liberal capitalism to the detriment of the middle class. Behind its rhetoric, the party's actions and statistics speak louder than words.
Don't get me wrong. Both parties back the same economic agenda -- they just vary on degree and methods to get there (e.g. tax and spend vs. spend and spend). But at the core, they both have worked tirelessly to facilitate the transfer of wealth from the middle class to the 1%.
The only way to beat Trump is to expose his part in this. But to do that, you have to describe the "this". And to do that, you have to admit to the culpability of BOTH parties. And that is a political third rail for the dems.
So yes... Four More Years! Four More Years!
3
This is good. People who can, actually, think for themselves.
The rest just does what "The Party" says to do.
6
Im not sure what Democrats have accomplished since gaining the House. It doesnt seem like they do anything except investigate, while the peoples work doesnt get done.
15
As you sow so shall you reap. The democrats sowed seeds of confusion, uncertainty, false narrative, useless alternatives to what is now the best state of the union and the world. I have been telling this to the democrats for the past several months. But who listens to an average American in the heartland?
16
NYT: how about an article that lists Trump’s accomplishments and their impacts?
I keep hearing about how his supporters like that he “gets things done.”
My impression has always been that he talks a good game, but his actual accomplishments don’t actually benefit most working people.
8
@Jack from Montana makes a point to me,"With people who think like the voters featured in the article, there is little hope for American democracy. There is no need to explain. The situation is all too obvious.", the people & mindsets featured in this article present the ideas that Mr Cohn and Ms Miller want to present. The duo plays heavy with stats and that is a good game. The old adage of "figures don't lie but liars are always figuring" still holds.
How I wish that reporting was like with Cronkite, "That is the way that it is" rather than "this is our take on it." Seems like Fox's "Faux Fair and Balanced" is spreading.
1
So shouldnt the real headline be “One Third of Trump Voters in Battleground States Won’t Vote for Trump Again in 2020”? Given his margins in 2016, that is the more accurate assessment of the numbers.
1
This is good. People who can, actually, think for themselves.
The rest just does what "The Party" says to do.
3
As H.L. Mencken famously (and approximately) noted: "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people. " Some of the people cited in this article are demonstrating that they are indeed "the poorly educated" this con man obviously loves. If they can't see Trump's arrogance, ignorance, divisiveness and utter disdain for anyone other than himself, then they are indeed undeserving of democracy. The rest of us will stagger on, hoping that common sense prevails in 2020.
4
It really does seem like a lot/most Americans regardless of party are ignorant about economics. The President isn’t a God king who determines growth rates. A lot of that is based on the American people themselves, global conditions, and even lower level politicians.
3
I am very satisfied to hear and see this now. It proves my point that Democrats are not listening and are continuing to make the same destructive decisions that got Trump elected in the first place. Time and time again in NYT’s comment section I see the remarks and warnings of moderate democrats denigrated and completely dismissed byultra-liberals as nonsense and out-of-touch with the mainstream. Well it’s time to wake up radicals.
This is not a complex matter. There are two issues Democrats must disabuse themselves of: 1) As much as most liberals hate to admit it Bernie and Warren cannot defeat Trump in the general election. It’s pure fantasy.
2) Immigration, the Environment and Gender Rights should NOT be anywhere near at the top of the list of issues to any candidate should be advocating.
The ONLY issues to run on are JOBS, The Economy and HealthCare, Period!!
Everything else should come secondary to the 3 core issues. They should, because if we think intelligently the other issues are sub-components of these umbrella matters.
These are not the words of some newbie democrat, but a Brooklyn and DC, life-long city dwelling Black American who for over 25-years has worked across the city - from the rough & tumble projects of Brownsville to the plush floors in management at a “blue blood” Wall St investment bank.
To be more frank, if dems refuse to change course, you can kiss a large chunk of the Afro American vote good bye, including mine and many who think like me.
11
We are a society, Sir, not a market.
2
Sad to say this but perhaps at this point in our history Americans are getting what they deserve.
2
@Michael And we like it!
4
Some of these people suffer from bad information. Democrats have done nothing in DC? They have passed bill after bill only to have them languish in the Senate. Does anyone point this out to them? Please.
5
The impeachment process is a hyper-micro scope on the tiny machinations of a very small matter. The screaming and wailing about the end of our Democracy just sounds and looks silly. Add to that the Senate will not vote to remove the President. Trumps gets reelected.
8
Historically people who consistently vote want to maintain a balance of power between the Executive and Legislative branches. Although, when there has been a shift to one party, that power rarely would be maintained an entire Presidential term.
This analysis ignores what really happened in 2018, which is that voting by generations younger than Boomers nearly doubled from 2014. The growth opportunity continues to be primarily in younger voters.
It is not about some confused people who swing from Sanders to Trump. Its about people who didn't vote previously deciding to take charge of their futures.
6
@Look Ahead
If memory serves, it was moderate Democrats who took Republican seats in 2018.
3
This is Trump's plan to lose the actual vote, (euphemistically called the "Popular Vote", as if a real democracy has another voting system), by far more than 3 million votes, and still win the Electoral College.
The Trump/GOP strategy comes down to a handful of states and a mere "2 percent of registered voters" who are "not representative". This sliver of the electorate is "overwhelmingly white, 60 percent male, and two-thirds have no college degree."
A handful of white people, mostly men, with limited education may well get to anoint Trump again after he loses the popular vote by a huge margin because we have the most non-representative system in the world, and because they pretend "(Trump's) a great president. Most politicians just talk about doing things, but Trump does them."
Trump does things, like rigging American elections and stealing money from average Americans and giving it to billionaires. He also destroys the office of the president, self-deals, lies, is corrupt, violates the US Constitution, bribes foreign officials, takes orders from Vladimir Putin, betrays our allies, pardons war criminals, disseminates disinformation...
I know a good number of such voters in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. As surveys already showed they don't vote for Trump based on his being good at anything. They vote for Trump because he hurts Americans they hate. They'll tell you straight out that any American who is different than them isn't actually American.
8
This news is too early to determine who will get the votes. Some folks are absolutely going to vote "their" party, Democrats or Republican. For me? It's character first, party second. I don't want or need a revolution; I just want want some sanity. Please no more lies or "exaggerated truths". No more hissy fits of a leader who can get so angry that he's impulsive and explosive.
1
Just for the sake of environment alone you may think these people should vote for Democrats. But that’s seems to be the least of their issue as long as they are able to consume better and stronger under strong economy. That’s why human race will be getting extinct, in fact sooner than we think.
5
It's not worth arguing anymore. Nothing can get through to them. Trump is a complete tear-down of a human being, and all he has done as president has been disastrous for struggling people everywhere, but they support him anyway despite the devastation to the country, to their communities, and to their families.
People wonder why. That's easy. Look at Trump's defining characteristics and there's the answer. Trump's depraved inhumanity toward poor people of color, gay people, all marginalized minorities, is in his bones, and the fearful mob loves him for it. When they say "he's just like me," that's what they mean. They'd literally rather die than lose the man who validates them.
The only thing that could turn the dead-enders against Trump is if he were to have an unexpected Scrooge-like surge of humanity. It ain't gonna happen. So please, no more stories about diner chats with humble Trump lovers who will never change. We know all about it. They are the people we used to invite to Thanksgiving.
10
I'm a lifelong Democrat who crossed over and gladly voted for Trump and gladly will vote again for him. And the media and the Dems veracious hatred for this President will not sway me. He has his eye on the ball at all times, and if the Dems cooperated with him on important issues, as their constituency want, we would have already started rebuilding our infrastructure. I won't vote for a Dem because they have not done anything significant since 2016 to move this country forward. But they have tried to break it apart!
13
@J. G. Smith Rebuilding infrastructure was just an empty campaign promise. There's no reason he couldn't have done it by now. None.
1
The only good news I read today is that US fertility rates are at an all time low and falling. Ultimately,it translates into less sanctimonious, and entitled people on Earth. Maybe Trump won't be Long for long.
1
They voted for Trump in 2016 and Trump won by 73000 votes spread across three states.In 2016 turnout for Black voters was down in those states Trump won. So as a party do we keep whining about those voters who are saying they are going to vote for Trump again or do we concentrate on turnout of people of color? The party taking the people of color vote for granted in 2016 get us Trump. Those who fail to remember are doomed to repeat. This constant worrying about about non college educated White Voters breaking for Trump tells voters of color they are still riding in the back of the bus. Wouldn't it be more productive to be registering and motivating people who didn't vote in 2016? Turnout is going to be the key in 2020. We have been playing Get Trump for almost three years with Mueller and now impeachment and ignoring the one true method to dump Trump.Turnout.
3
@Steven McCain
What are the risks of "people of colour" realising that they are really only "of interest" to Democrats every 4 years? have many already come to that conclusion?
8
It’s the economy and immigration policies - how are the Democrats going to change that?
6
The air of highbrow smugness in these types of articles - in depicting the Trump voter as some sort of uneducated and unrefined laboratory animal which must be studied, is downright offensive.
I wish the NYT or these pollsters would call me. I’m Ivy League educated and went to both a top Medical School and elite Business school. I’d throw a complete wrench into their theory about Trump voters because I am one and will be again.
The democrats are about ideological labels, redistribution, open borders, taxes, soaking the rich, and free everything for everyone.
I’d say at least 4 out of 5 moderately successful business people I talk to are planning to vote for Trump. If the democrats have any hope in this election - it’s to appeal to moderates in the business community which they simply are not doing.
16
How very depressing, such profound ignorance of reality. And frightening. If it does prevail in 2020, our entire nation will have to endure the consequences for decades to come, and I don’t say shame because the very notion of it seems to have lost all relevance for our national conscience.
Or perhaps that 40+ percent who didn’t bother to vote in 2016 will be motivated to do so in 2020. As the saying goes: if you don’t make your own choices someone else will make them for you. Let us hope most of us own up to our civil responsibility to participate in deciding who will be steering our nation’s course out of the dark and murky waters in which our ship of state has lost its bearings, as it heads straight for the rocks.
2
If these Trump voters would change the channel from Fox News and look away from Facebook every once in a while, they would have a lot better idea of what Trump has been doing as their president. I hope that Michael Bloomberg will put some of his millions into educational messages about the Trump administration on the media favored by Trump supporters, and on sporting events, and maybe convince a few of them to broaden their horizons. Tom Steyer could do the same. I see him constantly on Youtube, but all he does is badmouth Washington DC. He sounds like Trump.
2
~ The Declaration of Independence provides a foundation for the idea that the government exists to serve the people, who elect representatives to express their (people's) will.
~ The US Constitution outlines the blueprint for the US governmental system, which strives to balance individual liberty with public order.
~ The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are documents that provide the ideological foundations for the democratic government of the United States.
~ The Declaration of Independence served as a statement of the Founders’ beliefs in natural rights and individual liberties. With the Constitution, the early American statesmen attempted to build a government that was strong enough to sustain itself without infringing on citizens’ rights and liberties.
I hope whoever wins the next election, upholds these values, laws and expectations that makes our country the envy of all others...that they uphold and follow the values fundamental to our Constitution / Democracy; and above all to our Freedom and Liberty.....leading to a less bitter and divisive thinking / way of life.
@Where are we headed ?
We are no longer "the envy of all others" ... That change began in the early 1960s and has only increased since.
On one issue only, immigration, Canada, Australia, NZ and the EU have done much better than we have. Our laws have not worked well for the country since they were voted in the 1960s.
The war on poverty has spent trillions but our national poverty rate has barely changed. Is the envy provoking management of a problem?
We are not "the envy" any more. We are a magnet for all the poor of the world for the same reasons. Each gets to decide if that is good for us or not.
4
This is a lot of words to say that the majority of people prefer to believe nice untruths than unnice truths. Your respondents say they are voting for Trump because he gets things done - what things are those? No new NAFTA, no new trade deal with China, no revitalization of jobs in the coal industry, no improved healthcare deal. You DID get more air and water pollution, more hate crimes, more gun violence, and a much bigger gap between rich and poor - is that what these people voted for?
7
@Everyman
You ask "what things" have been done.
Yesterday, I believe, an executive order was signed to finally put federal efforts into dealing with the Native American women disappearances and deaths .... For some that is important recognition of a problem that has lasted far too long.
Trump is appreciated and hated for many of the same reasons. He has put a finger on delicate issues that have been ignored (in finer company). A problem cannot be solved if we fear naming and addressing it.
5
To heck with that segment of the population. If they don’t have enough sense of the dangers to the country that Trump poses and the behavior he exhibits, we don’t want their votes. Democratic candidates need to excite the Democratic base; they need to give those who stayed away from the the voting booths in 2016 a reason to wake up early and vote on Nov. 3, 2020.
2
It is unfortunate that often people cannot see beyond the thought forms installed in their minds through whichever channels they immersed in. An obvious failure in our education system. The best way for a voter is to expose to wider range and more information regarding various issues instead of lock into one or few channels and prime for indoctrination. It is obvious anyone in WH can and will do stuffs, but what and for what causes. There are so many more capable candidates out there this time that are way better than the currently in office in terms of integrity, wisdom, and intention.
1
Respectfully, I think the people who are still with Trump because of what he has accomplished need to get caught up on reality. He spends more tax payer dollars campaigning than doing any real work for the United States. Every speech he gives or appearance he makes is another Trump rally. He even used tax payers dollars to send Govt employees (Mulvaney, Perry, Sondland) on his political errand. Even if you support him, how is this not an abuse of federal rules against Govt employees working for a political candidate on the clock? The Democrats are doing the People's work. Trump, who doesn't even do his own work, is only interested in himself. We are not the United States any more. Trump has seen to that.
4
If someone buys you wonderful gift after gift and assures you that they contribute to the financial health of your employer so that your job is secure, you will be delighted.
It will be less delightful when you find out that it was all done on your credit card and a second mortgage on your home and that person who walked you through these delights is long gone. That is the secret to the Republican Party and their Leader. Charge it but don’t say it’s going on your tab. Obfuscate and call attention to other matters until you retire in the distance. It’s a glittering lovely time — until it’s not.
6
Therevis so many wrong conclusions in thus articke based on the info provided... much less other info not cited that overwhelmingly says otherwise.
The Dems won in 2018 by getting NEW voters, not former Trump voters. Turnout substantially increased in 2018, so it was people turning out in disgust of trump and GOP and not so much former Trump supporters changing tgeir mind.
And the author says even so it was less than 2% so that woukd not make a dent.
We need massive turnout in 2020 to send a strong message that trump and GOP are destroying the country. Ues Mr. Nunes, and Jim Jorden and Lindsey Graham that means you.. enabked by Collins and Murkowski
2
To be quite blunt I have read and heard more than enough from the NYT and other media outlets regarding these Trump voters.
They voted for him in 2016 knowing quite well he was lacking in any moral character.
What on earth could possibly have happened in the past 3 years to change their mind. It is not as though Trump has suddenly had an epiphany and become a decent person.
No ,they will vote for him once more in 2020 , why is this in any way newsworthy, or for that matter a newsflash.
6
At this point and given the full throttle personal attacks on a large portion of our citizenry, there may be many voters out there who will not speak out but will vote. We will see.
It began with "deplorables". How can anyone expect to win hearts and minds of those not already under the tent by dismissing, insulting and demeaning them?
Also, mass migration, not to be confused with orderly immigration, is an important issue across most of the Western world. Democrats are putting their party at risk with some of their rhetoric and refusal to address illegal aliens with adequate legislation (wok permits vs. green cards) because they may not realise how important that topic is for a very large portion of citizens.
5
Not one person under 35 interviewed. Avg age of interviewees around 47. In short, don't trust anyone starting to experience age-related brain shrinkage. (I'm 44 for the record...or am I 43?). This election will be about whether or not Millennials have both the vision and the courage to stand up for themselves and the future of the planet. I'm optimistic they'll turn out even in the Rust Belt.
None of the issues these people are focused on appear even to be on the radar screen of our current candidates.
And don’t discount their perspective. Unlike that supposed mother lode of untapped potential Democratic voters that didn’t materialize in 2016, at least they bothered to vote...even in the mid-terms.
1
Fox News the mouth piece of the right spent 8 years screaming about how bad the economy was under Obama while it grew year after year. It seems a lot of Fox News watcher were so frightened that they just stayed out of the economy not making major purchases and delaying business decisions. Suddenly come the Trump presidency Fox News immediately started talking about how well the economy was doing and all the conservatives who had just sat and waited out the Obama years suddenly started buying homes and opening up or expanding businesses.
It seems that conservatives care way more about horn tooting than economic policies.
Voting with your pocketbook is selling your vote to whoever promises or seems to help you or your sort of job or your community. Many people have no sense that the processes by which the country works matter, so they see no reason to defend one or another process. As long as the powers that be take care of them, they support the powers that be.
1
I'm trying to figure out what it is that Trump has accomplished that these voters like or that benefits them. I can't think of anything. Just because Fox News says he's done so much doesn't make it true. This sliver of the voting public must be listening only to Fox, and that's scary.
1
Trump isn’t much different from mainstream Republicans of today. Proof for this is that there is no dissent among Republicans against Trump activities. The threat for democrats comes from socialist democrats and not from Trump.
1
I'm trying to figure out what it is that Trump has accomplished that these voters like or that benefits them. I can't think of anything. Just because Fox News says he's done so much doesn't make it true. This sliver of the voting public must be listening only to Fox, and that's scary.
1
Sorry, but i had to stop reading this out of sheer frustration. The expressed by so many of these Trump voters was simply astounding. Especially the one who wanted to vote for Trump because he was a businessman. Really?
This is so disturbing. The Dems might be a bit in disarray, but I hope that former Trump supporters can see that Trump hasn’t done anything that will really help them. Not enough jobs, no health care benefits, etc. He talks a good game, but hasn’t delivered.
What exactly do these people think he's done? Where are their examples? Gutting environmental protection and endless golf dont seem like positives.
Partisanship...
Please bear with me. A little bit of background. I have been an independent voter for nearly 3 decades. When voting, I don't care about party lines. I vote for the best person for the office regardless of personal feelings. I voted for Ross Protection twice TBH.
Now back to my original line, partisanship is what is most wrong with our nation's politics IMHO. Starting with Bill Clinton, Republicans spent too much time, energy, and worst of all, taxpayer funds in going after him for an affair. Was he guilty of perjury? Yes. Should he have been endlessly subjugated to impeachment proceedings for what should have been handled between him and Hillary.? No
The election of 2000.
This, IMO, is where hyperpartisanship truly started. To repeated once more in 2016. Instead of doing the jobs they were elected and swore to perform, Democrats focused on being a victim of tampering and hanging Chad's. Spending even more taxpayer dollars on why they were wronged. This continues in the last 3 years of having a policy of "Anything to oust Trump" in my view.
I am willing to debate choices, politics, and viewpoints on every topic. My issue is, in this world of Democrat v Republican, will anyone truly listen to a different opinion?
I welcome any feedback. Thank you for reading.
The biggest missed opportunity for the Dems is immigration reform - the stick of sanctions on employers for hiring illegally and the carrot visa and green cards for the workers that those same employers need to continue their businesses. Which that condition, it would be much easier to get DACA passed in Congress.
If there were no jobs available for illegal workers, but there were legal visas available, migrants could save big money by not paying smugglers and avoid having to risk death/prison to get their US jobs.
I don't think stories like this are helpful. Besides being depressing, they don't mean anything. We've got a year to go. Who can't remember a hundred times when some poll this early was on Mercury when it should have been on Saturn. Time and candidate particulars make all the difference in the world. Endless speculation may fill newspapers and ESPN, but it's a waste of time and effort. Tamp it down.
1
Hmmm... So Trump barely won PA, MI, and WI in 2016, lost the "popular" vote by 3 million, and a third of the people who voted for him in 2016 and a Democrat in 2018 say they will vote for a Democrat in 2020. Even if you add in the 7% who voted for Hillary in 2016 who say they will vote for him in 2020, how does this translate into a Trump victory, especially when there are now four more years worth of young voters, and a higher percentage of African-American and Hispanic voters than 2016, all of whom despise him by lopsided margins, plus a lot of people who voted for third parties or stayed home (Hillary had an eight point margin among non-voters) who won't do so this time?
Substantial majorities of Americans have been saying for more than a year that they won't vote for him under any circumstance. What reporting like this does is discourage his opponents while giving his merry band of autocrats license to steal the next election again by making it plausible that he could legitimately win. Which isn't surprising because the "liberal" media has done boffo business with him as president (esp. those who are writing the checks with a lot more cash on hand for themselves, thanks to his tax cuts for the wealthy), and in any case, has a strong business in positioning the race as competitive.
8
It's mentioned in the article, but needs to behighlighted: the Trump votes who voted for Democrats in 2018 represent a small sliver of the electorate. The overriding factor that retuned Pelosi to the speakership was historic midterm turnout among an electorate that has been awakened to the fact that elections matter.
We have no guarantee that we can prevent Trump's reelection and right the ship, but the result will depend more on turning out an emboldened electorate than on the voters profiled here. Trump remains historically unpopular for a time of low unemployment and relative prosperity, and deservedly so.
5
The article reports the voters' opinions as if they came out of their actual experience (and perhaps implicitly their high school education), but the views sound like they have been scripted by Fox, talk radio, Trump's tweets, religious sermons, or Christian radio. It would be useful to know what they listen to and whether their perceptions of big gains from the Trump economy and the administration's policies are being driven by propaganda or are a product of life cycle changes.
10
What is conservative about a party that will cost the public billions upon billions of dollars foe cleaning up the devastation caused by climate change, just because they want to save big business a buck or two?
What is conservative about a party that endorses a healthcare system that costs double any other system— burdening business and entrepreneurship; causing huge stress and hardship to patients: and cutting workers’ pay packets?
I’m conservative. Therefore I’ll be voting Democrat until the Republicans get it together.
17
I like my child tax cut,I want a lower tax rate for the lower middle class,I do not need Medicare for all, though maybe in ten years and it should be Medicare for all if I want it. First I want to see more jobs and higher taxes on the rich and some asset taxes and real enforcement and the government can pay down the deficits to 0.
And do infrastructure. So you need someone who will be moderate and promise that as an election promise . You know anyone out there?
1
@Richard
The main problem of a system where Medicare is optional to private insurance is, it will lead to private for profit insurers doing everything they can to insure only healthy people, and dumping the sickest ones on Medicare. This will increase the cost per person covered by the public system, while boosting profits for the insurers in the private system.. And so long as people can get on the public system at will, there will be no short term consequences of private insurers dumping their sickest customers.
@RM good reply. Medicare for all later. Though it is an excellent idea. Just too much too soon. Maybe five years. We have to get over Trump first. We have to Tax the rich and assets and fight to make it work
Being from non battleground Vermont, it makes no difference who I vote for. However, my concern is our relationship with China. The trade war has revealed that China has no intention of reforming its markets, has ambitions of world economic domination, and simply demands a non level playing table, tilted in its favor, to allow access to its markets of 1.3 billion consumers. And our capitalists are so eager to access this market, that they are willing to subject themselves to having intellectual property and technology stolen.
No serious trade agreement will be signed before the election. After the election, we will be able to get much tougher with the Chinese. I think our long term interests are better served by disengaging from China on much of everything except agricultural sales.
Lenin said that if they wanted to hang all the capitalists, the capitalists would sell them the rope. We are presently selling the Chinese miles and miles of rope. Good for short term corporate profits, bad for our long term security interests.
I have no confidence that any new administration will recognize the China situation for what it is, and address it appropriately.
8
Warren may but she is too far left. I think Buttigieg or Klobuchar will also, but they are not likely to get the nomination (just maybe for Pete). Biden and Bloomberg will not be tough on China.
@RM - I have no confidence that the Trump administration will do anything to improve the China situation, and given Trump's performance in office so far, I have every confidence that he will sell the American people out for cheap publicity.
2
Using the analogy of an alcoholic or drug addict we need to hit rock bottom before there is any hope of recovery. That definition will mean different things to different people but voting to keep a divided government means that nothing that is really important will ever get solved. Vote on policy and vote on character. Both of those are important, but clearly we are in for another 2 decades of lost chances.
6
What if Gore had picked Gephardt instead of Lieberman? Might this have made the difference in that election? Likewise, picking Klobuchar as VP in the upcoming election might be the difference. She is capable and liked in the Midwest, and the Democrats must overcome the impression that they abandoned their voters there over global trade.
And if a carbon tax to subsidize purchases of renewable energy products is part of the platform, it should also help them as the revenue could be mandated to buy American made. There is also the revelation that global warming is causing the increasingly heavy flooding.
6
The voters discussed in this article are
not necessary for the Democrats to
win the states that perhaps allowed a
Trump electoral college victory in 2016.
A flawed strategy would make the white
working class without college degrees
the focus of the Democratic Presidential
campaign. Those voters are gone. The
Democratic success in 2018 was built
on the dependable base of women, people
of color and the college educated suburbans. Effort and turnout will work.
Trump provides the motivation. The
authors caution the Democrats not to
be complacent. After the last three years there are no complacent Democrats; it
is hard to be complacent when you are
aggrieved.
17
@howard williams
"Those voters are gone."
Interesting if that means that one party should simply dismiss and ignore a big chunk of the nation's citizens. Is that "Democratic", one nation for all?
1
I keep saying the same thing: Stick with the guy who got you there.. Impeachment is losing steam and Americans are losing interest, and if we can believe polls, African Americans and Hispanic Americans are evenly split when it comes to issue of impeachment. Support of moderate Republican Will HURD, whose support Pelosi was counting on for the appearance of bipartisanship in the House is now out the window, and Dems. in swing districts which went for Trump in 2016 have misgivings. If he stays healthy, TRUMP looks like a sure bet for 2020 to be re elected.He grows on people.Intellectual honesty of this article and its fine writing deserve honorable mention.
21
Why wouldn't they vote for him again? I live in PA and certainly plan on voting for him. I don't like him but this is by far the best economy I've experienced in my lifetime. The candidates the Democrats have on offer are abysmal.
32
It is amazing how the economy just instantly improved with his election, like magic.
Or that he's reaping the benefits of an orchard in bloom, one that was planted well and nurtured for years before his election.
Unfortunately we love believing in magic..
2
Right....and when you can't breathe the air or drink the water, you can thank Trump. When storms become more frequent and violent because climate change, after all, is just a hoax, you can thank Trump. When people die because health care is unavailable , you can thank Trump. When the infrastructure crumbles beneath your feet, you can thank Trump. And when the gap between the richest and poorest among us becomes even wider, you can thank Trump.
1
Ignorance. Please explain exactly how POTUS is a magician that can control the economy, while accounting for growth rate pre-Trump, global conditions, and about a thousand other factors.
1
Bernie Sanders is the only democratic candidate who addresses the concerns of those moderates who like Trump and will vote for him; and addressing the concerns of those voters, steering them away from Trump, is the only way to win in 2020. Bernie is the only one who can speak to voters as effectively as Trump does, but with integrity, instead of lies, when he offers Americans dignity and a living wage.
9
Given the real harm that Trump would wreak on the planet, the nation, the economy, and ultimately on their lives, the fact that these voters remain committed to Trump means that they are forever lost to Democrats. Focus on voters who can still be persuaded by reason and have a future focus beyond the last decade of their lives.
58
Why do the Democrats believe they have to win over these voters in 2020? They don’t have to get these voters to flip, they need a candidate who is going to get people to come out and vote who haven’t voted before or those who sat out 2016 because neither Hilary or Trump motivated them enough to go out and vote. They need a presidential candidate who gets people excited and brings an energy that swaths of people can embrace.
31
Whether we like it or not, it’s up to democrats to persuade Trump voters to switch. The rabid MAGA crowd won’t, but the people profiled here might.
Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, my opinion only, have a condescendingly preachy way about them. And insulting Michael Bloomberg as an out of touch billionaire doesn’t help.
I’m delighted Amy Klobuchar is being given a second look. Those few persuadable Trump voters might actually listen to her while simultaneously tuning out those screaming for a political revolution.
11
Democrats have choice to court the captious voters or to built their strong base. The strong base worked for Reps, I don't see why it would not work for Dems.
3
“He’s not exactly the person I’d have as my best friend,” said Ms. California, who currently lives in Los Angeles as a traveling nurse. “But he’s a great president. Most politicians just talk about doing things, but Trump does them.”
Where was the follow up question to ask her what exactly did Trump do
56
@Tom I suggest you look at your investments. It will all come down to the economy. When USMCA and the China trade deal are completed it is then lights out for the dems.
7
@Donald
How sad you can watch our democracy being destroyed by a criminal enterprise, but celebrate your investments. I guess everybody has a price.
2
Duh. They voted for Democrats in the midterms only to see those same Democrats do their best to oust the President they voted for. If the Democrats had focused on doing the things these same voters expected, like attempting to improve the environment, help the middle class, supporting the economy and job creation, improve healthcare, etc. they might have stayed with the Democrat's ship. But, no, Democrats didn't do any of the above. They spent the last two years with inquiries, investigation, impeachment nonsense and the like. Little wonder these people are jumping ship. And, they're likely to vote Republican for congressional offices as well as the presidency.
17
To those who question what DEMS have done, what do you specifically want them to do? Stuff?? What stuff? Be specific. They have plenty on their plates they’d like to accomplish beyond preserving what is left of the ACA , the social safety net, and environmental protections. But as of now they do not have an opposition party at all interested in those priorities. As you may recall, McConnell’s priority was to undermine virtually everything Obama and the Democrats tried to do. I ask you, as well, what is it that Trump has done? Lower YOUR taxes?? Brought affordable housing to your community? Made health insurance work for you? Please enlighten me because I’m stumped. And for what it’s worth, I’m fine. People like me have very little to worry about but I am pretty the same can’t be said about most of the people interviewed for this article.
2
Well the Democrats narrowly stopped the repeal of the ACA.
The republicans don’t care about health care or environment. So fighting them is how you “work” for those things.
You seem to be blaming the Democrats for not controlling the senate and White House, which are essential to policy-making.
And for the record, the Mueller investigation was run by the FBI, not the Democrats. And I don’t know what to say if you don’t think an obvious case of bribery that’s explicitly condemned in the constitution seems like democrats dragging their feet on jobs or whatever.
You seem confused about how government works and what a minority party can do.
2
@B. T. Actually they did these things. They passed bills and sent them to the Senate. And there they sit.
2
A vote for Donald Trump next year is a vote to flush our democracy and indeed our future, down the toilet. Twenty, or thirty years from now, when our food supply has collapsed and nations are at war over access to water, arable land and whatever precious resources are left, those of us who are still alive will look back at these years and think about the people who voted to keep Donald Trump in power for 8 years (and after that, probably to keep Republicans in power in perpetuity, after they dismantle what remains of our democratic institutions). Particularly for the older people who supported Trump there will be no forgiveness. Only bitter frustration at their selfishness and ignorance.
44
The fanatical, unswerving loyalty, call it almost religious devotion, we see in many Trump supporters, deserves a label. “Cult” will do very well. If I were a Dem strategist, I would tell my people to go heavy on the word. No one likes it. No pejorative would unsettle Trump followers more, or is more likely to help them come to see how blinkered is their belief system. And unlike the epithets thrown at the Dems by the Rs, this one is true. Unquestioning obedience of a group to one person is is the very definition of a cult.
22
oh well, we need another recession anyway to put housing cost back in check.
8
@Monsp
Housing prices are already dropping in Southern California and we usually lead the country into the recessions and we usually are in the lead as the recovery begins.
4
What is interesting to me about those who will vote for Trump is that they ignore or brush away his racism and sexism and all the other isms that apply.
This runs contrary to everything I hold dear and true. This ignorance also puts my life and that of others, at serious risk.
At a mall today in Camp Hill, PA, a large Winnebago made its way around the parking lot several times over, displaying obscene signs of Trump support.
As an African-American woman, I felt threatened and questioned spending my money at that mall.
This is what we have come to as a nation.
33
These “I don’t like him but I would vote for him” voters have some bad news headed their way if Trump gets re-elected. Economic downturn which is overdue, will make their jobs vanish, health care for the needy and sick will be unaffordable as Obamacare gets fully gutted by Trump, and we will likely get into a war with one of the crackpot regimes and send young people, usually poor and not college educated, to their graves in the process. It is too bad the rest of us may get the President these small-minded voters deserve.
32
@Independent except you told me all of these things were imminent the minute Trump got elected. Why should we believe you again?
5
@Independent
"health care for the needy and sick will be unaffordable as Obamacare gets fully gutted". For the average Trump voters that`s a reason to celebrate!
"Most politicians just talk about doing things, but Trump does them."
O to have had the chance to unpeel this onion a little. What, but what, are these things that Trump has done?
29
Anyone in the sandlaying business? Because America is chock full of ostriches. The problem that exists are two fold. 1. The engenderment and entitlement of feelings. I personally don't think we should want to have a beer with our politicians, nor should me like the way they look or sound, etc. We should want them to be professional public servants dedicated to the oath they swore. They shouldn't entertain us. We should want them to enact policies that the law dictates, and work with the system as it is. Change it? Sure. But don't sunder it.
2. People have become far too interested in strategy. Instead of wanting leaders, we want team captains. That's not the role. Just vote your informed interest, and vote to work with your fellow countrypeople. Is it really that hard? We face a lot of dire issues. We need people that care about dealing with the macro.
13
When the truth and facts are ignored or bypassed by citizens who are genuinely good people due to life's demands, then there's an opening for a charlatan. It's dragic that a once great nation should peter-out is such a casual way. But, here we are.
12
If Dems want to win in 2020, they need to become a lot more centrist. Stop the identity politics, hyperwoke shouting, and impeachment talk.
Oh, and please please stop the abortion-with-no-restrictions as a litmus test. They need to go back to safe legal & rare. Otherwise, abortion alone will lead a Trump win in 2020.
19
Is it how Trump won? Seems to me, he won on division and identity. I think Dems should go left and offer better solutions to the problem. They may not win this time, but they will built much stronger coalition than they have now.
9
If there was ever any doubt that we must find a way to abolish tor render superfluous the Electoral College, this article should erase that doubt. There is no doubt that the vast majority of American people will vote to throw out this lawless, criminal, narcissistic, fascistic traitor the first chance they get. But, just as Hillary Clinton's supporters discovered in 2016, even a majority popular vote of many millions may make no difference because of the totally unjustifiable advantage the Electoral College gives to a vast geographic swaths of this country with far fewer people than the fewer states where the bulk of the actual population of the nation lives. In consequence, we are enduring the tyranny of this minority -- a minority, as several here have pointed out, that is less educated, or even barely educated, and has no real understanding of the threats this "President" poses to our national security and to the future of the world.
The Electoral College MUST be abolished or completely reconfigured. The future of our democracy and the rule of law depends upon it.
30
@Rick
The last Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1992. The Equal Rights Amendment might possibly be ratified next year if Virginia votes for it. 28 years is a long time between Amendments.
4
@Rick
Please enlighten me on your stance regarding the Electoral College if different than it's original intent or my understanding of it.
History lesson:
The Electoral College was put in place for similar reasons the Senate as compared to the House of Representatives.
Each state is weighted based on population. Hence California has more representatives than say, Delaware. However, each has 2 senators. In this way the intent is balance.
Similarly, each state's Electoral weight is changed when total population increases or decreases.Example could be Pennsylvania v Florida. The latter has significantly more Electoral votes now as opposed to past elections.
In addition, popular vote is taken into account for each state. Again, looking at Pennsylvania in 2012, Over 80% of the state (by county) went for Romney. However, by population, was less than approximately 50% (sorry don' have the exact number). In this case, voters were truly split. As an "all or nothing" state, Obama received EVERY Electoral vote. So before discounting the importance of the Electoral College do your homework. It does the job it was intended to do
6
It gives people in the emptiest least productive areas greater political weight than those in the more productive more populous areas. That’s a point blank unmitigated failure no matter how you spin it.
1
Folks are apparently too ignorant of economics to realize that Trump is draining the economic aquifer dry faster than it replenish. We should have been raising rates, but that wasn’t politically expedient so the Federal Reserve has continued to grease the skids for now to maybe hold things up until Trump’s re-election with low cost stock buybacks that are propping up the market. The thing is that at some point you hit zero on those rates and it can’t be lowered anymore. Trump is just making the eventual down-turn that much worse by recklessly spending the rate-drop insurance policy today (to hide his economic failure) and then we won’t have that insurance when we need it.
19
It may not matter if they go back to Trump as long as the people who stayed home in 2016 come out and vote
18
Trump voters don'r vote Republican...they vote Trump. Not sure why this seems to be lost on The Resistance.
7
We're supposed to fret about 2% of registered voters? Give me a break, pul-leeze! If we are that far gone and cannot present logical and cogent arguments that EVERYBODY, even Trump "supporters," can understand, just call Putin right now and tell him to set up office in the White House, he's won.
8
It seems that they are more concerned with the Democrats following the rule of law than they are with their POTUS breaking the law, lying repeatedly, and helping Russia become great again.
They are like the subjects in a dystopian novel who are oblivious to the atrocities that go on around them as long as they can keep living life as they please. I guess Trump’s skill is to allow people to be their worst selves and not feel guilty about it.
17
What’s terrifying to me: Approval of President Donald Trump rose to 34.5 percent among black registered voters in a recent Emerson poll.
10
What is an Emerson poll? I'm pretty sure it's like Trumps tan. Totally fake.
Democrats agenda since 2018:
1 impeach trump based on mueller report, failed.
2 impeach trump based on Ukraine alleged “quid pro quo”, stagnant at best.
3 blame election losses on republicans “restricting the vote”, somehow Stacy Abrams is still relevant in that party. Nevertheless, a joke.
4 remove huge amounts of people from health insurance they like, now even their own party is backing away from this.
5 try to hide antisemitism of newly elected exciting social media progressives. Also a problem with the left in the UK (see Labour Party).
Of course people are going back to Trump.... The dems do this to themselves.
Pragmatism over progressivism will always win over rational people.
12
@John Cavendish
What is it that republicans have done for cheaper better healthcare?
What about the added one trillion deficit? Republicans don’t restrict the vote: they cheat by closing polls, gerrymandering and removing citizens from voting registers. It’s the only way they can “ win” by cheating.
Provide facts.
1
When it comes to elections their motto is 'Only MAGA For General.'
These voters like what Trump does? What exactly has he done for them or our country? Tell me one thing that you have real proof of. They need to read some real publications like the "New York Times" or "The Washington Post". I subscribe to both and religiously read both. I watch PBS, NBC and CBS news. I also read, " The Atlantic", "Politico" and watch MSNBC. If any of these people would do their due diligence they wouldn't be so ignorant.
23
@Michelle
Are you truly interested in debate? I also watch the mass media outlets (CBS, CNN, Msnbc) though also the conservative bent (FOX, Blaze) and semi-balanced BBC.The truth is always there, though you have to do your research.
As for Trump's accomplishments, I have to preface this by asking if you're referring to campaign promises fulfilled or ones that he has tried to implement though failed
3
These people have no moral code. Just look at the latest outrage. How can they be okay with a president that interferes with the demotion of a psychopath navy seal that took pictures of himself with a corpse? And for what? To appeal to these same people!
They deserve one another.
18
The Cult of Trump. Until they're not.
4
A French simile really comes to mind: Being dumb is like being dead, you don't know its happened, but it makes everyone around you sad.
19
@Steve
Well said. Especially as it applies to all parties
Put another way, 1/3 of the 2% who are crossover voters are already planning on voting against Trump in 2020... The Times may not recall how slim the margin of victory was in these battleground states, but that would be enough for Trump to lose the election. So the way this article is framed is pretty odd.
12
The correct headline is in 6 swing states Trump will lose on 2020 one third of former Democrats who backed him in 2016. This isn’t good for him.
Fire your headline write.
15
Two new polls have Black voter support for a Trump at 34%.
That’s awesome. Welcome to reality. Blexit. Just Blexit.
10
These people are crazy. Such an addled, confused, misguided bunch is deeply discouraging. I do not know what to think anymore.
17
@arusso
That’s what Hillary said.
5
@Chris
And she was absolutely right.
2
The fate of democracy depends on its voters. Donald's election is emblematic of a declining empire collapsing under its own weight when voters become ignorant, selfish, xenophobic.
12
I don't believe these people voted for Clinton.
10
I wish we could just lop off those states and let Trump be their king in the swamp of their own making.
The rest of us can continue our efforts to improve our democracy, equality, environmental problems, and improving the lives of all Americans.
18
God help us.
9
I think this polling is more relevant if Hillary Clinton is the Democratic candidate for president again. That is not going to happen. We don't know who the Democratic candidate will be in 2020. When that person is know then the polling will mean something. Sure this information is distressing to anyone who understands the damage Trump is doing to America, but we need to understand the context in which the poll was taken and not lose hope that minds can be changed by someone running an energetic campaign one on one against the 40% president.
11
@Ron Schwartz we don’t know who the nominee will be but right now one Socialist and one all-but socialist are polling a combined 40% in the Democratic primary. Nominate Warren or Sanders and Trump is virtually assured to be re-elected. With the biggest mismatch in the so-called (but irrelevant) popular vote vs the electoral college.
2
Democrats have to appeal to the middle.
1. The Electoral College and Russian Interference will be firmly in place for the 2020 election.
2. Democratic constituencies don’t vote in numbers as they should do to various reasons. The voter suppression and other systemic barriers won’t be removed in 11 months
3. Therefore, Democrats have to tread lightly with centrists and center right voters. Why? They vote in larger numbers and they represent significant percentages in battleground states.
If you scare these people away by going too progressive, you will then have to depend on an unlikely turnout from those that don’t vote.
This country, by electoral college standards, is still a mostly center to center right countryIt’s also easier for the right to message because they are not advocating to help others besides themselves.
8
Well the glass may not be half-full, but at least it's one-third full and that plus a Democratic candidate who can appeal to these blue-collar voters in the "blue wall" states could be enough to deny another minority victory in the Electoral College. Who knows, maybe they'd actually like Midwesterner Amy Klobuchar or Pete Buttigieg who weren't the comparison offered in this poll.
3
Oh my. If this doesn’t sound like Fox News propaganda, I don’t know what does. Clearly these voters are getting their information, if you can call it that, from Fox News or Facebook. Facts don’t mean a thing. Democrats have to make it crystal clear that Trump hasn’t done anything for the economy and that he lies about what he claims to have done as president.
But if people are only watching propaganda and believe it, there is little that can be done.
18
@Matt Miller Clearly they aren’t watching Certainly Not News.
2
@Matt Miller They could watch Certainly Not News.
Here we go with the "what does the trump voter think" columns.
Have the writers of this column ever been to the towns of Nanty-Glo or Ligonier in Pennsylvania? I have. I know them well.
Nanty-glo is an old coal-mining town that is literally dying.
Ligonier is a mountain town that has always been a retreat for uber-wealthy Republicans, beginning with the Mellon banking family in the late 1800's.
These are deep-red areas of Pennsylvania. They will never vote for a Democratic president. If there are 10 "union" families left in either town, I'll eat my hat.
The Democrats of Pennsylvania are going to get out the vote in the cities, the suburbs and the exurbs in numbers that will crush the party formerly known as Republican.
23
I voted for HRC in '16, though I did so while holding my nose. But it looks like I'll likely have to hold my nose again, but this time vote for Trump in '20, unless the Democrats nominate a candidate who will enforce immigration laws, back away from climate alarmism and intersectional identity politics, stop calling anyone that disagrees with them a misogynist/racist, and not put the federal government in charge of my healthcare. But that seems unlikely. I also have a PhD, so you all might want to reconsider your theory so vividly on display in these comments that only the unwashed and uneducated could hold such vile opinions. I live in a very blue state, so my vote won't matter anyway. But I suspect, as this article confirms, that there are many thousands of others who feel as I do who live in swing states.
27
@Larry
Climate alarmists? Have you read the latest climate report?
The problem is the willfully blind.
22
@Larry
I agree with you. I too have a doctoral level education and a multiracial family, but according to the progressive community am a ignorant racist incapable of reason and unworthy of engagement because I plan to vote for Trump in 2020 after spurning him in 2016. They are the reason why. I would rather be under the bumbling narcissist than fanatical authoritarians who know only judgmental ranting tantrums and name calling.
20
If you haven’t done so, educate yourself. Not by going to college but by following immutable facts and incontrovertible data. To have an opinion otherwise is harmful to you and your fellow citizens.
9
Trump gets credit, whether or not he deserves it, for things that impact people's lives directly. Unemployment is low and wages are finally creeping up. Impeachment is an abstract legal argument and Americans have never cared much about foreign policy. I don't want to hope for an economic slowdown, but it might be the surest way to defeat this guy.
10
I wish that the NYT would visit the suburbs where I live and interview the residents regarding their opinion of Trump and why in 2016 they did Not vote for him, and will Not be doing so again in 2020.
All this article and a recent batch of other in the Times does is buy into the Republican playbook characterizing these people as being somehow representative of the electorate , they are what Republicans refer to as the American People. Thy are not the majority, and they do not represent majority opinion.
The reality is they are a very small minority of the electorate and are only representative of a sub set of white working class Trump voters.
16
What happened to the ability of people to develop critical thinking skills? This isn't about politics.
8
Tariffs are not free market, at all.
1
I understand that there are nuances in our country and electorate. But I have to question how informed some of these people really are. The two parties could not be any more different. Democrats and Republicans do not have the same values whatsoever. People need to figure out what there values are and argue for them. If you support divided government than the country stagnates and declines.
And as for Trump, he’s a racist, a criminal, a sexual predator, a liar and abuser of power. If that wasn’t bad enough, his policies are inhumane. Family separation, children in cages, Muslim ban, assault on the right to choose, destroy the environment and so much more.
Democrats shouldn’t waste their time with these people. Excite people of color and the young.
18
Can we dispose of the phrase "Rust Belt." It's insulting to the Midwest.
7
Even the Times is playing this scare game.
Nate, you try too hard.
5
These people say they’ll vote for Trump because of what he’s done, but no examples of what he’s done are provided other than the economy generally doing well. Maybe that’s it. Maybe these folks, being generally uneducated, actually credit Trump for the strong economy he inherited from Obama and don’t understand that the government does not run our free market economy. Even if they credit Trump for economic growth, how do they overlook the children in cages, the litany of lies and crude racial divisiveness, the contemptuous treatment of decorated veterans, the smarmy business with Ukraine to dig and the crass debasement of his office?
17
The NYT continues to push the notion that a moderate will attract voters from the GOP. Let's see how this works when the younger voters are turned off because "it doesn't make any difference", the minorities are unenthusiastic and the progressives vote for a 3rd party candidate. Biden is a tired old man whose brain stopped working in 1978.
6
This is basically an anti Bernie and Warren piece.
9
Trump may be unsavory...but the faction formerly known as the Democratic Party...aka the Resistance...has done an excellent job alienating a vast number of citizens with their cheerleading, ad nauseam, on behalf of de facto open borders, ‘free’ (taxpayer subsidized) health insurance and sanctuary for illegal aliens numbering over 20 million...the demise of private health insurance...student loan forgiveness at taxpayer expense...slavery reparations. Need I go on?
Not to mention the insufferable sanctimony and race and gender hustling emanating from that quarter 24/7. If the Dems lose 2020, they have only themselves to blame.
20
Again more proof that are schools are failing us- Anyone who knows anything about this country wouldnt consider voting for Trump. Its a shame !!
8
When I reminisce the last presidential campaign Trump’s voice can be heard promising the long-awaited healthcare reform, lower prescription drug costs, rebuilding the infrastructure and on and on.
Yet, little has been accomplished by Trump in these endeavors. Yes, many will claim the economy rebounded (not due to Trump), the deficit increased (due to Trump’s sham tax cut), and his promise to be too busy to golf was another fiction-and we the taxpayer get stiffed with the golf bills.
But, put Trump in that revival tent and let him sing high praise and many will flock to that tent of bombast.
For the past three years all we have seen from Trump is division and hate for our fellow citizens. That is it. Oh, there have been a few bills signed into law, none of much consequence aside from spending.
But, the people gravitate to the star of the bloodsport and believe that Trump’s rants are a positive force for this country.
And the people will speak and we may need to tolerate a criminal enterprise for four more years before we can truly make this country great-once more.
9
No surprise to this labor economis
What have the Democrats done for the working class ?
From VOX , a left leaning informative new source frequently cited by Paul Krugman
"Trump’s new trade deal is better for workers than NAFTA was"
Quote
"But the most striking difference from NAFTA involves protections for workers in all three countries. Mexico has agreed to pass laws giving workers the right to real union representation, to extend labor protections to migrant workers (who are often from Central America), and to protect women from discrimination.
American auto companies that assemble their cars in Mexico would also have to use more US-made car parts to avoid tariffs, which would help US factory workers. And about 40 percent of those cars would have to be made by workers earning at least $16 an hour — three times more than Mexico’s minimum wage for an entire work day."
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/10/2/17925424/trump-mexico-trade-deal-nafta-workers-labor
The current Democrats have done nothing for the working class
Unless they do, they will lose to Trump
I write this as a lifelong Democrat, who voted for Bernie Sanders in the NYS Primary in 2016
17
Left leaning experts (read Krugman) have been wishfully predicting financial doomsday for three years now. They have rightly surmised that a recession is the only hope for a Democratic victory. But, horror of horrors, the economy under Mr. Trump continues to boom. They lose more credibility with each column and are quickly becoming irrelevant.
15
The election in 2016 was lost not by the margin of trump voters in key electoral states, but by overwhelming numbers of non voters. Those are the voters the Dems need to get! All the more the case for a moderate candidate who will appeal to independents. These Rump supporters are a lost cause and as noted are a very very small size of the total battleground states’ eligible voters.
2
I really can't believe what I just read. How someone can be torn between Bernie Sanders and Trump is unfathomable to me. They are diametrically opposed (even though Trump loves to co-opt progressive rhetoric when it suits his base's needs). The idea of going to the voting booth and voting for whichever party doesn't control Congress and/or the Presidency is asinine in my opinion. If you honestly don't care who is running the government or what their policies and platform are, then do your fellow informed citizens a favor and just stay home.
12
For some people voting is just a placebo - if you are doing better it’s because of your vote. Of course, for the farmers he bankrupted, the folks whose jobs were cut after he promised to keep them, and the coal workers whose jobs can’t come back, Trump’s promises are the real “hoax.” Democrats need to change their message- it’s not about giving handouts to people who game the system, it’s about making sure that hard work is rewarded. Despite the MAGA hats, that’s one thing Trump isn’t doing.
7
Democrats need to focus on policies and Trumpy's incompetence. It's time to take the canard of Trumpy being 'successful' head on. Republicans have mastered the art of repeating a falsehood over and over until folks actually believe it to be a truth. It's been the 'Obama economy' all along which has managed to survive efforts by Trumpy and the Republicans to scuttle it. It's the loss in health insurance coverage as they've tried to gut Obamacare. It's the polluting of mostly Trumpy-supporting areas with the removal of regulations. There's not need to bring up his loutishness as it doesn't impress his followers.
7
@Cynical What policies do Dems have? Open borders?
6
Like one of the top commenters, I started distancing myself from friends who voted for and supported Trump during 2016. This wasn't purely about political differences but about how bad a judge of character they were, their intelligence level (can't you tell when you're being bamboozled?) and their capacity for empathy with people less fortunate than them. The one person I had most contact with will not be voting for Trump next time and has been looking at Democratic candidates.
For what Trump has NOT done, Dems need to start running ads in these competitive areas showing Trump repeating over and over again his "plans" (or lack thereof) for healthcare. Just like Repubs did with Obama's statement that "You can keep your doctor." For the areas getting Medicaid expanded or not, they need to say how Medicaid was blockaded by Repubs and some areas were only saved due to their governors. Literally, put the fear of God into them and use their terms "death panels" against Trump.
18
The truth of the matter is that most Dem candidates are too decent for the modern Republican voter. They prefer petulance, conspiracy and scientific ignorance to complexity. With their tantrums they hope to stop a demographic transformation that is not only happening, but inevitable.
16
Too bad these trump supporters weren’t asked to list exactly what trump has accomplished besides making our country a laughing stock to the rest of the world, spurned our allies, refused to acknowledge scientists concern about climate change, lies on a daily basis, uses his office to enrich our country’s enemies I.e. Russia, n. Korea, China to name a few, uses his office to enrich his family, friends, eliminated regulations implemented to protect us, opened national parks to mining, just to name a few - the tragedy is, that these trump supporters don’t see how destructive he really is -
13
The deafening silence on specific examples of policies that are shaping these voters' preference says more clearly than anything that there is something else driving people to support someone who they claim to find so unappealing.
8
I’m a high school graduate and retired military veteran... how anyone can think that a failed businessman who had a license to steal with more than one casino can be considered a good manager of anything other than possibly a landfill I cannot fathom. He can’t find most of the country’s that he is expected to deal with on a map without a tutor and these folks are going to support him again? I’ll bet his kids are really grateful because he won’t be around long enough to enjoy the money he stole from all of us but they will
17
I'm not impressed by the arguments put forth from the people who have voted for or plan to vote for Trump. If they are quoted accurately, they speak as though they have almost no comprehension of what is happening in the world. They may be comfortable in their blinders but they'll be unprepared when reality bites.
14
I need someone to explain to me what trump has done that is so great for the country. What is it that they are claiming as his accomplishments? And after all the obvious misery he has caused, why would anyone want it to continue? All I see is his disruption and destruction of our democracy. Is democracy not important anymore?
10
@Vnorton . You might want to take a peek at the economic numbers and metrics. Trump’s economy is firing on all cylinders.
7
Do you take part in the economy?
1
This country deserves exactly what it gets if it reelects this man. Every single bit. All of those people in this article, when their Social Security and Medicare goes belly up and the economy goes off the cliff and the huge debts come due and climate catastrophes wipe them and their property out and there is no money to fund anything because it all belongs to guys like Trump...well, too bad. If Trump is reelected, that will be the last vote I ever cast in a U.S. Presidential election because I will truly realize how fallen this nation is and how rigged our system is.
4
Sooo, 34% of Americans have four year degrees. And a ton more have two year degrees. And a ton more do not. So What?
I am highly educated. Does that make me more qualified to select the Prez?
Some immigrants and some lifers are less educated. Does that make them less qualified to select the Prez? THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE IMPLYING.
BTW it is "President Trump."
10
Ah, lets see: Socialism, sanctuary cities, Medicare for all/Government controlled healthcare, attacks on big business,/corporations, open borders, free education, housing, and benefits for all (whether US citizens or illegally in the country), increased taxes, attacks on the police and military, versus a more conservative approach. Does anyone really wonder why the democrats are in trouble? (Rhetorical question)
11
I voted for Al Gore and Barack Obama (2X). I voted for Trump, and will again, no matter what. Why? Trump’s the only one who’s got people to stand up, take notice and make change. Think about it. Without Trump would we have the squad and Mayor Pete? Good things are happening. This will work out OK.
7
This yet again shows how Democrats must focus on jobs, education, and health care. The diversion of impeachment, which will go nowhere (like that of Bill Clinton), will only hurt the Dems if we keep stringing this out. Moderate Dems who focus on bread and butter issues win. Angry Dems who keep screaming about tangential issues lose. Please focus on jobs, education and healthcare.
8
History cares. Norms are what makes this country run. Standing up and accounting for Presidential corruption and recording it matters more for this country than all the tangential issues you listed.
1
Democratic attack ads need to emphasize the inability of the administration to get things done. If Bloomberg and Steyer really cared about the country that's what they'd spend their money on.
3
He lied about opening an Apple manufacturing plant and then used that lie in a new campaign ad. And we let him get away with things like that again and again. There is little hope as long as we have propaganda media and as local newspapers die.
9
functionally illiterate voters. very little done by Republicans and Trump have actually helped them to any extent and will actually harm them in the years to come...the environment, the economy, healthcare, infrastructure, social security, Medicare, and taxes all are working against their self interest.
8
Advice to the Democrats: Don't go for Trump lies and immoral character. Go for concrete policy to help average Americans like healthcare, jobs, education and housing. These are issues voters want. Therefore, Bernie Sanders appear to be best positioned to win over those voters .
3
Many of these returning trump voters will be overcome by those who stayed home in 2016 and new voters who will not vote for a dictator. Was this taken into account?
3
Why shouldn't they vote for him he worked hard to deliver on everything he promised.
3
We are witnessing the senescence of American democracy.
3
@617to416
I thought it was the death of American democracy, its purposeful destruction. Senescence doesn't sound, by comparison, so bad.
See, that's the problem with the gross hyperbole that passes for political analysis on the left these days: it just doesn't give you a whole lot of room to maneuver.
3
We are headed towards tribalism and a melting planet. So sad
2
Trump is only too willing to sell out the security interests of this country for his personal interests and benefits. Just look at his July 2018 Helsinki siding with Putin over the national intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.
And he continues on this course as he propagates more Russian lies and deflection with the phony Ukraine election interference story.
5
Every article about the 2016 election has one glaring fallacy. We have no way to know that Hillary Clinton lost the election or that Trump won it. There has never been a serious audit to determine whether the Russian's might have hacked the 70,000 votes that determined this outcome. So every time we way, "if blah blah blah then Trump will win again" we reach conclusions based on faulty information.
5
Wow. I looked at that pic of the woman and then read the article. The west coast truly is the best coast. Remind me to stay here. 61?
Did the reporter ask Danny Destival if he knew that the Democratic House has passed many, many bills that have just died in Mitch McConnell’s Senate? If nothing else, it’s a teachable moment. This is one of the most frustrating things about your reporting and the Democrats messaging.
8
I love how writers keep rehashing over and over again this topic. Boring and irrelevant. How about we get your collective editorial view out of the rear view mirror and focus on what happens to Republicans if they can't defend GA, NC, AZ and TX - which is where the next election is going to be fought.
5
This article is informative about some of the trump voters and why they voted for him. They refer to them as a "sea of despair".
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/theres-something-terribly-wrong-americans-are-dying-young-at-alarming-rates/2019/11/25/d88b28ec-0d6a-11ea-8397-a955cd542d00_story.html
2
@John Swift Shortly after the 2016 election, there was a study done trying to determine which factors made people more likely to vote for Trump.
One of the biggest correlations was whether a person lived in a county where life expectancy was declining (the other big one was a person's level of "racial animosity.")
1
The NYT and the media are doing their best to ensure a Trump victory in 2020.
5
I wish the media would quit lavishing attention on these toxic narcissists.
5
I don`t know why the NYT thinks it news to describe to the rest of us who Trump voters are. Lord Byron described them perfectly over 200 years ago:
“And thus they plod in sluggish misery,
Rotting from sire to son, and age to age,
Proud of their trampled nature, and so die,
Bequeathing their hereditary rage"
7
Yeah, but Byron was an aristocrat, the very definition of "elite", and wasn't running for elected office, where he actually needed the vote of the "great unwashed". Hillary called essentially the same people "deplorables", and that didn't help her election chances, as it turned out.
In short, in a democracy, the ignorant rabble have a voice, too. Plato didn't like it either, so you are in good company; however we play the cards we are dealt, rather than the have we would like to be holding.
The people who vote for Trump, whatever their misplaced understanding of their actual self-interest, have to be listened to, and be made to feel their concerns are at least understood, if there is to be any chance of persuading any of them to switch their support.
I find it interesting that Trump voters often cite Bernie as a plausible alternative; this hints at the real divide is not simply left/right in a simple ideological split, but rather that the real divides are along issues that don't fall nearly into the competing "culture wars" narratives.
2
What accomplishments??
3
The Republican voter’s cry of “but her emails” to disqualify Hillary has morphed into “but my wallet” to justify a vote for Trump. It’s always the economy stupid.
2
“They” Nice headline. 🙄
Trump is working every day to do what he promised. With a Democrat house she focused on getting rid of him - this plays right into his strength. If the readers of the NYT might venture from their own echo chamber they might see that he’s working for them
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/trumps-list-289-accomplishments-in-just-20-months-relentless-promise-keeping
7
Hope Trump and the @GOP cuts Ms. Bassaro’s SS and Medicare to nothing. I’m sick of these phony “Christian” voters, let them move on to their great reward in the sky and let the rest of us move forward.
2
It's getting tiring to hear Nate Cohn beat the "centrist democrat" drum. Does he know any other tunes?
3
“If you’re going to Washington, you need to do something,” he said. “If the only thing you’re going to do the whole time you’re there is try to get rid of the president, that’s a problem. I mean, Trump is not a great person, but you’ve got to get some work done.”
Has this voter never heard of what Mitch McConnell is doing in the Senate to effectively kill all that "work" that the (D)s have done?
Sorry, but if you can't pay the smallest amount of attention to what's actually happening, and you support Trump, you're an idiot.
8
did the pollster/writer of this story consider that they just may be getting punk'd? The incoherence on display is audacious. voted for Hillary, now going with the Don, cuz he's been so impressive getting things done? really? maybe if you are Putin...
3
There’s no point interviewing these people and trying to figure them out. The short answer is that they are idiots. I’m serious. I don’t care what their grievances are. I don’t care to hear anymore of their twisted logic. They need to be shamed at every turn. That is all
6
And the winner is? Putin!
4
I know many readers will look at this with a sense of hopelessness and mistrust of their current judgement, but almost all of the comments made by the voters listed should be common sense. They are all talking about the economy, jobs, and their own personal welfare. They are not talking about their thoughts on immigration, social policies, or optics.
It should be dead obvious at this point to most people, but an election campaign based on virtue signal issues or talking about benefiting non-American citizens is going to lead to a loss. Jobs, money, and future outlook is all that matters. I hope once the field narrows that whoever wins the nominations drops silly topics like reparations and immigration and focuses solely on jobs and income.
245
@Robert i agree with you 100% if a dem candidate doesnt offer anything better economically than Trump is they will lose and badly.
Issues people are concerned with
Economy
Foreign Policy
Healthcare
Trump is winning on 2 of them
19
@Robert you mean reparations and free healthcare for illegal immigrants aren’t winning issues?
30
@Robert Translation: "Don't run on your principles or I will have to vote for Trump again."
24
If the Democratic Party is going to win the Upper Midwest, they need to be more than the party of impeachment.
The NY Times is loathe to admit that "Third Way" Dems drove the party down a one way, dead end street in how it treated the working class, and especially, unions. Now, you have to put the car in reverse and back all those "triangulation" policies up.
The Times will tell you until they're blue in the face that Medicare For All doesn't win, but look at the polls. It's overwhelmingly in favor, as is cutting the military budget so we can invest here.
I'm a Democrat. We've become the Republican Lite party, and we have to pursue impeachment because at the core, both parties agree on matters that are economic.
The only one of the candidates that will beat Trump is Bernie Sanders. He has a strong appeal to independents and others disgusted with the system. Bernie is also a critic of the current Democratic Party leadership. They'd rather lose to Trump and retain their power than allow Bernie to win. It says everything.
98
@Jim
"They'd rather lose to Trump and retain their power than allow Bernie to win. It says everything."
This will be the reason that progressives do not win. You are not entitled to win. You are entitled to a nominee that represents the party. You have to win the house and the senate for legislative change.
People will vote and hopefully we can come to together on a candidate, but do not pretend that Bernie does not have weaknesses. The heart attack is not going to help him.
25
@Jim "Medicare for All" that requires folks to give up their current private health insurance plans IS unpopular. I don't know what polling you are seeing but this newspaper has shown polling that validates my claim.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/08/opinion/democrats-2020-trump.html
27
@Jim Bernie has been in Congress for something like 30 years. Much of the country had never heard of him until he decided to run for President in 2015. As the previous commenter said, "Medicare for all" is not popular with most voters.
As for the criticism of Democrats only caring about impeachment what does that say about Presidents following the Constitution and the rule of law? Trump has done neither. He is a constant threat to this country. The rest of the world, other than his mentor, Putin, has looked away and is trying to deal with problems without the United States.
Global warming is an existential threat to much of the life on this rare and beautiful planet even though too many American know nothing or hardly anything about it. We cannot afford to waste another 4 years with a POTUS who blunders from one catastrophic action to another, to a POTUS who is basically Putin's pawn. So much damage has been done to our country and our government by a POTUS who has no idea how to do his job.
11
The NYT and others need to move beyond this notion that Trump’s base must turn on him for Democrats to win. They are a vocal 40%, but 40% is much less than the other 60%. The folks to watch are those who didn’t like Hillary (especially in light of the stolen emails), so they “held their nose” and voted for Trump. They are 10%-15% of the electorate. They live in suburbs, not rural areas. They are not particularly religious. They’ve got nothing much against immigrants, minorities, and different sexual identifications. They went to college and have professional jobs. Many are women. They usually vote their upper middle class wallet and like tax cuts. Are they still overwhelmingly for Trump? That is the question for 2020.
133
@Mr Jones
Women feel that their family's long-term safety is threatened by the trump/GOP agenda.
Women will protect the cubs.
And they will vote:
In waves.
13
@Mr Jones
Those calling themselves republicans started out as a minority and are a shrinking dying minority now
Catering to the most vocal in either party is not a recipe for success
Esp on the right
Listening is though
3
@Watchdog2 not Christian women ...
5
Subsidies and bailouts, and still record farm bankruptcies and foreclosures in these states and he's their guy.
6
How depressing! I guess they don't want any health care insurance, clean air to breath or water to drink, decent jobs paying a living wages, or a Constitution. Let them drink the Kool-Aid, but don't force the rest of us to drink it with them. Our political and environmental survival is on the line. We will either have a democracy and a livable planet or the autocracy of Trump, but not both.
218
That would be a much better argument if the Democrats actually had the ability to deliver on any one, let alone all, of those things.
7
@GMooG
The EPA and the Interior Department have been dismantled by Trump. The objective outcomes of the regulations prior to dismantling indicated that progress in identifying, cleaning and delivering clean air, water and soil was being done prior to Trump's changes. Yes, the Democratic party was delivering progress on a sustainable livable planet and can again after Trump is removed through impeachment or losing the 2020 election.
6
People don't vote for people or what they approve of, they vote against what they fear and hate.
85
@ Kelley Trezsie
You said it and Trump is a master of hate.
13
@Kelley Trezise 100% true. Democrats her focus exclusively on what a bad guy he is and not WHY people vote for him. Instead they use their preapproved “scold” words to describe his supporters... Racist, homophobic, xenophobic, etc. makes him feel powerful and superior, just like this impeachment. “ We have to show these ignorant masses the truth, enlighten them, educate them, and only we can do it“
2
You almost got it right. Change "people" to "conservatives" and then you'll be correct.
5
Trump has achieved some things that will be attached to him.
EPA dismantling ... Yes.
Climate change initiatives ... No
Widening the economic inequality gap ... Yes
Disassembly of farming trade to China ... Yes.
White Nationalism ... Yes.
Fear and hatred of immigrants ... Yes
Stock market rise ... maybe.
Confidence in Foreign Alliances ... No
Gun safety in the USA ... No
School safety in the USA ... No
Reforms toward addressing climate change ...No
Better healthcare post Obama ... No
Infrastructure renovation ... No
Tax benefits for the wealthy ...Yes
I guess Trump is possibly coming through on his promises.
That he is keeping his campaign promises to his base is impressive.
But, it seems his success is destroying what America stands for.
204
Created an environment where hate crimes have skyrocketed to highest levels...YES
Nurtured rise of white nationalism...YES
Made us less safe by allowing ISIS to re-group after reckless decisions in Turkey ...YES
Alienating us from our allies, diminishing our authority and standing in the world ...YES
Jeopardizing our National Security by putting self interests ahead of County's...YES
Destroying our democracy by the day - attacking the press, disrespecting laws and norms, breaking laws, Inviting foreign election interference...YES
Carrying out the agenda of Russia over US interests....YES
The sad thing is that so many people have tunnel vision focused on what is going to help them in the here now, (much of what the President isn't directly responsible for), while ignoring the grave damage Trump is doing to the country. Four more years of Trump is going to make this country far less stable, less influential, more dangerous and a less democratic republic for our kids and grandkids.
26
@GP If my report card had been anything like that in high school, I would have gotten out the ink eradicator before letting my parents see it. I'd bet trump tore his report card up and simply told Fred that he was "going great."
10
@GP And it seems that a scary number of our fellow citizens are just fine with that.
11
NYT, please list the 150 plus bills that the House has passed that McConnell has forbidden a vote on by the Senate. This would be informative and useful as many Republicans drone on and on about the do nothing Congress.
426
@JMM Yes, and let's make sure we include all the iniitiatives that Obama put forth in order to help people - that were killed off - one by one - by McConnell. The list is substantial.
49
@JMM if the House just passes legislation for virtue signaling rather than attempting to negotiate a bill in good faith, it really is no more productive than what the Senate is doing. They’ve passed almost nothing in good faith.
11
@JMM
I agree..instead of 27/7 trump change this to 24/7 coverage of Mitch and the damage he causes every day. The media reports no Republicans have the strength to stand up to trump...I believe the same of the media..they do not have what it takes to stand up to McConnell..but then I did see Susan Page admit with glee she would love a brokered democratic convention so she could report on it. Really Susan!
10
Voting to create a balance between Democrats and Republicans is a dumb as some the other excuses (Oops, I mean reasons) I have heard. It does not take into account the qualifications, track record and platform of the candidate. At it's worse, it is a lazy non-thinking way of voting. It requires so little of the voter. In fact, it's downright irresponsible! Please use your brain when voting, not some artificial parameter.
96
@cl
These voters are victims of the fear-mongering people on the right have been engaging in, they're afraid of change. They feel that gridlock in Washington will mean no meaningful change and the status quo they've learned to navigate will be something they can finally master and get a leg up in.
What moderate progressives like Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Joe Biden and Mike Bloomberg need to make a greater effort to solve and explain is how their policies will create jobs and the subsidized training and retraining for those jobs for the sorts of people who feel that way about progressive change, fearful that it will take away things that give them a sense of comfort and familiarity without supplanting them with better things.
The problem is people like Trump promise better things with no real plan or budgetary scoring to make them happen, like how he claimed he had a plan to repeal "Obamacare" and replace it with something better that would cost less. Yet it's Republicans who claim Democrats offer false promises of "free stuff."
We need to renovate the false narratives out there about who today's Republicans are and what effect their policies actually have, versus how the Democrats have put into place all the things that have made things better and want to shore up those things that can be rehabilitated while being transformative to the benefit of regular Americans in the things that are hopelessly broken.
7
I've become more and more concerned that the Democratic Party leadership and candidates are too ensconced in their self-built, gilded echo chambers to really know what most of the voting public wants. Trump and the Republicans are committed to winning, no matter the cost to the government, the people or the Constitution. Winning is their zero sum game. Democrats view winning as something fun to do while looking good to their Twitter feed.
5
I’m sick of the white uneducated sliver of the population controlling the narrative on American Politics. How about the NYT spends the same amount of time interviewing the -majority- of Americans who saw right through Trump the first time. It would be a nice reminder that there are actually plenty of sane, normal people out there. With this pandering drumbeat of articles giving this group of people outsized power it just adds to the feelings of hopelessness and isolation, and gives them more of a voice than they numerically deserve.
57
& John
I agree. I am from Maine and Southern Maine with the Jobs that require more education pay the taxes that help to support the test of Small Town , Me where the Trumpers live.
5
Many people , obviously , shouldn’t be allowed to vote . There should be some kind of aptitude test , that if passed , would give citizens the right to vote . Because of the plethora of this type , that I really didn’t think existed , it’s hopeless . There’s gotta be a better way .
3
No use trying to convince
Only solution is to get people to vote.
One cannot combat Fox News, right wing conspiracy theory driving talk radio and websites with logic.
I honestly wish GOP was successful in removing ACA. Then people would have died and perhaps the ones still clinging to life would have opened their eyes. It was the only aspect of life that would have had a direct impact in the lives of all Americans.
19
@sMAV exactly we have to get people registered, make sure they have the proper ID and help them to get to the polls. If you live in a state where there is early voting organize a "voting party"
1
If the politicians and/or voters won't take care of the current president, then future historians will note this era as the beginning of the end of a world power and strong democracy. I find it so ironic that the Republicans for years have been screaming about the Dems not following the Constitution, but now look how things have changed.
13
I guess it is not only evangelicals who are willingly turning a blind eye.
The DOW will be over 30K before x-mas.
Their annual 401k statements looks awesome.
The mighty $$ talks.
Integrity, honor, decency, honesty, respect for all are so old fashioned.
Welcome to America's new moral standards: alternative facts, fake news, white nationalism,wheeling and dealing, and most importantly: we are white and we are right.
44
Thanks NYT for sounding the warning bell ! Democrats, Wake Up Please!! I want to vote for you!!!
2 yrs of Russian investigation yielded nothing and eroded Dems credibility among independents. That loss of credibility has resulted in these independents as well as level headed Repubs to dismiss this impeachment hearings as another attempt by Dems still unable to accept 2016 defeat.
Health Care mess, Tax cuts for Rich and deficits, Messing up with Consumer Protection rights....
Common Dems stop this impeachment nonsense and focus on these and many other commom man issues.
11
@Sam Swaminathan
Oh please - you don’t ‘want to’ vote for Democrats.
1) Two years yielded guilty pleas and jail time and description of what the Russians did. And BTW - the investigation was started by Trump’s one AG and run by a Republican.
2) Unable to accept defeat? He wasn’t even impeached after the ‘nothing’ investigation showed 10 acts of obstruction. The only reason why he is impeached now is because HE IS RIGGING THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION!
Do you care whatsoever about that? Cheating to win the presidency?
5
@Sam Swaminathan
Two years of investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election resulted in 34 indictments and seven convictions. Why do badly-informed people feel so motivated to give advice?
5
@Sam Swaminathan What on earth do these voters in the article and in comments want? Democrats have zero power to pass bills in the Senate, thanks to the idiotic "gentlemen's agreement" that the Majority Leader should be the Senate's "Rules Committee," not automatically responding to and debating legislation coming from the House but deciding whether he alone feels like responding or doing nothing. (There's the getting nothing done part!). The Democrats have no power over the president. That leaves the House of Reps., where the Dems have passed over 300 bills that have not been acted upon by the Senate and the president. What more do you want them to do? Cloud men's minds, especially Mitch McConnell's, or perhaps perform miracles and make changes beneficial to the nation with a gesture with a magic wand? Why are the Dems always blamed for Republican intransigence? My favorite ridiculous argument is that Democrats get nothing done, so I'll vote for Trump to keep a balanced government that is guaranteed to get nothing done except by executive order, which is what it seems Trump voters really want: an authoritarian president who makes sure they stay at the top of the pecking order in American society, whether it be as a billionaire or as a big fish in a little Nanty Glo pond.
3
There seems to be a problem with the theory of splitting your vote so that one group will put a check on the other. If you voted in Democrats to put a leash on Trump and stop him from wrongdoing and they have caught him in massive wrongdoing....???????
But you are going to vote to let the criminals get away with it anyway?
Hard to see how this could ever be a winning strategy.
25
@Christine In a less polarized time, it made sense. It forced compromises between people with opposing points of view. The present era of polarization is qualitatively different.
1
@Joe
I think it also matters if the person you were trying to put a check on turns out to be a criminal autocrat.
2
Trump voters need to know that a racist is a person who behaves in a racist fashion. Voting for a known racist for President is a racist act. No hiding behind phony excuses, no credit for having voted for a Democrat at some time or another - all racists, based on a common sense litmus test.
26
@Pete I didn't vote for Trump in 2016.. however will, in 2020. The reason.. people calling others 'racist'. It is despicable and it's why Hillary Clinton's lost. Good luck in 2020.
Yours truly, a 'Deplorable'
6
Nate, what’s the margin of error on a 2% subset of your sampling?
3
So it isn't so easy for the Democrats is it?
4
Mr. Headley, the Michigan general contractor and pizza business owner:
'The Democratic Party fell apart on the heels of Trump winning," he said. “The harder they’re going after Trump, the more they’re just alienating people and pushing them away.”
Thank you thank you THANK YOU Adam Schiff! <3 !
Trump/Pence 2020!
11
@RLS ironically your state of Alaska is bearing the brunt of America’s present know-nothing policies toward science. Also a majority approve of the impeachment proceedings. Oh right, majorities aren’t enough in the United States.
3
Here you see a brainwashed woman who follows Satan, yet still can claim to be a Christian. Putin owns her head. Remember what Trump just "achieved" by leaving our Kurdish allies to the slaughter and turning the whole area over to Putin, gratis. excerpt:
"Margaret Foster, 84, a retired real estate agent in Prescott, Ariz., said the Democrats had become “the socialist party.” Still, she has supported Kyrsten Sinema, her Democratic senator, whom she called honest and willing to work with Republicans.
"Mr. Trump is “an egotistical, overbearing man,” she said — but said that doesn’t change what he’s achieved.
"“You’re all going to be very surprised because all these quiet little Christian women aren’t saying anything right now, but they are going to vote for Trump again,” she said."
10
I look at this article and the commentary and realize the number of people staying home or voting 3rd party is going to increase by quiet some.
Trump is at best inept at worst more blatantly corrupt then the average politician. Note I didn't say more corrupt then the average politician he isn't. Note for glossing over Biden's son was getting something for nothing. And I (And many others) doubt Biden was unaware.
On the other hand Dem candidates come off has a bunch of clowns. Who think the voters are either morons or can't do math. Because it is fairly obvious the M4A isn't going to happen without seriously raising taxes or imposing a 20% or better VAT. And that's a non starter in this country. And bluntly the Dems are coming has the party that believes ILLEGAL (and they are illegal for all the renaming) aliens are more important then their fellow citizens. And by the way decriminalizing is open borders for all intents & purposes. Not to mention the party comes across has Transgender bathrooms are more important then decent jobs for people. The Dems are utterly disconnected from the people they want to vote for them. And by the way if you want people for your party don't make it blatant you wish they would all shut up & drop dead, it's not a vote winner. The is nothing funnier then some one making 6 figures lecturing a man who has never made more the 30K on his white privilege. So no I'm not voting for either party again this year. Why bother they just wish me to die off.
12
Kudos..NY Times
See... NY Times liberals.... all your "resistance" is futile...it's all about the GOP's Voter's pocketbook!.. nothing else matters..SAD!
2
Why on earth does NY Times insist on casting predictions based on a segment they admit are a “sliver”? Is this anything more than trolling? The only thing you can glean from these people is that they don’t understand how gridlock works. Please find another way to sell papers.
9
The main reason Dems won in 2018 was the democratic voters, who don't usually vote in midterms, but were motivated to do so. The 2% of Trump-to-Dem voters were not a big factor in the 9% margin of Dem victory in 2018 congressional elections.
Dems have a good chance of winning in 2020 because there will be a huge turnout of people who did not vote in 2016.
15
Unfortunately mr. townsend, the construction worker who's had his 2 best years under trump, doesn't realize who set up those 2 great years. There were two issues i had going in to vote for president in 2016. Besides the trump method of operation. One was the credit the next president would get from the economic setup they were inheriting. The second was the supreme court justice likely openings.
Regarding the economic setup, trump has no better than follow the trendline he inherited. That's underperforming given what he got. We should be at a solid 4% to 5% gdp growth by now had he competently handled it. Instead he went for a tax cut that did nothing to spur growth, whereas the 'pubs denied the dems a tax cut targeted for the spenders that would've spurred economic growth. Couldn't afford it said the 'pubs. No problem 1 trillion a year debt giving money to the rich who'd hoard it and to business that couldn't sell more because spenders didn't have money to spend more, so business didn't expand as there was no reason to. Then came the trade war turning a win-win situation into a lose-lose. Instead of tpp where we wouldn't be taxing ourselves through tariffs.
The 2nd, supreme court judges, self explanatory. Years of skewed political agenda in front of us because of trump/right wing congress.
Moderates and dems have killed themselves due to their own success. A success claimed by trump as his own. Revoltin' development befitting bendix' riley.
4
@rivvir the person who set it up was Bush who signed the Economic Recovery Act into law in 2008 before he left office. Obama only bailed out Car industry.
Trump did Cut Taxes which helped large businesses and corporations along with small businesses. what Trump did that was brilliant was cut reguilations that was on the books for decades which allowed investors to open up more locations. Wages are u0p 3% under Trump they didnt grow at all under Obama. thats due to Tax cuts as well which allowed owners to raise wages slightly.
5
@Marcus - Yup, but baloney on "obama only..." He continued the bush initiative, and got blasted for the spending, didn't he. No one understands how much more it would have cost us if he didn't.
From wiki,, the lazy man's resource center "His first term (2009–2013) included measures designed to address the Great Recession and Subprime mortgage crisis, which began in 2007. These included a major stimulus package, banking regulation, and comprehensive healthcare reform. As the economy improved and job creation continued during his second term (2013–2017), the Bush tax cuts were allowed to expire for the highest income taxpayers and a spending sequester (cap) was implemented, to further reduce the deficit back to typical historical levels. Corporate profits and the stock market reached record levels in 2010 and 2013 respectively, while inflation and interest rates remained near record low levels."
The housing initiative, started by bush, modified by obama in 2009, then the harp program, the financial system reforms, the employment growth which led to the pressure on wages now, can't grow wages when millions are competing for jobs, willing to take scraps just to survive, and i'm running out of space otherwise i'd list more. If you want to take credit where due no prob for me. But give it where due as well. Cutting regs to dirty water and air, brilliant? More like easy expediency for gaining votes of those for whom an extra buck is more important than life.
2
I never thought I’d see the words, “Trump,” and “brilliant,” in the same sentence. But just because you said it still doesn’t make it so.
1
It would be very helpful if this article had also identified
the principal sources of information that the interviewees
followed and trusted to draw the conclusions they did. When people said trump had accomplished something, what did
they actually mean by that and how did they find out about it? Items such as health care costs, tax cuts for the very well off don't seem to have been on their radar screens. How is that so? Why didn't that affect their perception of how good a job trump has done?
It's astonishing that nothing at all was mentioned by any of the interviewees about health care....which strikes me as quite odd given that a principal accomplishment of trump has been essentially to gut ACA in its entirety. Did that not get noticed by the interviewees? Or do they not care since they're on medicare, that infamous socialist program?
The states in question are fairly high in state tax rates (except
Florida presumably). Did the interviewees notice how their
state taxes are increasing due to the federal tax scam bill of 2017 (which no one, again, actually commented upon). All these people loved the idea of big tax cuts for the very rich? Really? Or do they even know about that? Again, a question
of what are their sources of "information" is left
unaddressed.
I wonder why this article is considered useful enough for
publication with such gaps and unanswered questions clearly evident.
52
@bl
if you don't itemize, the 10K cap on deducting state and local taxes had no effect but the rates were cut so you'd pay less taxes. High income people already lost deductions with the alternative minimum tax and they benefited from the lower rates. A small slice paid higher taxes. I'm in that slice as a NJ resident with $15K in property taxes alone. It's always tempting to move.
2
For non-itemizers, some rates were cut but families lost their exemptions which for a family of four amounts to $16,800 and the original standard deduction equalled approx. 12,500 for a total of $29,300. These people were given a whopping $24,000 as a replacement for the $29.3k. And that is just the tip of the iceburg. These same families are inheriting an additional debt of 1.5 Trillion for the tax cuts that they and their children will have to whittle away at in the future. I doubt many voters even realize this and FOX Noise certainly isn't going to tell them.
10
@bl Trump tax cuts helped significantly esp for middle class and lower class. ive seen a significant increase in my paychecks around $60 extra dollars which isnt large but helps. also Trump has helped people take home more income duting tax season with overhauling the tax brackets and people who have children like me get double on standard deduction.
Trump got rid of Obamcare ACA mandate which was huge/ it was forcing people to pay penalty which didnt want to buy healthcare. Premiums have risen but under Obamacare. it isnt popular anymore. Dems replacement of medicare for all isnt popular either with middleclass. its rising in support but not enough for Independents and Rep to support a dem candidate.
7
I remember Trump saying in his 2016 campaign, "I love the uneducated." I thought that was an insult but maybe some like it enough to continue support.
33
@dlb
Actually he said, "I love the poorly educated!" And then he spread out his arms and smiled.
I remember it well: that was the very first time I perked up my ears to Trump, long before I had even a whiff of a notion that I might vote for the guy.
I thought, "Wow. What a beautiful thing to say!"
It was so genuine, spontaneous, against-the-grain. I remember kind of going "Huh!" and nodding at the TV screen.
Trump haters just don't realize how much that love is returned to Trump by voters. They have no idea.
73
@dlb Those who were the target of that comment possibly do not realize they were the target of that comment.
29
@RLS Oh we have an idea all right.
That extreme infatuation is the only explanation for supporting someone so clearly childish and incompetent.
PS He's a TV star, a great faker. It's not genuine.
23
If this isn’t the strongest empirical evidence for strengthening our Nation’s education system, then I don’t know what is...
44
@Kevin you dont need a college decree to understand basic economics. Everyone can see the Stock Market hitting record highs (23 so far under Trump) and wages growing 3% along with record low unemployment. Most of the population is working for the first time in over 50 years.
Most of the workers in industries like coal mining, steel meels and construction make great incomes and you dont need an education for those jobs. THose are the jobs that coming back in the Trump economy which is why he will win states like MIchigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Minnesotta even.
Trump won the rustbnelt in 2016 and Democrats havent made an argument as to how they could improve on what Trump is doing so he will win election again if he holds those states
8
@Marcus
Do you realize that 2018
Was a loss after the severe downturn in December 2018? It took months for my portfolio to recover.
3
This is what the unfortunate electoral college system has done. Candidates and voters of the whole country have to cater to a small fraction of voters who happen to live in the rural towns of swing states, who happen to get their news from conservative media that sing praises of the lying president. Of course the demands and opinions of "quiet little Christian women" matter, but so do that of the struggling urban young adults in the blue states who can hardly afford tuition debt, health care, and housing, except that in reality the latter don't matter.
45
How is this bad news for the Democrats? Trump won by something like 70,000 votes in the states concerning this article. If 1/3 of those voters voted for the Democrat, he’d would certainly lose.
8
@Evan
Your point is valid but it needs to be parsed down further to each swing state. These numbers get very tight, especially when you have new and returning voters coming into the mix. When 20,000 votes can go either way in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina--you got tight races.
5
@Evan yes but as this article states voters in Penn, Michigan, Ohio, FL and Wisconsin are happy with Trump.
7% who voted for Clinton are voting for Trump this time. thats huge. thats thousands of people.
Dems arent making any sound logical arguements as to how they will improve on Trumps record breaking stock market, along with 3% wage increase along with record low unemployment.
No incumbent POTUS has ever lost with a great economy.
7
Love those trump supporters who say he fulfilled his promises. When you ask them for hard data, all you get is a blank stare or a diversion. Facts don't matter to them.
32
@tom
list of Trumps accomplishments
record low unemplyment 3.7%
record high stock market (23 so far)
2 Conservative Supreme Court justices with record amound on Pelet and Civil court appointees
USMCA Trade agreement with Mexico and Canada that will bring millions of new jobs
Peace Deal with N. Korea which we havent seen in over 50 years
First step Act for Prison and Criminal Justice Reform that released 5,000 prisoners which 95% of them were african american
moved US embassy to Jerusalem
defeated ISIS calphate along with its leader
started building wall with wins in SC for funding it with 800 more miles to come in 2020
these are just a few of his accomplishments
5
@Marcus "Peace Deal with N. Korea which we havent (sic) seen in over 50 years".....really? Think the only thing trump accomplished was briefly walking over the DMZ for a photo op.
1
@Jose Pieste As to 401k's, my investment portfolio is doing fine. It did under Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump. then again, 40% of all workers don't have access to one.
This illustrates why trying to win these voters over is a fool's errand. The Dems would be much better off to go for broke and push the agenda that most people want, and the centrists - actually Republicans-In-Dem-Clothing - are afraid of implementing. Put it this way: when was the last time you heard a Republican running for office who was worried that his agenda was too "radical"? They don't worry about the middle, they just push their ideals and their voters reward them for it. Trump is an extreme example of that.
The Democrats need to go back to their FDR New Deal roots and implement programs that help the working and middle class, regardless of demographic identity. They won't win many of these "swing" voters, but they weren't going to anyway as evidenced by this article. Quit trying to "Be all things to all people", and serve the people that make up the majority of America.
21
@Kingfish52 Please please do. Please nominate McGovern #2.
2
This is EXACTLY why I keep saying that this "moderate to win the swing states" logic is faulty. You won't get these people back.
(One of the moderates may be the best candidate, just not for that reason.)
The way to win is through turnout of new voters -- among the young and those who are eligible, but don't vote. That's anywhere from 40-50% of the eligible voters out there.
Certainly that pool is bigger than the 70,000 or so votes that Trump received that tipped the electoral college.
Get to them and win them over for a huge margin of safety.
The 2016 Trump voters have made their beds already.
14
@Sara C exactly
I appreciate the sentiment, but you’ll lose centrist voters who don’t like trump in the suburbs if you nominate a Warren or sanders. I know, I’m surrounded by them. Educated, financially comfortable, hate trump but couldn’t pull the lever for far left candidates.
1
I continue to be amazed by voters who claim that they voted for 45 "because he was a successful businessman."
In what alternate universe are they living? Or did they form their opinion on his business acumen simply by watching episodes of The Apprentice?
I'm just throwing this out there; discuss amongst yourselves: do you think that you, personally, would be rich and "successful" if your dad had left you a $440 million trust fund?
23
@Ross Trump was told by his father to NOT to invest in Manhattan. HE told him to stay in brooklyn to focus on apartments there where he built his wealth.
if Trump had listened to his father he wouldnt have turned himself into a multi billionaire or created a brand thats all over the world. His real estate empire allowed him to invest in anything he wanted like wineries, golf courses, TV, clothing line etc.
so you are very incorrect to assume Trumps success is due to his father.
1
You can’t say you want divided government and for legislators to get things done.
10
Mr. Trump is “an egotistical, overbearing man,” she said — but said that doesn’t change what he’s achieved.
Another person interviewed said, "...he’s a great president. Most politicians just talk about doing things, but Trump does them.”
Read those words again: "he's a great president." I guess the word great doesn't mean what it once did.
I sincerely wish these people would share what they think it is Trump has achieved and where his "greatness" lies because I can't see it for the life of me.
Hopefully they aren't referring to among other things discrimination against people of color, reversing decades of efforts at environmental protection, making the U.S. a pariah in the international diplomatic community, and stacking the courts with conservative judges who want the "sinful" aberrations of homosexuality and freedom of choice for women stricken from the books.
13
@JHM Oh I bet they are, at least for the last sentence.
@JHM Jobs, education and health is what people care about. Not the remote bourgeois concerns that you express, New Jersey, no matter how noble they are.
1
@JHM lets see...Trump cut regualations that has caused investors to open up more businesses. They are seeing record growth profit (the most since the 1960's in the past 2 years)
wages has increased a measly 3% but thats an improvement when they didnt grow at all under Obama.
we see record number of Pelet and Civil court appointees tthe most since Abraham Lincoln along with 2 Conservative Supreme Court Justices.
Trump also got USMCA Trade deal with Mexico and Canada that will bring even more high paying jobs to U.S
Trump moved US embassy to Jerusalem
Trump got peace deal with N. Korea (havent had that in over 50 years)
Trumnp defeated Isis Calaphat along with its leader.
Trump has improved the border with replaced wall and hundredfs of miles of new wall to come.
As you can see he has many wins.
2
Amazing if this possibility has not been recognized sufficiently till now !
2
While all polls at this point are simply point in time estimations at best, just like the polling that had Clinton winning 2016 by +6 (like Marquette Polls), nonetheless they continue showing white non-college educated voters voting against their own best economic interests. It's not done out of some notion of patriotism but is one of kinship with Trump. They share a common communication style tinged with crudeness and insult along with a surface knowledge of any policy understanding. Trump is one of them...uninformed and unwilling to become actively informed beyond being spoon fed by conservative media channels. The question is will the rest of America tolerate being driven off a cliff by non-college educated whites?
6
Confirmation Bias + Cognitive Dissonance = a vote for the Current Occupant.
There is a constant in psychology; that people would rather "feel" right than actually be right. Fox supplies the itch AND the scratch for the aggrieved viewer.
I have to laugh when liberals and Democrats are lectured by these folks about acting all superior-like. In their language I say "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?"
8
Do we really know how individuals people voted in 2012? Donald Trump attracted 46.1% of the vote, less than the 47.2% that Mitt Romney won in 2012. If there were really lots of Obama voters who switched to Trump, why did he do worse than Romney? The Arizona woman lecturing your reporter about "Christian" women doesn't sound like someone who ever voted for Obama. And let's be honest - the national campaign hasn't even started yet. We have no idea who the Democratic nominee will be. When people have a clear choice between two candidates, then they can decide who they will vote for.
7
The Democratic candidate needs to be someone who has the linguistic and debate skills, charisma and toughness to go after the president and these voters. You can speak warmly about and to the American people while pointing out their hypocrisy and lack of civic engagement.
3
I have yet to figure out how one professing enough faith in God to display religious icons in their home, support Donald J. Trump and be convinced it is a morally righteous act based on that faith. There is no moral pathway to supporting Donald J. Trump; end of story.
8
@HANK no one is voting for Trump due to moral issues. he isnt anyones Pastor. THey are voting for him due to Supreme COurt picks that are conservative and for Pence who is a devout Chrtistian. Trump was smart in picking the right VP who could get evangelical vote. Trump was also smart to put wall street Guru Kudlow over his economic policies and its done wonders for our economy with record low unemployment and 3% wage growth along with record growth in stock market thats great for peoples 401 k plan.
2
Not to be overly simplistic or dismissive, but it’s because all they watch is Fox News and engage in Facebook feedback loops. In that world, Trump is king and christian whites are great again (as if). It’s brainwashing on a massive scale and, trust me as one who lives among them here in Ohio, these folks have no desire to leave their rosy cozy Fox bubble and zero interest in having their beliefs about Trump, or anything, challenged. “Midwestern friendliness” is a myth; I hear a lot of spite and oppositional defiance from Trump voters here. They’d rather burn it all down by reelecting Trump than ever admit he was a bad idea in the first place.
9
Democrats are agonizing over the right choice for candidate. Solid moderate? Old and white? Young and ethnic? Revolutionary left? The truth is There’s really no solid choice. I like Warren because her policies are well thought out and precisely what our society/the planet needs and I think she has the ability to work them through the legislative process. She works in a well educated, socially responsible version of America. But that’s not what this is. Obama is right, most Americans don’t want a revolution, and it’s because they are ill-informed short-sighted, self-interested, complacent and slightly or very xenophobic. There’s no great choice because, let’s face it, Americans, generally, are not great people.
7
This very newspaper gave Hillary an 85% chance of winning the DAY BEFORE THE ELECTION in 2016, an error I will never fully forgive The Times for having been so very far off. Still, it confirmed my view on polling, that being to pretty much disregard it. I apply that thinking to this article, and take comfort from that.
10
@ManhattanWilliam An 85% chance of winning means a 15% chance of losing, not a 0% chance. That's how these things work.
Trump had to thread a narrow needle to win, and that's what he did. He did not have the popular vote and his electoral win was very narrow; the odds reflect how unlikely (but not impossible) this scenario was.
We have entered the senescence of American democracy.
5
These people are beyond ignorant for thinking Trump and GOP policies in any way, shape or form have helped their local economies or bolstered their labor unions.
But people ultimately get the government they deserve.
4
We the people do not want trump for another four years of havoc.
Impeachment is the only way to certify this.
People have failed in seeing that this president is all for trump and none for the American populace, or just a select few.
People look to common sense and not your wallet. Do it for your grandchildren....
7
@Kevin
Narccisitstic, and therefore ignorant. It's sad when elections have consequences that make you mad.
There's only one college that educates all Americans for free: The Electoral College.
1
This narrative is getting tiring.If they vote for Trump in 2020 So What.The sky is falling paranoia is contagious and need to be stopped.If The Left can up turnout of people of color in key states it can win. I would suggest the Left stop worrying about those folks who will follow Trump to the gates of Hades and start concentrating on the folks who stayed home in 2016. Less than a year until the election all of energy is devoted to an impeachment that is going nowhere in The Senate. Lets walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. DACA, kids in cages and Trump's overt racism is enough to start a massive get out and vote effort.Trump only won by 73000 votes spread across three states. Do the math if you get people out to vote who were not inspired by Hillary Trump is beatable.Stop giving Trump's voters more power than they actually have.Get some fire in your belly, grow a spine and fight for our vote. Waiting on Mueller and now the Impeachment to Nowhere is looking like a fools errand.Sure the moral thing is to hold Trump accountable but at the same time get out the vote. Stop being a one trick pony.
13
Rationalizations are not reasons.
4
There are books out now with titles like "All the Great Things Trump Has Done for the U.S.", "Trump's Accomplishments", All the Reasons Trump is Great" etc.
They are all blank books....
4
I guarantee you that voters care more about the economy, their tax burden, and their private health insurance than they do about impeaching Trump for having pursued an investigation into the Biden&Son Ukrainian adventure...quid pro quo or not.
11
@Susanna and what has Trump done about any of those issues?
1
Jobs, jobs, jobs… that ’s what these Rust Belt voters are telling us they want. But read through the comments, and you'll find no mention of it. Readers lay out everything that is important to them, but leave out the one thing that is important to the voters who will decide the Electoral College.
That is the conundrum facing the Democrats. Too many left-leaning members are sure they are right—so sure, that they cannot, or will not, put themselves in other peoples' shoes, and try to see the world as they see it. Lacking this essential empathy, they drive away the centrist voters, the very ones who will decide the Electoral College.
What is the answer? How should we deal with moral absolutism, either of the left or the right? I just don’t know.
25
@Ron Cohen Yes -- moral absolutism. Of all the comments I've seen, you're the only one to see the real question at hand.
Please consider checking out Jonathan Haidt, who has spent his life focusing on this very question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-_Az5nZBBM&t=409s His insight and works are really interesting.
And this beautiful statement from liberal actor and writer, Stephen Fry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPEHbJgomgA
I hope the scales will fall from people's eyes (left and right), and that they will begin practicing a bit a moral humility and realize that a lot more connects us than divides us.
"One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision." - Bertrand Russell.
3
@Corinne
Thank you, Corinne. Yes, I’m a great admirer of Jonathan Haidt. I will be sure to check out the Fry reference.
2
This article does not explain what specifically in Trump's policies is helping out local issues? Some interviewees seem to correlate their good years with what Trump is doing, but what exactly is he doing that has this impact?
18
@Marcus - Good point. My only concern is that if POTUS45 wins in 2020, by the time he is leaving office in 2024 the country will be saddled with a mountain of national debt. That's debt which underwrote the tax cuts, supported farmers in the trade wars. Who will pay for it? The economy goes through cycles of ups and downs, but the debt stays high unless deliberately paid down.
4
@Mary Trump cute back regulations that was really harming but small businesses. Guy from Shark Tank explained It well last week. Tax cuts helped burn it was regulations along with it that helped owners open up more stores, raise wages for workers. Economy doing the best in decades because of Trump policies. Those same businesses that was hurting during bush and Obama years are thriving now. Because of that Trump May win re-election quite easily. No incubant has ever lost re-election with a thriving economy ever
5
@Marcus Marcus all indications are that the tax cuts have not stoked the economy. Most of the money went right into the pockets of rich stockholders. Trump has done nothing to create real jobs. It was the policies of Obama's administration that rebuilt the economy. Healthcare costs are rising, and with the stupid tariffs we will continue to pay more and more for everything in order for a narcissistic petty dictator to line his own pockets on the backs of the poor.
4
I believe there are two factors at play that must be taken into account:
1. If the Senate votes to keep Trump in office during their phase of the impeachment process, Democrats will be motivated to go to the polls regardless of the front-running Democrat. When Democrats vote, they tend to win.
2. Please recall that in 2016, Democrats were complacent and stayed home because they believed that Trump had little chance of winning. There is no such complacency now.
11
It’s worth mentioning that 2016 wasn’t about Democrats vs. Republicans, it was about Establishment vs. Newcomer. Northampton County, PA, for instance, typically doesn’t vote for establishment candidates, which is why it flipped from President Obama in 2012 to Trump in 2016.
Trump after 4 years in office is no longer the non-establishment candidate he was in 2016, so he’ll have an uphill battle next November, especially if Democrats are motivated to vote.
3
@Colleen Dunn I agree but the issue is the democrats haven done anything to help their local constituents out at all during Trump administration. They only investigated trump. Dems and independents in states like Ohio Penn Fl Michigan and Wisconsin will notice Nancy Pelosi still hasn’t voted for USMCA that Will help create higher paying jobs for them. In the end the economy will Be most important to casual voters and Trump has delivered job that end better than any Potus has for decades thanks to deregulation and tax cuts
4
@Colleen Dunn The Democrats will be fighting among themselves as they did in 2016. Many progressives will not vote or will protest vote. Trump will be reelected. That's the sad truth.
3
This article doesn't make much sense. It first says that Trump voters who voted for Democrats for the balance of power is an example why the minority party does well in midterms. Then it says local elections are decided by local issues. The power balancing clearly is not a local issue.
In any case, the article makes a mountain out of the 2% sliver. The blue wave in the last midterm wasn't created by these 2%, and the next won't be decided either by two thirds of the same 2%.
17
@TK Sung God I hope you're right
Seems odd to highlight Pennsylvania voters from pretty conservative parts of the state. These voters were not why Democrats flipped 4 House seats on 2018. Significant numbers of voters are not consistent in their views and look at their choices in the context of that moment in time. When you start looking at small slivers of polls it is hard to see how this predicts the future.
It also is only looking at conservative Democrats. What about examining views of people who didn't vote in 2016 but did in 2018? Or asking suburban Republicans why they've stopped voting for their party? There are many frameworks that should be looked at to provide a fuller picture for what could happen in 2020.
18
This article paints what seems to be an overly pessimistic picture for Democrats in these Rust Belt states.
Between the 2016 and the 2018 federal election, the Democratic vote share for seats in the US House of Representatives rose by 3.4 percentage points to 53.2% in Wisconsin, 5.4 percentage points to 52.1% in Michigan, and 9.3 percentage points to 55.0% in Pennsylvania.
This article focuses on an estimated 2% of all voters in these three states who switched from supporting Trump in 2016 to a Democrat in 2018. Democrats are supposed to worry that about two thirds of this thin slice of the electorate will return to voting for Trump in 2020. But two thirds of 2% is only 1.3 percent of all votes. That's not enough in itself to offset the increase in the Democratic vote share in any of these states between 2016 and 2018, nor enough to lower the Democratic vote share below 50% in any of these three states.
Rather than focusing on whether white working class Trump supporters of 2016 are going to abandon him in droves next year, which seems unlikely, how about focusing on voters who supported a third party candidate in 2016? After all, third party candidates got 5.7% of all votes cast in 2016. That represents a lot more voters than the focus of this article.
13
It's no longer a choice of political philosophy or party, it's a choice of life in a democracy or life in a Russian or Chinese style government. Trust me, you don't want to risk it.
56
@Tom
In Russia and China, just as on college campuses today, only one side is permitted to express its opinion with impunity. I assume, Tom, that is what you are referring to. I assume you would support a system where both sides, liberal and conservative, Republican and Democratic are free, equally, to express their opinions in any public forum.
7
As long as abortion, guns and immigration are in the agenda, 40 percent of this country see these issues as existential to their lives.
How important are these issues? Remember many Americans are ready to sacrifice democracy over this.
3
The article doesn't say if Ms. Foster's using Medicare but if she does, isn't that a socialist program?
54
@Tedj She thinks Trump will cut everybody’s Social Security, but not hers.
9
I’m 70 and not yet on Medicare. Still working but I sure see a lot of old trump loving geezers slurping it up.
And try to refuse part A! Impossible and still collect your social security. Idiotic
1
@Tedj
Anything these fools benefit from individually could not possibly be socialist, because it benefits them!
A benefit/social program can only be bad to these fools if it benefits someone else!
7
I’m glad the NYT is giving voice to people who were long ignored by the governing class.
The article captured the feeling of many Trump voters—not charmed by his temperament but impressed by his results.
21
@Gary: Um, what results? Really, what results?
4
@Gary Please tell me specifically what his results are. I keep hearing this over and over and I really want to know, line item by line item, what you are referring to.
4
@Gary Results? What results? This word is bandied about by trump supporters but none of them ever chooses to - or can - specify precisely what these “results” are.
5
Dear God, do I actually live in the same country as these people?
They like what Trump has accomplished? What, pray tell, has he accomplished?
273
@Horace Dewey He has nominated two Supreme Court justices and many more on the appeals courts, so that in a few years when Roe vs. Wade is overturned, the Confederate States and Ohio can imprison women who have abortions. (Of course, Ohio wants to put them to death, but that's okay, too.)
19
@Horace Dewey - I've heard folks in the construction industry echo these glowing reviews of POTUS45's first term. There's really no denying that money is flowing freely. But I always caution people I talk to not to lose sight of the national debt, which is what underwrote the tax cut. Most don't challenge me on that -- hope it means this puts a note of caution in their enthusiastic support.
8
In reply to Horace Dewey NYC
ISIS is beat, the Wall is being built, unemployment at a low, black unemployment at a historic low, stock market is at an all time high.
8
Democracy requires well informed citizenry. Dictatorship and totalitarianism requires the exact opposite.
The USA will get what it deserves and the poverty and violence that comes along with it if it chooses tyranny.
It’s an old and worn out story.
Human beings, as a species, is still governed by its most basic emotions and fears. You see it all over this dystopian planet.
54
Maybe NYT should highlight and open the Dems eyes that their extreme position of open borders, no immigration enforcement, free healthcare/college for illegals does not fly well with the country. Liberal ideas need to spread but people are not ready for a revolution.
It would be a shame if trump wins again and Dems will only have themselves to blame.
38
@NS
It would be a great honor to lose to Trump for supporting the poor and vulnerable among us, for standing up to racism and bigotry, for having a distaste for corruption, for doing the Jesus you so eloquently speak. Such a woman or man would be the greatest winner.
8
@NS no it will be those who choose not to exercise their right to vote.
1
@NS Literally none of those policies you speak of are Democratic policies.
Until Democrat's are honest on why the house flipped in 2018 we will remain lost in delusion for the prospects of 2020. The Mueller probe was still going on during he 2018 election & the media had the Country convinced Trump would be indicted. Didn't happen. Now the impeachment probe is going into the General with the same disappointment. Not looking good with this strategy, as literally nothing got done for this 2018 Congress. The votes I fear are going right back to Trump X's 2.
12
@M. Smith Obviously you are not aware of the many numerous bills that have been sent to the Senate, and McConnell has not bought them up for a vote.
7
@M. Smith This makes no sense. If Trump isn't indicted, it will be because Mitch McConnell refuses to allow a proper trial in the Senate. The Republicans will have made sure Trump's crimes are not adjudicated. And you and Trump supporters will blame Dems for that? Is there lead in the water?
8
@M. Smith Nothing got done with this Congress? Do you know just how many bills the house passed since taking power? And every one of them is sitting on the Senate floor with Mitch McConnell refusing to even bring them up for a vote.
7
What policies are those interviewed supporting?
35
What is the point NYT--informing that people will vote with their wallets? That many view Democrats as "going after Trump" as if for Sport and nothing else? Funny--I see really informative articles in WP-----
2
As the old saying goes “It’s the economy,stupid”.
Trump may be reprehensible but if he is perceived to have brought prosperity to people who have not seen much of it in recent years they will vote for him despite their reservations.
The Democrats extreme positions on immigration are hurting them with these voters and they have not won them over with impeachment either.
I certainly hope that whoever the nominee will be is going to be someone who can get through to these people and others like them but I’m not holding my breath.
16
This is extremely depressing. These people need to turn off Fox News, and our education system needs to prioritize critical thinking.
93
The lessons of the 1930's have been lost on these men and women, not to mention basic civics and our constitution.
50
What exactly has he achieved? I want to hear what his supporters think he has done that is positive in the long-term for our nation. He has exploded the deficit and national debt. He has made the already wealthy even wealthier, and done nothing for ordinary Americans. His tariffs are killing Midwestern farmers. Manufacturing layoffs are accelerating in the Midwest. He is not creating jobs. He has mainstreamed racism, misogyny and white nationalism, which is shameful. He is allowing polluters to degrade our water and air, not to mention hasten catastrophic climate change. He has helped Russia’s imperialist ambitions immensely, but has damaged our national security. Most of all, he has devalued the rule of law and our Constitution, which is our bulwark against tyranny.
Anecdotally, I know several people who voted for him last time, but despise him now.
108
Another depressing article from Nate Cohn, but we probably ignore it at our own peril.
The common theme among these voters is the misconception that Trump has accomplished things.
Democrats should be dispelling that notion. And no more talk of what a slime ball he is. Message communicated and understood. They don’t care. That is why Biden needs to lay off the outrage factor. Talk policy.
31
I think the Dems need to talk about what Trump has NOT gotten done. A trade deal, a medical plan, a trade deal, ISIS is not gone afterall, etc. Any reference to Trump's dishonesty and crimes has no impact on his cult followers.
1
It's the economy, stupid. Nothing more, nothing less. The stock market is soaring, wages are rising, unemployment is at a all time low for minorities, medical costs transparency, etc, etc. Jobs, jobs, jobs.
Yet Democrats have bet their entire fortunes on a fake impeachment scandal. Worse, they have the temerity to call Trump supporters uninformed and stupid. Go figure.
10
@JGaltTX ,
It's amazing to me the number of people that think the president (any president) is the person that causes the economy to be good or bad. The president has very little effect on the economy and mostly just gets lucky or unlucky.
The economy goes in cycles. Praising or blaming the president for the economy is about as rational as praising or blaming the weather forecaster, for the weather.
13
@JGaltTX If you were really informed you would read the government statistics, and would realize that many of the economic policies you mention were started when Obama was president and are just experiencing the natural continuation of the upward pattern. What actually did Trump do other than drastically increase the deficit.
Do you really think that tax cuts on borrowed money are a sound economic policy? It's a fact that the corporations that received the tax cuts mainly bought back shares of their stock. bought equipment and increased the dividend. Very little went towards adding to their payroll and pay increases to their employees. Trickle down economics has never worked, and didn't work this time.
All this jobs, jobs, jobs you mention, how many pay a livable wage? Billions of dollars were doled out to farmers who were devastated by his tariffs.
Where is the new healthcare plan by the way?
15
@JGaltTX Not sure what world you are living in, but the economy for me is not "booming." I work a career job, make a semi-decent wage, but the cost of everything around me keeps going up and up as the quality of life around me degrades on a daily basis and I still basically live paycheck to paycheck. Does the soaring stock market directly effect you and yours? And let's get real: the reason the unemployment rate is "at an all time low" is because so many people have to remain in the job market well into their 70s, and many people are working 2-3 jobs just to make ends meet. Again, quality of life.
5
oh how I hate these namby pamby incessant hand wringing articles, this what? 2% of voters? and the reasoning behind voting for Trump? Who knows? and they don't know either. We turnout the Democrats and we will win. period.
16
I wish to God that I knew what "great things" Trump has done that these voters are crowing about. Gutting environmental laws? Trying to gut health care? Paying off porn stars? Giving a huge tax break to himself and our other oligarchs? Paling around with dictators? Alienating allies? Breaking the law to get dirt on the Bidens? Oh yeah, their 401K's are looking good. Selfish, self-interested people, who overlook the constant abuse of his office should be ashamed, but that's obviously too much to ask from such an informed group.
34
I'm always floored by people who are torn between voting for Donald Trump vs Bernie Sanders. I can't imagine two people who differ more in their approach to policy and governing. It's sad that politics has become another form of entertainment, something like reality TV, where people have a hard time differentiating between public personas and what politicians actually stand for.
32
American voter selfishness. What exactly did he do that was positive?!
21
It is vary hard to make predictions at this point in the election because Trump has the huge advantage of incumbency. He doesn’t need to campaign because he is in the news every day. The Democrats, on the other hand, have a large field and none have truly reached out to voters in those Rust Belt states. A more clear picture will be had when the Dems have a nominee and voters will have the time to consider the match up. Most polling data now in those battleground states will be skewed in favor of Trump.
7
I wonder what the voters in this article think Trump has done and, more importantly, what he will do if reelected. So far, he has alienated our allies; supported murderous despots; increased the deficit; given tax breaks to the wealthy; insulted our diplomatic public servants and gutted the State Department; undermined the democratic process and institutions at every turn; sullied and tainted the office of the President with his crudeness, mendacity, and narcissism. Need I go on? Given more time, he will do more of the same and likely worse. I am sad, scared, and angry at what is happening to this country because too many people don't know a con man when they see one.
101
@PSEK... with zero due respect, anyone who believes trump’s is doing great job as a president deserves no respect.
Being a president is multitude of requirements and responsibilities amongst those are character, integrity, leadership and kindness.
Can anyone of these confused voters truly say which of the aforementioned characters trump’s known for
21
@PSEK
Jobs, jobs, jobs… that ’s what these voters want, and you made no mention of it. You listed everything that is important to you, but left out the one thing that is important to them.
Ask any young, educated Democrat, today, the same question, and you will get almost the same answer. What does that tell us about the Democrats’ prospects in 2020?
4
@PSEK
You forgot about gutting environmental protections for our health, as well as the the beautiful health care that we will thus need.
1
This is terrifying. How do win over these people?
26
One could try lying. It seems to have worked quite well already...
40
We don’t. We energize all the other voters, esp young ones, to make sure they get out and vote.
57
@Sharon
A very high risk strategy. Historically, young people and the poor just don’t vote.
To increase turnout will require more than “energizing” the base....like this is a football game.
To increase turnout you have to go after structural issues. Solutions like making Election Day a holiday, early voting, vote by mail or computer, easy registration etc will increase turnout. Not hype rallies and free concerts.
If you want to win, you have to win over the people that will most likely vote and in today’s America, that means moderates and independents who are sick of Trumps behavior.
Anything else is like throwing a Hail Mary or taking a half court shot at the buzzer.
8
These must be the same people that answer their phones when pollsters call. Throwing up a coin and deciding who to vote for based on how it lands is ridiculous.
8
This is what makes me nuts. Another comment here was correct. There are no follow- up questions to some of the typical garbage, uninformed answers these people are just repeating like robots. Without follow- up on how Trump is "getting things done" you allow disinformation to continue. Take Danny Destival, FL. who says you need a person who's going to get things done and Dems at the national level disappoint, because all they are doing is trying to get rid of the president. Gee, does he mean the 300 bills the Dem. House sent to the Senate ie. Mitch M. who didn't bring hardly any up for a vote? Who isn't getting things done? A president who watches TV half the day? Who needed more executive time (tv time)away from his office. Really working for all the people! Back and forth - can't make up his mind on foreign policy so no real progress made. And last overlooking the corruption, refusal to learn, cruelty, and complete lack of a moral compass? No problemo! Please present and informed article on how these people back up what they articulated.
95
That’s what “deplorable” stands for - uneducated, sound-bite regurgitating folks that have zero clue about history, what happens in the world, why the economy is “good” or “bad”. And even if they did, Trump trumps it all ....
19
@ab Democrats have to tell the story of the hold up in the Senate. The word is not getting out.
17
Hard to give any credulity to those who "claim" that they will vote for Trump again in 2020 because he "gets things done" which is an euphemism for "I agree with his anti-immigrant and racists positions", something most of them will never tell pollsters or even admit to themselves. And just as revolting to see that a good number of them, so called "Christians" have no issue with his very inmoral and quite clearly anti-Christian decisions to put innocent children in cages and separate them from their parents, while their beat their chests so hard in church that they could make deep holes in them. Their hypocrisy has no bounds, they are only fooling themselves and sooner or later they will have to answer to that God whose laws they are supposedly following.
61
@Augusto Augusto, I wish that I believed in God as you do, then I could believe justice would eventually be meted out to people who support Trump and his crimes. The worst, as you noted, was putting babies in cages. Do the people who support him actually support that? Who interviewed these people and didn't ask what, in particular, Trump has done that they applaud?
15
On election night 2020 if Trump wins the meltdown of the Intelligentsia will be something to see. As the comments here show, the “smart” people can only turn to condescension when confronted with the audacity of anyone who dares to support Trump.
20
@Jason and is that entertainment enough? What about trying to bring civility back? And after the so called intelligentsia meltdown, what will follow that will be good for the country ? Be interested in your perspective.
10
@Jason Do you support caging babies?
8
@Jason
Says the condescending Jason.
Give me a break. Anyone who asks Trump supporters to produce evidence for his "getting things done" other than his tax break for the wealthy (that they promptly used to buy back stock) have nothing to say. Then they attack Dems for doing nothing, which is a Fox News talking point but actually not true. Republicans hold sway in the senate and McConnell decides what goes through.
Where is Trump's infrastructure program? the bigger better health care program? How about controlling costs for college? Small businesses? Safe drinking water? Republicans controlled everything and Trump came up with a giant goose egg. Zilch. Nothing.
But asking questions or holding Trump accountable is considered by the Jasons of the world to be "condescending."
30
Reading this article was incredibly frustrating. These people are so focused on the short term that they are willing to destroy our country. And they don't realize that even in the short term, Trump isn't helping them. We should revert to the Jim Crow South and require IQ tests to vote - then perhaps we could get rid of Trump.
The only positive I took from this article is that unlike so many Republicans in Washington who swear that Trump is an altar boy, these people at least admit that he is evil but are willing to overlook it for policy reasons. I staunchly disagree with them but at least they are being honest, which is better than all of the people who defend his horrible behavior.
21
Nate, you know how to find the bottom-of-the-barrel, par excellence. Demographically speaking, living in coal country might be just enough to make you sour on life and love Trump.
10
Yes. The squeaky wheel really does get the grease. Some wheel. Some grease!
There wasn’t a blue wave, Paul Ryan & some 40 Republicans retired from the House. House incumbents get re-elected at almost an 80-90% rate. If a radical democrat gets elected the stock market would crash and people would lose 30-40% on 401K’s, IRA’s, stocks etc. Then figure how great the economy & unemployment is, it truly is a no brainer to vote Trump. Trump is also polling positive with 30-35% of black voters, and even higher with Latinos & Hispanics. Keep up with impeachment and we will give him back the House to go along with Senate. It’s hard to believe one single man took out the Clinton Dynasty, Bush Dynasty, and Obama Legacy, as well as the MSM, all by himself. Trump 2020.
17
@JOSEPH He didn’t do it all by himself. He had just a bit of help — from a certain someone whose name starts with P, ends with N, and enjoys riding horses shirtless and serving his enemies polonium cocktails.
8
@Jason Matzner he had help from enough voters in each of the 50 states to win 304 electoral votes, even if the Russians spent a bit of money on facebook ads and the like, it wasn't enough to swing the election one way or another
and Hillary had help from other nations as well, we live in a world where anyone with internet access can "influence" the election, no matter where they are
3
@J You have no basis to say whether what the Russians did was enough.
Margaret, your logic reminds me of a Pastor who counsels a woman to stay with her abusive husband because he is a good provider.
30
As usual many previous comments continue to explicitly call all Trump voters nasty names or worse. This is not the way to win elections as 2016 proved. If this approach continues, then Trump will win in 2020 as this article indicates. If you want to win elections, try to understand the voters you need to persuade.
19
Voters didn't choose the elections of 2000 or 2016. Why would they start now?
10
Nat and Clarie. Not like we haven't heard this before, so it's kind of old news. If you want something new to write about, then go to the suburbs, and interview the folks that switched over to Democrats in 2018 and plan on voting for a Democrat for President. And no better place to start than the 6th District of GA, now held by Dem Rep Lucy McBath. She won from a Republican, Karen Handel.
But look who controlled this district before Ms. McBath. Newt Gingrich, Tom Price, recently deposed HHS Secretary, and Senator Johnny Isakson. It's happening like that all over Metro Atlanta, and one can safely assume that's what is taking place in many other large city suburbs.
20
Us Democrats are not complacent and we will replace the evil in the White House. Just stop scaring us to death with these negative, unsubstantiated articles ( especially since the polls were completely wrong last time with Hillary).
14
Please, I’m begging you, no more features on Trump voters. My head hurts enough as it is.
32
We have met the enemy and he us us.
How skewed must your thinking be to dismiss character, criminality and competence as metrics.
18
White male over sixty. You just described Trump’s base. I’m heartened by the fact that only two-thirds will vote for him again. I’m not concerned.
9
Wrong lead. Should have been "One third of Trump voters in 2016 who voted for Democrat congresspeople in 2018 will not vote for Trump in 2020". In a close 2020 presidential election in battleground states, these defections are HUGE!
14
@James Cunilio There is no indication that the remaining 1/3rd is going to *not* vote for Trump. They may be simply shy, or undecided at this point.
4
Trump is done in Michigan the broken machines will be going to GOP strongholds this time.
5
I don’t mean to be rude, but this is clearly ill informed people incapable of critical independent thought.
Besides the fact that Trump is a lying narcissistic, misogynistic racist white supremacist , his tariffs are being paid by his supporters (see note about lack of critical thinking ability), he cuts taxes for the wealthy at the expense of everyone else, he is wrecking the environment for his supporters’ children, and he is enlisting the help of foreign governments to try to get reelected. How can anyone think this is all going to work in their favor? Because the stock market is high? Ugh. Happy Thanksgiving.
13
@Johninnapa And the poor and working class aren't invested in the stock market. Yeah for the rich.
5
“You’re all going to be very surprised because all these quiet little Christian women aren’t saying anything right now, but they are going to vote for Trump again." Well, then you are not Christian women. Or can you kindly explain why Jesus would be in favour of lying, slandering, bullying, snatching small children from their parents and deliberately traumatizing them for life?
59
"No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public," has been variously to P.T. Barnum, H.L. Mencken, and Ambrose Bierce. No matter. It certainly applies to every one of these gullible voters. No one in their sixties should count on Social Security or Medicare if Trump is re-elected.
20
They vote for Trump because Fox news tells them to vote for him.
You should ask everyone you talk to where they get their news.
22
What is all this "trumps says what he means" nonsense? When he isn't incoherent, he flips constantly. And "all the things he's done?" Like lie, cheat, steal, divide, pay off hookers, sell out US interests, promote racism, etc. etc. C'mon people, wake up!
This group of older, white and uneducated people is bringing this country down.
22
I wonder what it is in humans that enables some to realize immediately when someone lies to them, while other humans can't figure out for beans that someone is lying, lying, lying, to them.
If people cannot figure out and realize that Trump is lying to them every single day, then they will vote for him again in 2020.
Trump has been lying since before he was elected. He probably figures people are too dense, or too trusting, to believe that a president of the U.S.A would stoop so low as to lie.
He's lying because he is trying to increase profits for corporations. He only wants to be president so he can increase corporate profits.
11
I keep waiting in vain - and suspect I’ll wait my whole life - for an article that earnestly examines why Republicans don’t move toward the so-called political center. In one article after another, the implication is “why aren’t Democrats doing more to appeal to voter x, y, and a”, as if the right-wing position is inviolable and the liberal one fanciful.
Oh, and the voters in this article? Who cares. If you genuinely believe Trump has been good for the economy and a president who “gets things done,” the majority of the country doesn’t need you. And year by year, you’ll realize how increasingly irrelevant your intellectually moronic positions are. Good riddance.
20
These poor people still can't see past the con man's empty promises.
Old, white, uneducated.
And fooled.
If you ask what he's actually done for them, what would they say?
That they're sure he's going to do something for them now?
13
@Joe Coming from the guy who still thinks Trump supporter equals "old, white, uneducated".
5
These people make me sick. They talk about what Trump has done, but I'd love for them to actually explain what they think he's done. Apart from giving a tax break to the top 1%, I can't see he has done a single thing. He hasn't brought their taxes down, he hasn't brought new jobs, he certainly hasn't given them healthcare and farmers are going bankrupt at a terrible level. Do they think getting a couple of Supreme court justices is going to materially change their lives? A great chunk of Americans are the weidest people alive and are the ones dragging it down on every level. I noted in the article some of them are secretive about voting for Trump, that says it all about how ashamed they are of themselves, and they should be.
15
I love what this has revealed about "christian women."
19
Everyone is allowed to vote for who ever they want and if these people want to vote for Putin's working boy, then they can, knowing that they are Making America Gruesome Again.
8
Shallow people only concerned about themselves are slowly but certainly helping this POTUS destroy this country.
After all, who needs this constitution thing?
9
Russian intelligence focused their hacking and meddling interference on African American voters legiimate lingering real grievances in 2016. Playing both sides but concealing their identity. And black turnout dropped 11% from peak Obama in 2008 and 2012.
8
I would like to ask these white, uneducated men-What exactly has trump achieved?
8
She said she had voted for Republicans when Democrats were in the White House for the same reason, consistent with research that shows that some people intentionally vote for divided government.
++++++++++
Goodness, makes one pine for the days of monarchy.
2
"History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce."
- Karl Marx
7
1/3rd is enough to turn the Rudy belt to the Dem presidential candidate!
3
Ah, so this is how Rome fell...
Scary piece, indeed.
9
Journalists dropping the ball again. Trump voters have been analyzed as nauseam; what more do we need to know? Stop giving them and their "messiah" oxygen!
12
I don’t get it...I do not understand how people can overlook a amoral, immoral, cheating, racist President and still vote for him because he gets things done...are they saying I’m ok with a fascist authoritarian system as long as long as things get done...a dumbed down electorate is a sweet dream for the GOP.
7
"She said she had voted for Republicans when Democrats were in the White House for the same reason, consistent with research that shows that some people intentionally vote for divided government." LOL
Yeah there are maybe half a dozen voters in those states who supported trump and strategically switched to balance government in the midterms.
Those rarest americans with enough cognitive powers to strategize at that political level and still bring themselves to vote for the orange idiot in a general election.
They are like a mutant species and sould be studied like lab rats.
5
Nate Cohn... what is this guy the Republican Propaganda Minister ... never has anything positive to write about Democrats esp left wing. I am intrigued by the Trump voter who said he was intrigued by Bernie Sanders. That is interesting.
3
Voting for Trump? What's are the selling points?
He's a racist. He's completely corrupt. He's inept. He's a loud-mouthed know-nothing-know-it-all idiot. He's a chauvinist. He works for Putin. He's a pathological liar. He promotes violence. He promotes hatred. He's tearing the country apart. He's a pompous jerk. He's a country club bore. He's a draft-dodger. He's a self-made bankruptcy filer. He's a cheat. He's a law breaker. He's a sleazebag.
Why would anyone in their right mind vote for him? Because they aren't in their right mind. In fact, you'd have to be certifiably nuts to vote for this unmitigated sack of manure.
The only reason I can see anyone voting for him, is because so many people hate his guts. That's the only reason. Out of spite.
There are times when I wish that Trump would just destroy this country, in the hopes that that might teach people about voting Republican. Then I remember. I remember that George W. Bush did a pretty good job of completely wrecking this country. And after 8 years of Obama putting everything back together again, the Republicans couldn't wait to go out and destroy it all over again.
In other words, Republican voters never learn. Nothing sticks. They're like Germans in 1948, thinking, "You know what? Let's do it all over again!".
It's too bad we have a system that continually allows the "wisdom of the majority" to be overruled by the incalculable "ignorance of the minority". If we didn't, the GOP would never win another election.
15
We are free to vote for anyone. I respect that. I just question why these Trump voters aren't researching his policies, his past horrible deeds or his evil tactics. They must not know the real truth. It's very sad.
7
@karen They know the truth. They just don't care about anyone else other than themselves.
5
I’m so sick of the tragedy that is the midwestern, rural, older white male. Democrats win by registering and encouraging young people of color to vote. Once they stop trying to win back these lost voters and place focus thusly, they win the election. But they need to stop trying to placate a group that continually votes against its best interests due to blatant racism and fear of the other.
9
Democrats do win with the popular vote. The electoral college is the problem. It allows a minority of the voting population to select a president.
2
I'm sorry but anyone who votes for Trump in 2020 does not get the benefit of the doubt. After 4 years of bigotry and corruption his taint rubs off on them. And to use the excuse of their pocketbook makes it even more reprehensible.
18
Trump supporters define the word delusional. Do they really think that Obama left the country a disaster that had to be saved as Trumps spouts off about at every rally? Do they really believe the tax cuts are showing up in their pay-check? Do they really think the GOP healthcare plan exists? Do they really think that Trump and his administration are not the definition of swamp and are "the best people?" Do they really think that Trump's love of Putin is okay and that our allies are pleased that Trump embraces dictators? And do they really think that by denying climate change Trump is not risking the lives of every living creature on the planet and raising the cost of reversing fossil fuels disastrous effect on our planet to a level that may be impossible to fund because it grows astronomically every day - see today's UN report on climate? Trump declares the news media as "fake" because he is as great a fake president since any sideshow freak ever put on exhibit and clamored over by the crowds of Barnum's "suckers born every day." Vote for Democrats in 2020 and we can stop reading about delusional people who think Trump is a great president.
8
I agree with this take.
A lot of people will vote Trump because they cannot stomach to vote socialists, just they will not tell you because their more vocal friends will shame them for their choice.
Still, when the curtain closes, they vote red and go home smiling.
Who is to blame? just look at the Democrat choices.
11
@AutumnLeaf The Democrats are (almost) all reasonable. You have been taught to vilify them and knee-jerk call them socialist.
1
More of the same: more work, with raises; or the unknown, big killer taxes and "clean energy" cost? Vote your pocket.
4
I think this daily, hourly parsing of human reactions is a terrible waste of time and energy.
The wheels will turn, and turn again. I don't have much faith in the ability of these people to get past their narrow focus, but I do think the fundamental evil of the powers that be on the Republican side is so prideful, nasty, dishonest, and inhumane that most people will have plenty of time to wake up.
3
It's pretty simple. Democratic leadership has turned places in this country into unpleasant places to live. Rampant crime, high taxes, a seemingly strong desire to turn this country into something it never was nor meant to be. The current state of affairs is only surprising to Democrats who see things as they think they should be rather than how they are. Democrat and realist frequently don't go hand in hand.
-ex Democrat.
12
Insofar as Michigan is concerned, Trump is already in a deep hole. The margin here was 17,000 votes in 2016. That resulted from two huge impacts from the Sanders campaign that are not likely to repeat. One, we had over 220,000 votes go to Stein/Johnson/write-ins. The normal is closer to 25,000. Those were anti-Hillary votes, right, wrong or indifferent. I expect we will have a high tally of vanity votes again, but nowhere near 220,000. A pessimistic guess would be 100,000, but even if 40,000 TP voters last time go for the Democrat, there goes Trump's lead in 2016. Second, a major election study in August 2017 found that some 47,000 Sanders primary voters crossed over and voted for Trump, whatever their reasons. I don't see that repeating either. Only 17,000 changed votes from that group also would eat up all of Trump's margin in 2016. And If 1/3 of 2016 Trump voters who voted for the Democrats here in 2018, don't stick with Trump in 2020, he will lose in a landslide here.
Ther fact is that this pattern was repeated in many states in 2016. The only people I see who can defeat a coalition of the Democratic left and center, Independents and anti-Trump Republicans are the hoped-for coalition members themselves.
3
Why are the Democrats to blame for nothing gets done? A couple hundred bills through the House aren't even being discussed in the Senate. For two years, the Republicans had all three branches of government, and what did they accomplish? It's easy to tear down things. It is much more difficult to build them.
13
Once again, the Times seems intent on cautioning its readers that Trump is a strong bet to win re-election, extensively quoting people who clearly are low-information voters and who, apparently, do not care one whit about the President's corruption, lies, and all-purpose, industrial strength repulsiveness.
I've asked before and I renew my plea: how about a few stories every so often about people who are angry, anxious, frustrated, deeply unhappy and determined to help rid the nation of the Trump regime and all it stands for?
I do believe, and I hope I'm right, that there's a lot more of us than there are of them.
12
Economically I've done a bit worse under the current administration. So have many others I know. But it's the "herd mentality". We are fed the stock market up, tax breaks and low unemployment ... so of course we are all doing well.
In actuality, the stock market doesn't help the average person who doesn't have the money to invest. The tax breaks really only benefited the wealthy. (Any others should remember for individuals they were only temporary.) Unemployment is low ... but so are wages, which haven't kept up with the cost of living.
Bottom line ... The "good economy" really is good for those telling us about it. Not for the majority of us.
If more realized that, Mr. Trump might not get so many votes.
11
Mr Trump won by tiny margins in a handful of states and that handed him an electoral college win. If I read this article correctly he has lost over a third of 2% of the electorate who voted for him in 2016 and voted for a Democratic candidate in 2018. That seems like pretty bad news for Mr. Trump. But, I guess we're watching yet another spinoff of that perennial media favorite: "The Democrats are in trouble." This year the plot line casts progressives as frightening specters from whom moderates and right thinking oligarchs must save the party. Gads it gets wearying. It's like reading a poorly reasoned Thomas Edsall column over and over and over...
2
In their reasons for supporting Trump, a number of those questioned mentioned “what he’s achieved” and that he just doesn’t talk but gets things done.
Remind me again. What has Trump achieved? What has he gotten done?
8
@CC If you are wealthy, quite a bit.
@CC Nothing. The people interviewed are unable to think and are simply regurgitating fox news talking points. Hatred is a very powerful motivator.
2
Trump owes his victory to the uninformed. But it’s not just Trump. Political scientists have been studying what voters know and how they think for well over 65 years. The results are frightening. Aemrican voters generally know who the president is but not much else. They don’t know which party controls Congress, what Congress has done recently, whether the economy is getting better or worse (or by how much).
Trump supporters exemplify the perverse Dunning-Kruger Effect identified by psychologists—essentially, the less we know, the more certain we become of our superior knowledge.
Today core Republicans, when confronted by irrefutable proof that some core belief is incorrect, don’t change their minds but dig in their heels. What feels right to them must be right and no amount logic and reasoning will dissuade them. Emotion trumps evidence.
7
"He has also been intrigued by Bernie Sanders." We hear it over and over: swing states, working class men, etc. -- and then CRICKETS. Bernie Sanders is the MOST electable person running for the Democratice nomination. Period. He is speaking to the issues working and precariously middle class people care about, he does not alienate anyone based on their ethnicity, religion, class or gender. He is known to be honest and is a known quantity. He is funny and has a "common touch" + charisma and doesn't threaten any groups except the elites. I'm not cynical enough to think that most democrats would rather have Trump than a true progressive calling for systemic change, but sometimes I wonder. It's frustrating to me, as a midwesterner who watched us throw away the chance of generation to watch it potentially happen again.
4
@Parapraxis
I like Bernie, but I guarantee you that voter was with Trump all the way.
He was repeating right wing talking points and if Bernie is the nominee, 100% of the Trump voters will be repeating the right wing talking points about how Bernie will take away their health insurance and end all private property. It is naive for you to think that people who think Trump is good will not be the first to repeat the propaganda they hear.
Whether the Democratic nominee is Bernie, Warren, Biden or anyone else, the way for them to win is to forget about the people who are drawn to Trump's views and concentrate on the many voters who were intentionally disenfranchised in 2016.
2
Shouldn't the takeaway be that 33% of battleground state voters who voted for Trump in 2016 will NOT vote for him in 2020? I t would seem that losing 1/3rd of even a small contingent of swing voters in tight contests would potentially move the needle. In a zero sum game like the Electoral College, it doesn't take much.
Just ask President Gore.
8
The voters are not very well informed and the Democrats are not very good at publicizing what they have done. The House Democrats have passed hundreds of bills that are sitting on McConnell’s desk going no where because of partisanship on the part of Republicans. The bills include lowering prescription drug prices, protecting our elections and help people save for retirement.
8
On November 5, 2016, I sat with my wife over a cup of coffee, still holding out hope. Perhaps Trump really would drain the swamp. Perhaps having a businessman in power would be a breath of fresh air.
All that hope was predicated on Trump running the U.S. like a corporation, like an Apple or a ExonMobile or a Delta Airlines.
Instead, he's run our nation like a reality TV series.
And that, right there, explains these opinions more than anything else.
33
@htg So true. The problem all along however was with the concept of Trump as a talented and honorable businessman. In fact he was neither of those things. He ran basically a tiny family focused business. That business depended all along on mobsters to keep it afloat whether in the construction industry or in the clientele they served. In the most recent years it also depended on deals with corrupt businessmen and autocratic kleptocracies. What got him elected were the fools who thought the Apprentice was reality.
6
@htg
I am confused about why you and others, having read heard of Trump for a long time, would ever think he could be a decent president? He has never exhibited any of the required qualities: empathy, curiosity, education or interest in the circumstances of others. In fact, he can't even form proper sentences. His deficiencies have been known for decades! I was a child in the 70's and 80's, but even so I absorbed all the news about him from that time and concluded that he was a jerk. I am amazed at your amazement.
7
I am honestly at a loss when it seems that some people can look at the president, think purely in terms of "he's been ok for my pocketbook," and they willfully ignore issues like his caging of immigrant children, his attacking the press and various government institutions, his degrading of our intelligence agencies, his continued insistence that his version of the truth is the *only* truth we must accept...the list goes on and on.
Yes, bread and butter issues are critical, no doubt about it. But when people weigh these over all other attributes of the man in the oval office (and when those attributes lead to some very real suffering for so many of our countrymen), I really do wonder how people can look themselves in the mirror and be ok with their positions.
74
@Neal
People tuned out, for decades, and now they settle for crumbs, less than crumbs, instead of demanding more, engaging. You can't have a strong country under these circumstances. The media has learned next to nothing since 2016 and looks for reasons to broadcast
more failure, instead of covering policy, being a light. So, a real question is, if Trump were to win again and completes the task of handing our Sovereignty off on a Silver Platter, which he is absolutely doing, what will the sane among us do?
6
America has lost its moral ground.
3
@Neal Because the world isn't in as a dire place as you make it out to be. And most Americans outsider of the Ivy League Bubble see that. Welcome to the real world, Neal.
6
It would seem to me that this means one third of those who voted for trump in 2016 and then voted Democratic in 2018 will vote Democratic in 2020 which would give those three states to the Democrats. No?
15
National and State issues are different.
Montana voted for a Democrat Governor in every election from 2004-2016.
We voted Republican for president in each of those elections.
5
I was told that Nanty Glo was a corruption of Nanticoke, who settled in the area in colonial times, but the Welsh name seems to make more sense!
Anyway, being a resident of PA I hope and believe this state will swing the other way next year. I don't know anyone personally like the voters described here, but I do know a number of people (including otherwise conservative relatives) who will not make the same mistake twice. Everyone- take a deep breath and let's concentrate on putting the best D candidate forward for next year!
13
Please ask these voters what Trump has done that makes them think he “gets things done.” Wall? No. Repeal and replace Obamacare? No. Infrastructure plan? No. Reduce the deficit? No. Lots of motion and blathering, but what substance?
I can understand not following the twists and turns of impeachment, and being puzzled by it. I’m a former lawyer and retired so have the time and expertise to follow it. The facts revealed by it appals me. I wish there were a good way to make this comprehensible.
49
@Alex Kent The "gets things done" is no more than a load of rubbish just to hide the "real" reasons they vote for this vile and corrupt guy. It is astonishing, but not surprising that some of those voters who did not even finished High School (nothing against people who for any reason could not do it), think that his economic policies are good for his pocket book... which one? The reduction of taxes for the top 0.1% in the Country? Yeah, right.....
2
Economically, I've done well under Trump. Not because of him - in spite of him. But I'm fairly wealthy, white, graduate degree and male. One has to wonder tho - if for some of these folks "the economy has done well under Trump" simply means they haven't lost their job.
On person in this article says she voted against Trump because of his total lack of political experience - while another states the complete opposite. And poor Mr. Destival from Panama City, FL is completely confused about what a "Southern Democrat" is or how they historically vote. Which may say a lot for others like him.
9
Let's put this in another perspective: A full third of Trump voters plan on NOT voting for him again. Considering Pennsylvania and many of the rust belt states were won by less than five percent or even less than one percent, this is actually bad news for Trump.
14
Wow. I will never, ever understand how someone who supported Hillary would vote for Trump. Like others comments here. I'd like to know just what they think he has done for them. And, for them to understand that it's the GOP that's holding up the bills in the Senate. I swear, it's FOX. I would ask where they get their news.
14
@Candace Skurnik Sadly, the fact that a good number of people, even in an advance country as America are deeply uninformed and not well educated, makes them the perfect target for manipulation and brainwashing, that is how totalitarian leaders and dictatorships thrive. We, here in America have to be very vigilant not to allow this to happen in this country before it is too late, we are almost at the brink of it.
2/3 of the flipped votes is still enough to defeat Trump in 2020. That beats his 2016 margin of victory.
But he’s got a better campaign this time and high level micro targeting.
6
I knew this would be a depressing article when I read the headline, and I was correct. I could follow some of the reasoning, as with the man who said Democrats had abandoned labor unions (They have abandoned labor unions - thanks, Bill and Barack.).
But the woman who said Trump is a great president who gets things done mystifies me. Aside from a tax cut that favored the rich and corporations and stacking the federal bench with anti-abortion hacks, Trump has done virtually nothing that has done the country any good, but a ton that has done it harm. But I must admit, Trump is always talking about what he's accomplished, even if it's almost always a lie.
Still, I'm not too worried. The Democratic candidate will find Trump to be a "target-rich environment", in military-speak. Trump's record of accomplishment is abysmal.
19
Judging by the reasons people interviewed in the essay are using to vote again for Trump, I guess a good old fashioned recession and stock market correction is just about what our country needs about now.
9
@Rick Morris so destroy the economy because you hate Trump ? This is a big reason he will win in landslide.
3
Who cares what Trump voters plan to do in 2020? I'm so tired of this same recycled story that we've had to endure for the past 3 years. Nothing new is discovered - just the same old arguments, which essentially boil down to a desire to keep the status quo and a blatant misunderstanding of Trump's economic policy.
16
He actively undermines our Intel, our Interests, Our Environment, makes bizarre, loud, phone interviews that make no sense, and now he's undermining Our Military. Game this Trajectory out another few years, and what do you see happening to the United States of America? What is wrong with people? You can get a decent country and help for your pocketbook, too. It isn't mutually exclusive. Are people so clueless or self-absorbed they can't do any real investigating? Thinking?
13
This election isn't about the Trump voters who are sticking with him, but about the ones who are not. And the vast numbers of Democratic voters who were disenfranchised in 2016 or were told by a non-stop drumbeat of propaganda that there was absolutely no difference between Trump and Clinton. Those voters sat out the election or voted for a 3rd party candidate.
But those voters are unlikely to be fooled again by fake Facebook accounts that tell them that Trump is really the savior and (insert Democratic candidate here) is no better.
We all know that it is likely that Facebook "accidentally" gives its data to some of Peter Thiel's pals who make sure they receive the right wing propaganda. And we all know that the media will report the dishonest attacks on Democrats to smear whoever is the nominee. But will the voters be fooled again so they sit out?
It's clear that the vast majority of Americans want Trump down. The question is whether they will vote. The Republicans are doing everything they can to disenfranchise them.
1
Intrigued by Sanders.. still voting Trump. And the economy for construction workers have been better the last two years. Maybe Obamas robust economy buildup from 2009 is the reason for that not a sudden change of president..?
1
Mr. Will, who started college but left to get married before graduating, credits Mr. Trump’s trade deals and pledge to bring jobs back to the United States.
Not paying attention. Trump has failed miserably on both counts.
6
The 2016 Trump Democrats (older and aggrieved, but about what?) are loving the constant attention pollsters are giving them — celebrity is contagious, right from the TV reality star in the White House to the family house. The interest in this sliver of voters will evaporate only when the mean age of this 2% of the electorate matches the country's life expectancy. Cranky old people always make for great interviews, preferably on TV, with various colorful and wordy hats on.
3
Hearing these people say that trump is “a great president” makes me feel like I am living on an alien planet. I do not know my country any more. And I despair, even as I probably can “ride out” another term. It will be a ghastly place that remains.
8
I now understand why the GOP has wanted to cut funding for education for decades.
21
Image is everything, once said a TV commercial for a camera company. Trump is a bad president but many voters, as those interviewed here, have an image of Trump creating jobs and improving the economy. They have the image of a business man who gets things done. For them, for lots of others too, reality matters less than the image they have of a candidate. If enough of these voters in crucial states tip the balance, Trump wins. The Democrats' TV debates haven't produced a strong favorite candidate. Hugely negative press coverage in most quarters hasn't harmed Trump poll numbers. A united front of opposition doesn't yet exist. It's essential that Trump opposition, people from all political corners, drawn to a supportable candidate, comes together rather soon in a united drive to vote against him. If not, then don't complain.
4
These people honestly believe that they're naturally encouraging consensus and compromise by voting purple. That's depressing.
5
So if 1/3rd of those voters who voted for Trump in 2016 don't vote for him, that's a bad thing? Talk about a glass-half-empty perspective. I think he loses bigly, but won't believe it until it happens, in no small part due to articles like this.
The Democrats have spent all their time obsessed with removal of Trump. Mueller investigation contributed to 2018 wins - mostly because of several Republicans not running again and the media making people believe that Trump colluded with Russia. Now the impeachment trial is part of the Democratic campaign. Congress has abused its power by harassing the President more than Trump saying and doing whatever he did in Ukraine. He was doing his job and may have done inappropriate yet legal things, the Congress is at war with the WH with all it has. Change the Congress in 2020.
7
@JustWatching
"inappropriate yet legal things" JustWatching , you've lost your moral compass. You need a refresher in constitutional morality and ethics, so here goes:
Thinking people have been trying to make government ethical for at least 2500-years (see Socrates). They knew and know (as do we all if we think about it) that power corrupts, and politics (more properly politicians) is all about power. The founders knew this and limited the power of our government accordingly.
ETHICS IS IMPORTANT. And it is inviolate. Redefining ethics to match so situation is impossible and unethical. You can’t do it, I can’t do it, and Trump is not empowered to do it, no matter how many unethical people vote to do so.
2
The economy is strong and that seems to be the reason why those interviewed would vote for Trump even if they have not perhaps done so in the past. But I'm skeptical that the economic stability has done much of anything for most Americans save for the upper 1% who will continue to applaud Trump's deregulation policies which unfortunately seemed to have stimulated growth, but at what price, the destruction of our environment? And what about those issues these voters don't cite: climate change, foreign policy, immigration reform, real tax reform, infrastructure growth, gun control, obstruction of justice, violating his oath of office and failure to uphold the Constitution . Trump rides a precarious wave in all of these areas and the voters polled seem all to willing to give him a pass - massive myopia and denial which will come back to haunt him and, unfortunately, us.
4
Democrats need to focus on economic issues. Trump and the GOP have brought us the largest deficits in history. If Trump wins a second term they are going to begin to address that and where are they are going to look: Medicare and Social Security. They've already said so. This is one time to believe them.
And what about those middle class tax cuts that some in low tax states got that will disappear in a few years but the huge tax cuts for the rich are permanent?
And how about the promise for the best health care at low prices that has not only never appeared and many of the protections provided in Obamacare have been eliminated?
Not only will these voters' children and grandchildren be paying for the Trump economic sugar high, but it's likely they themselves will too given the increases in spending and huge tax cuts.
Trump is running the US government like he ran his businesses, with an eye only for the short term. And look what happened to almost all of them. He skimmed off the cream and everyone else was left with an empty cup.
10
Eugene Burdick, in his 1950's book, "The Ninth Wave", predicted the computerized future. Every voting block would be fully predicable by using every conceivable profile of the individuals making up each and every voting block. Added to that is the fact that some people lie to poll takers and that number is not known so while the block outcome would be predictable, the percentages would be off because there are people who claim to be progressive or conservative and vote the opposite from the others in their voting block. His point was that these people are likely to be moved by bias or fear or both.
This information does not change my mind about Trump supporters. Nothing will change their minds about him; they are easily led and do not fathom the intricacies of government policies. Dems need to focus on turning out their own voters who did not show up in 2016. The only way to win against Trump is to turn out the vote. I think most people who chose not to show up in 2016 may have reason now to show up.
16
@CKA where have these government policies got us? A shrinking middle class. Politicians who talk about helping- but really offer no change. The “intricacies” of government have lead to our political class enriching themselves while the rest of us eat cake.
It's time to hit Trump hard on his role as commander in chief, and Democrats need to hammer home the message that WE ARE LESS SAFE with Donald Trump in the White House. Most folks don't pay attention to anything beyond their checkbook, but they NEED too. Democrats need to steer the conversation toward his abysmal record on global affairs: alliances crumbling, Iran's aggression, China trade and tariffs, renewed ISIS, Russia worries, etc. The list is extensive. AND, now Trump is undermining the military, whose role is to protect us. I think the presidential debates are by and large substantive, but I wish we had one whole debate about global issues.
18
The trumpsters quoted in this article seem to be largely influenced by what's going into their pocketbooks these days. So, if I were a Democratic presidential candidate, I'd shift the conversation to "what do you think will be going into your children's and grandchildren's pocketbook 30 years from now?"
Food stamps, if they're really lucky.
39
@Jack Hartman so we would be better off if we were on food stamps now? Just how are we to educate our kids if we don’t have jobs? Depend on government?
1
@prettyinpink You missed my point. If Trump continues to move in the opposite direction of ameliorating climate change, i.e., promoting coal, increased CO2 emissions, etc., there ain't gonna be any jobs for our kids or grandkids.
And I'm missing your point about who educates our kids. Last time I looked, the majority were still going to public schools and universities that are funded largely by the government (thru our taxes as are the Army, Navy, Nat'l. Institutes of Health, etc.). You don't have to have a job to send your kid to a public school.
1
Your article repeatedly refers to the sentiment expressed that Trump "gets things done." If you had asked those you interviewed for specific "things" the whole read might have been more illuminating. "Things" like that great health care plan, or an infrastructure bill, or, wait for it - the Wall? Or perhaps, if you had asked them "why" the Dems haven't gotten things done it might have led to a deeper and more nuanced response from those you questioned, such as the passing of hundreds of bills in the House that languished in a Senate under Republican control. Or the fact that all those tax cut dollars enjoyed by the 1% and major corporations didn't filter down to their level but were instead converted to stock buy backs and the like.
When you present an article about how and why people say they are going to vote, you need to press those you interview for some depth of thought in order to reveal the motivation behind the sentiment. Anything less is superficial and frankly, not worth the read.
303
@Barbara I heartily agree. I’ve found that the usual answer to those questions is puzzled silence. At that point, Little needs to be added.
14
@Barbara what is the point of hundreds or f bill passed with no hope of a divided government putting through. Why not reach some consensus, negotiate, and do the work?
@Barbara
This is the 'genius' of Trump - he know how to communicate with these voters. Simple, incomplete sentences, few words - but very clear messages. These voters are absolutely not interested in follow-up question or complicated answers or arguments. In fact more questions would only cement their support for Trump.
14
There are also a whole lot of new voters who didn't vote in 2016. They just became citizens, or just turned 18. Maybe they were young adults who hadn't settled into a permanent home yet and forgot to request an absentee ballot, but now they've got a lease and a real job and all their paperwork in order. Maybe they just sat the election out or voted third party because Hillary was so far ahead in all the polls.
They'll all be lined up when the polls open on election day.
24
@Maria
Good point. But they may not be located in these swing districts. So their impact will be minimal if they are located on the coasts that overwhelmingly vote Democratic
5
The lesson from 2016 is its all about the electoral college. I looked at the 2018 mid term total congressional vote by state. Much of the democrat gains were in already blue states like California or in Texas where they will fall short.
Having said that democrats won the majority of votes in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin Michigan, Arizona, and Iowa, but lost in Ohio, North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Florida. I believe this is a good proxy for the 2020 election.
2
It's the economy, of course. The sitting president gets the credit or the blame for the economy. Also, people tend to examine economic benefits or losses through both/either the current prospects of friends, family and community, and/or through the perspective of fighting for the national interests - such as tough talk and actions regarding trade policy. These conclusions may not be comprehensively informed, but they are valid and typically high priority, especially to working class voters. Without a clear change in the course of the economy over the next year, the prospect of a second Trump term is quite possible.
Having fended off removal from office either by impeachment or at the ballot box, Trump and his supporters will move triumphantly to further stoke divisions through both rhetoric, and crucially, through policy (think climate change, judicial appointments and immigration), something that liberals of any age, but particularly the young, will find difficult to tolerate. Consistent civil unrest is a clear possibility, which may generate further political and perhaps state-sanctioned responses. The social fabric and the mutual trust on which a democratic republic rests will be severely tested.
12
@Scott Emery It has long been said that people vote their pocketbooks.
3
@Scott Emery yes, all those right wing anarchistic folks wearing masks and beating those who dare to speak.
2
These results are based on polling back in the first week of November. In that poll, Biden would beat Trump in Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Florida. He would tie Trump in Michigan and Trump would win North Carolina.
If that polling is correct, Biden would be the next President.
Not sure how this one poll has been used repeatedly as a "good news" story for Trump when it pretty clearly indicates that he would lose to Biden.
According to the same poll, Sanders would beat Trump in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, so he would have a good chance of winning the election also.
7
Among independents this poll outs the democrats as being maniacally preoccupied with getting rid of Trump at any cost and not speaking to the issues voters care about. Blame Schiff and Pelosi for blowing the opportunity to beat a vulnerable Donald Trump. No one to blame but themselves. The economy is icing on the cake.
6
@JAC
Look at the poll. It's linked in the second paragraph.
Trump would lose to Biden and probably to Sanders.
What poll are you talking about?
1
The picture and caption says all while current polls have Trump nationally edging up with people fed up with impeachment.
3
I feel like I'm living on another planet than most of those interviewed for this piece. So many seem to think Donald has accomplished a lot, but I wonder if they think so just because he keeps saying so. Seriously, what can they point to? Donald inherited low unemployment and a healthy economy (at least as defined by Wall Street). But many of the employed people I know are not making enough to cover their expenses. More than 50% of my patients are on Medicaid despite working full time. The coal jobs aren't coming back, and farmers are suffering from the trade/tariff wars. The "wonderful" health care Donald promised has not materialized, while only the wealthiest got a tax cut. Our environment is more polluted and most middle class people no longer expect to retire while they can still walk. Someone must be passing out rose-colored glasses at those Rump rallies.
194
@ARNP
They watch FOX news while you read the NYT. It is all in the eyes of the beholder
13
@ARNP Thank you ! I don't get what they see this time around. The first time, I could see wanting a true outsider, even though he's a terrible human being, womanizer, liar, terrible with money, so on. He would definitely be disruptive, but now ? With no real achievements to point to ? ugh ! Wake up people ! That's if we even get a fair election. Voting machines will be hacked, and we'll probably never know the true counts anymore.
14
@ARNP
The unemployment rate is much lower. The black unemployment rate is at an all time low, not that Iowa would notice. The establishment of Medicaid as the working class heath care system was the doing of Obamacare. The stock market is much higher, and I do not know of any factual support for your claim thsgboyf environment is more polluted. Do you?
1
Objectively, Trump has overwhelmingly not delivered on what he promised. Democrats need to hammer that home.
I'm from rural PA. I know the mindset of these people. And I don't see them voting for Warren or Sanders. These people know if the price of milk goes up by a dime and the far left wants them to submit to trillions of dollars to replace their healthcare.
We need a moderate to win this thing.
15
The Democrats are the extreme antithesis of moderate. Trump is a slam dunk
4
If only 2/3 of the people in those battleground states vote again for Trump. He's still going to lose. He barely won most of those states the last time in large part because, both enthusiasm for Clinton and voter turnout was low. Trump won by about 72,00 votes from three states. It always perplexes me why statisticians so frequently overanalyze and get wrapped up in their own numbers. It's why they so incorrectly predicted the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
13
Ok, two percent of registered voters. Overwhelmingly white, 60 percent male, two thirds without a college degree? These are Trump's people. I count on nothing for November 2020, but nothing about this surprises me.
31
This may seem disheartening, yet 1/3 of 2016 Trump voters who voted for Dems in 2018 are not voting for Trump. Some people are waking up to the facts. Trump never had the best interest of the people and never will. That difference in voting, if it is in the right parts of the country could make the difference. We all just need to vote.
21
I am bowled over how some of Trump's followers give the similar line - he has a lot of failings but he gets things done. Get things done? As undoubtedly the laziest individual whoever held the office of the Presidency his "accomplishments" are largely illusions. On the campaign trail he pitched a "better and cheaper' health care where "everyone would be covered". What he peddled when in office was a plan that would kick tens of thousands of their current insurance. His tax bill is determinedly regressive so the middle class gets scraps off the rich's table, and an ever present danger to the solvency of the US. His staff tries to keep him on the road so he doesn't do more damage than necessary. No he's not only a bad man, but a very bad President. Hopefully some of these voters will eventually notice this before them vote.
118
@Milliband They also don't realize all the legislation Democrats in the House have passed, only to watch Mitch McConnell kill it in the Senate.
7
2/3 ? that means he'll lose those states
9
This article is actually good news. There are voters still out there who aren't completely beholden to 1 party.
2
Aye, there’s the rub. Having to appease the Progressive wing and old style Democrats at the same time. The only way out is to say what you mean and stick by it with a clear message. That’s what Trump did, but the Democratic party establishment just doesn’t get it.
15
Not a lot of sympathy for these voters in the comments here.
A report out from JAMA today shows that the US decline in life expectancy over the last 3 years is largely due to the premature deaths of people like this: middle-aged, living in the Ohio Valley, Appalachia, and New England. These really are deaths of despair, driven by a loss of self and worth in areas without opportunity. People are struggling and are looking for help.
But such people -- like Scott Will in this article -- rightly see that Democrats on the coasts (many represented in these comments) are indifferent or even openly hostile to them. It's no wonder that they support someone who at least claims to support their interests.
22
If they listen to the Democratic candidates they will hear honest concern and substantive plans. When they listen to Trump none of the above is possible. Why don't they expect and demand that from him? Why are Democrats held to a higher standard?
3
I appreciate the research. I simply request that instead of repeating what the voter said about who they voted for, you say, "Matthew Headly. . . said he voted for Mrs. Clinton in 2016."
It's very difficult to trust voters when they tell you who they voted for unless there is sort of contemporaneous evidence of this (i.e. contribution record, volunteer record, etc.). But simply taking someone at their word that they voted for candidate x or candidate y makes little sense instead of writing that a voter said they voted for candidate x or candidate y.
6
Let another 6 months of trade war, anemic economic growth and exploding deficit go by, then ask the question. Political memory is short.
9
I'd really like to see fewer articles about the midland whites who are so catered-to by our system that they are able to consistently force their minoritarian positions on the rest of us, and more articles about the millions of people whose votes were wasted by the electoral college system, and what it might mean to those people, and for the survival of democracy, that their votes are likely to not count again, given that Trump is almost certain to lose the popular vote again.
I would really like to hear for once about how people in the blue states, including the actual majority of the working class, feel about being consistently overruled by an unrepresentative minority in the "heartland."
183
@J M ... I wonder if it is possible for a wealthy candidate to pay off a specific number of members of the electoral college so that those members "vote their conscience" instead of voting according to popular vote. How else could it happen that someone "wins" the electoral college but not the popular vote. And both times it's happened, the "winner" happened to be wealthy.
5
@cynic2 They don't even have to. The electoral college makes it so that some people, you might say "real Americans", should and do count more than other types of people. Anyone who defends the EC is defending that idea.
3
Trump is the champion of identity politics, division, and not working with the other side. He has not brought prosperity to the middle class and he hasn't brought 'beautiful, cheaper, healthcare insurance for all". He hasn't done a thing to improve national infrastructure. I wonder what "great economy" those Trump voters are looking at? I bet it was the same one they lived in when it was President Obama except now the national debt is peaked at a trillion dollars. I think those people aren't being honest and it's the "Wall" and the harsh treatment of immigrants, and his orders to deregulate everything including anti-pollution/environmental protections that makes them support Trump. Those are the things that he's kept his promise on. Apparently, they like that Trump admires and listens to dictators and authoritarians too. They just don't want to tell the pollsters and reporters.
21
I am struck that the data on the economy does not back up these voters perceptions. It is not growing any faster under Trump than under Obama, wages have only increased marginally, and the cost to the national debt is fueling Republican rhetoric to slash the social safety net. But yeah Trump. We should be honest, they say they don't like his rhetoric, but they secretly love it. To "love his policy" is to love the White Nationalist Agenda being implemented by Stephen Miller, the deaths on the border, kidnapped children sold to Christian families, and the creation of concentration camps with what amounts to slave labor by DHS, enriching the oligarchs funding Trump.
20
@Kenneth Wheeler Wow kidnapped children sold to Christian families, of course you have proof to back up this hard to believe claim right? I'll wait.
4
@Phazedoubt
So where have the children gone? They haven't been reunited with their families and are in foster homes.
Adopt a Refugee Orphan | Adoption.com
Deported parents may lose kids to adoption, investigation finds
https://www.nbcnews.com
The Threat of International Adoption for Migrant Children ...
https://theintercept.com
AP: Migrant children may be adopted after parents are deported...
https://thehill.
Adoption of separated migrant kids shows 'pro-life' groups ...
https://www.theguardian.com
Separated from parents, some migrant children are adopted ...
https://www.csmonitor.com
Trump's child separations are becoming permanent.
https://slate.com › trump-child-separation-permanent-adoption-foster-care
This is just a handful of the reporting on what is actually happening. And adoptions have fees so someone is making money.
2
Many R voters express admiration for Trump's ability to "get things done." I've been following all the inside baseball of Washington politics for years, and whenever I hear praise about Trump's achievements, I honestly wonder what people are referring to. Is it the Supreme Court confirmations? Is it the roll-back of environmental regulations? Is it the barely legal attempt to keep out people from certain regions of the world? Or is the tax cuts that in no way benefits these folks (and no, they don't, unless they receive stock dividends or have highly-paid tax professionals managing things like carried interest). Please, please, please ask these folks exactly WHAT it is that they like about Trump's achievements, and especially how his administration's trade deals (to take one example) differ from the ones that were in place before.
24
I honestly do not want to know what these people think. They are not educated. They are not thoughtful. They are not informed. And they are not the majority.
42
@James Wise people contribute in their own ways. Doesn't negate their contribution. you like guns and killing? Good on you. Doesn't make you more patriotic.
8
What does that have to do with Justice’s comment? Looks like you’re proving the point.
4
@James Wise Which oil company is he/she fighting for, sir?
5
I have one question for these people who say they will vote for Trump. What happens if for some reason they lose their health care related to their job, or Trump indeed does away with affordable care act and replaces it with what--he really has no replacement. They may not like Medicare for all or a public option but they will find themselves in bad financial shape if they lose their healthcare. For those old enough to be on Medicare and do not care about others they better watch out because if Trump wins again and the Republicans hold the Senate they will be going right after major reductions in Medicare and Social Security to make up for the big deficits Trump has run up in his big tax cut for the wealthy. That tax cut is only thing he has accomplished beyond undoing regulations that protect the environment and the health of Americans. None of these people say it but underlying their concern about immigration is clear racism. But even if that is case where is Trump's wall and he has actually worsened the immigration problem. On top of this Trump and his whole administration are a bunch of corrupt incompetents. So for these people I say go right ahead and vote for him again and you deserve what your will get.
16
That is not happening where I live and work in PA. Several of my co-workers who supported Trump now admit I was correct when I pointed out Trump will do nothing for them. I am talking about huge supporters of Trump who now say he will not get their vote. A couple changed thier minds after Helsinki and admitted it looked like Trump really is Putin's Puppet. The others say he is too divisive and cruel.
49
@Julie that is encouraging -- I am seeing a bit of the same. There are still some strong Trump holdouts, but i have definitely seen signs of fatigue and disgust among those who voted for him in 2016 for a variety of reasons.
17
Thanks for sharing your experience with people you know who have changed their minds. It helps me change my mind about them. And gives me hope.
7
Democrats got shellacked in the 2010
midterms but Obama won his re-election in 2012, handily.
Who’s at the top of the ticket makes a huge difference.
3
Two percent of registered voters stretched across six states, 60 percent male, and 66 percent no college degree.
Reads like dressed-up article consolidating interviews and trying to attach numbers to yet more conversations in local country diners.
If a student handed this sort of study and its conclusions in as a research project, some serious one-on-one tutorials would ensue.
7
When voters are asked why they will vote for Trump, voters invariably reply "because of what he's done." But reporters never ask voters to say exactly what Trump has done that they like so much. Ask the follow-up questions, reporters. Ask voters to say with more precision what they the voters think he has done that is so hot. It's important to know.
44
@Leftcoastlefty
- Dropped the unemployment rate to the lowest since the 1960s
-Put millions of unemployed Americans back to work
-Strengthened US hand against China via improved trade
-Reduced illegal immigration
-Cut taxes for the middle class
-Consistently maintained loan gas prices
- Killed ISIS leader
Etc.
12
@XLER More new jobs were created per month under Obama than Trump. Trump doubled the deficit, Obama reduced it. Tax cuts went primarily to the rich causing the deficit to rise. Trade wars have not brought back US manufacturing jobs, GDP Growth down to 1.9%.
29
@XLER Your first and second assertions beg a simple question: how can you attribute the success of the current job numbers to Trump when the economic recovery began in 2011?
Which is another way of saying that you prove @Leftcoastlefty's point. Your assertions are grounded in magical thinking, in fantasy. Trump has done something for your feelings of grievance, nothing else. Enjoy it while it lasts.
7
"I want Congress and the President to get things done together, so I will make there is a balance of power between the two parties by voting Democratic in Congress and Republican for President. Surely, they won't obstruct each other and do what's in the best interests of the country."
Unbelievable in every sense of the word.
33
@VJR It was a valid strategy in the 80s, before Newt Gingrich and his ilk ruined it all. Some of these people seem to be stuck back in that decade, with the ghost of Reagan haunting them.
2
Look, another useless article about Trump voters. These folks who think splitting a ticket means compromise or balance haven't been paying attention. A president has enormous unilateral power, but never before has one exercised like a tyrant the way Trump does. The founders warned about presidents like this, but they thought the people would respond and rein the president in. Fools they were in 1789!
17
This is why the Democratic Party needs to abandon all strategies involving mollifying a mythical “swing” voter who doesn’t exist. There are very few swing votes to be had and they risk losing the Democratic base.
Run a campaign that involves intensive voter registration drives in all states, but particularly in swing states. Keep an eye on the polls to verify people aren’t being turned away.
And run on a platform that speaks to people’s needs, such as universal healthcare access. Sell the platform.
18
@Chickpea This so much. Pretty much we need to listen to what Nancy Pelosi says and we will be fine.
3
Trump's evil genius has been his ability to tap into people's most basic, tribal, almost animal instincts. They will never leave him. Thankfully, there is also a majority of people who find him utterly disgusting and who would "vote blue, no matter who." If these people come out and vote en masse, unlike in 2016, Trump is toast.
10
Yet another Cletus Safari. Maybe instead the Times could interview marginalized persons being hurt by Trump rather than rural white people who continue to love him.
21
Oh please. I don't believe this for a minute.
6
Foolish people will continue vote foolishly. You can beat them, but you have to turn out. Voter turn out is everything, even with blatant Republican cheating taken into account.
13
Looks like classic headline malpractice by the Times. The headline should read "Trump support wanes in in battleground states." Sub heading should read "One-third of Democratic Trump supporters who abandoned him in 2018 aren't coming back in 2020."
Right??
18
@Calvin Ross Precisely. THAT is the headline.
All the comments about stupid, under-educated, duped, immoral, etc. is help pushing people to Trump. When are you going to stop? I can guarantee you that many of these voters are the parents you left behind in that small town. Talk with them. Explain the experiences you have had over time that led you to believe differently. You forget. You were once just like them.
22
They all are deplorable still!!!
9
I grew up poor but am well-educated, and didn’t realize how much of an elitist I was until I came back home to take care of an ailing parent. I have matured a lot since about age 25 or so, and am just now realizing the extent of people who just, never grow up. People like the ones interviewed here don’t think critically and are fooled easily. They’re sexist and racist because society is, and lack the mental capacity to reject anything but the status quo. I wish this piece gave me insight into their mindset, but it doesn’t, it just further solidifies my belief that these people are well, idiots.
57
There's no fool like an old fool.
14
The article posits a series of anecdotes to support a statistical conclusion from a survey that attempts to provide preferences at an aggregate level. They know quite well that slicing and dicing the survey results to infer the preferences of something like 75 people have an error rate which is very high and does not justify the conclusions they arrive at. You will notice that nowhere do they lay out the potential statistical error surrounding their conclusions. This is unprofessional particularly from someone who is quite aware of this.
8
If one takes into account that the margin of victory for Trump was quite small in all three states, if one third of the voters who voted for him in 2016 do not vote for him in 2020, that might make the difference. Then there are the African American voters and the Bernie Sanders voters who stayed home who made it possible for Trump to squeeze through. So the article might be blowing things out of proportion.
6
Trump may still get 75% of those voters to vote for him again but 25% are still up for grabs. That's a lot of votes.
6
I'm not so much interested in these voters as I am the African-American voters who stayed home in 2016.
Voter participation by this group was down 5 - 6% from 2012. Even one-half of one percent of this group would have been enough to change the outcome three years ago.
I know many of them are keen on Joe Biden and not all that interested in Pete Buttigieg. How do they poll on the other Democrats? Trump isn't likely to get much support from this group of voters next fall.
Please, NYT - give us more polling data on African-American voters and how they lean for 2020.
27
@hdtvpete
Let’s not forget about all of the disenfranchised Bernie
voters who also sat out 2016.
4
@Michael Palmer
Yeah and those morons are the reason we have Trump. And guess what, they will sit out 2020 too when Bernie fails to get the nomination, and Trump will win again. They are not disenfranchised. They are choosing to sacrifice the American republic in order to preserve their 'progressive' purity. Makes you wonder whether they care at all about anything but their own purity. Shame on every single one of them.
2
@hdtvpete Black voters in Philly, Detroit, and Milwaukee have the power to be kingmakers this time around.
Not literally. The idea is to get rid of the guy who thinks he's a king.
3
Apparently these people love their dear leader to be amoral and indifferent. Then they say, “he speaks like I do.”
12
This article combined with the UN Report on impending climate doom is a double dose of ultra-despair, or as the Germans called it, 'uber-verzweiflung'
12
Come on. It is blatantly obvious that the president's popularity is due to his prioritization of the white, straight, Christian, and male hegemony that the USA still labors under. It is simple as that.
69
“In years past, it seemed like Democrats were supposedly supposed to be for the working man and for unions… …But I can say this: I will not be voting Democratic this election.”
“The Democratic Party fell apart on the heels of Trump winning… …The harder they’re going after Trump, the more they’re just alienating people and pushing them away.”
Most of the Democratic Party elite simply are not listening. They insist of focusing on identity politics. The voters in question "are overwhelmingly white, 60 percent are male, and two-thirds have no college degree." So, the machine says ignore them; they don't matter.
Andrew Yang has run his campaign addressing the above concerns with no focus on identity politics. And he has been ignored to such an extreme he has finally decided to boycott MSNBC. And the New York Times has ignored that too.
21
@Mark W. Miller
"Most of the Democratic Party elite simply are not listening. They insist of focusing on identity politics. The voters in question "are overwhelmingly white, 60 percent are male, and two-thirds have no college degree." So, the machine says ignore them; they don't matter."
I don't know, I think it's the voters interviewed in this article that aren't listening. They're playing identity politics, to what I would argue is a greater degree. Trump and Co. have signaled to these people that they will protect their "cultural issues", for lack of a better phrase, above everyone else's. I don't see Bernie, Elizabeth, Cory, etc., ignoring these people at all, I think their policies would benefit these people, *as well as others*, which is probably why they'll vote for Trump.
11
@Patrick Perfectly stated
"Two-thirds of battleground state voters who chose Trump in 2016 but selected Democrats in the midterms say they will return to the president next year."
This is pathetic, our destiny is tied to a bunch of uneducated uninformed otherwise known as low information voters totally lacking in a knowledge of modern political history, or apparently anything else.
Once again our future is to be determined by people who for one reason or another can't be bothered to educate themselves. And think that their choice is predicated on some detail completely negligible.
The idea that someone is going to withhold their vote over personality or some other minor point and vote for Trump is absurd, and tragic.
27
Americans have long been in favor of their fellow citizens getting ahead but only if they do as well. If not, then all bets are off. What’s most apparent is all the “heartlanders” that won’t deny that Trump is a hopeless, coarse, vulgarian but instead laud what they consider his virtues when in truth they approve of his ignorance if only for the fact that it expresses their hatred for the “others.” One thing perhaps positive that Trump has accomplished is to demolish much of American mythology. It’s time for the scales to fall from our eyes. With the exception of the North of the Civil War, America isn’t and never has been what so many believed.
7
People want a job and they don’t want open borders. They generally want boys to use the boy’s room and they do, in fact, care about the environment. They’re fine with gay marriage as long as they aren’t forced to bake the cake. And they don’t want their health insurance taken away.
This isn’t hard. Beating Trump should be the easiest thing in the world. Which is why he will be re-elected.
25
@Mike
"They’re fine with gay marriage as long as they aren’t forced to bake the cake."
Then they're not "fine with gay marriage". Is that supposed to be some sort of defense of bigoted people? That's like saying "they're fine with racial equality as long as they aren't forced to serve black people in their restaurant". So basically, "don't come anywhere near me, and I won't actively seek you out to harm you". That's not a ringing endorsement of the "they" you refer to.
10
@Mike Name one democrat who proposes "open borders." One.
No one who cares about the environment would vote for Trump. No one.
15
@Mike smartly said
2
This article is nonsense. The only people who still support Trump are people who have a vested interest in keeping Republicans in power for as long as possible. Some of these may have a glimmer of conscience and/or intelligence and these carefully cherry-pick their sources of info so as to not feel too guilty about supporting such a corrupt man and party. The Times (which can in no way be considered ‘progressive’ these days) goes out of its way to ruffle as many left wing feathers as it can (I don’t know why, Republicans certainly give them no credit for it) and like too many ‘respectable’ media outlets, are obsessed with “crossover” voters who make up a small portion of the electorate, though they evidently love being courted and interviewed. How about focusing on the real heart and energy of the Democratic Party: the voters of color and the millions of young people who have become eligible to vote since 2016? It is they who will be deciding the outcome of the 2020 election, and every election after that one.
37
In my opinion it’s journalistic malpractice to report and write a news story about Trump support in 219 without a single word about the media consumption habits and information sources of the people being interviewed and quoted.
66
@HalSF Hear, hear. That's exactly what I would like to know. Do they read the local paper? Do they get their news from Facebook? Do they watch a lot of YouTube videos? For the life of me, and even when I pay attention that what is said on Fox News or in National Review, I don't understand the belief that Democrats are somehow more obstructionist, corrupt, or venal than Republicans.
6
All the Democratic candidates have to do to win this election is not be crazy. So far they are failing big time. The national media like this publication, who don't represent a normal slice of the American pie, are promoting the crazy which is making it worse.
You all find it so hard to believe that a well educated person, who is informed, does not watch Fox news, and is not rich, could vote for Trump but it's true.....
9
Well then where are their moral compasses? What irritates me most is that they turn a blind eye to his lies and law breaking. Being educated and informed isn’t enough. One needs to vote for a candidate who is not amoral and willing to lie and break laws to get what he or she wants.
3
Real Clear Politics noted earlier this year a phenomenon that might be a counter to this movement. Their polling showed that 4% of those they polled as supporting Trump still would not vote for him in the next election.
4
My great concern is that the Democratic presidential candidates are competing to see who can make the most woke and socialist promises:
Free college tuition. Medicare for all, including illegal immigrants. College loan forgiveness. Reparations for blacks and gays. Guaranteed basic income. Federal job guarantees. Federally mandated school busing to achieve integration. Green New Deal (eco-socialism). Voting and early release for prisoners. Open borders.
All the fabulously wealthy US individuals and corporations together do not have the many trillions of dollars needed to pay for these goodies year after year, and even Bernie Sanders has admitted that taxes would have to be raised on the middle class to pay for Medicare for All, not to mention the additional trillions needed for the other items. (For perspective, the current US budget is about $4.4 trillion, with a deficit of about $1 trillion.)
As Margaret Thatcher aptly noted, the problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.
Don’t forget that our goal in 2020 is to elect a Democratic president, and that will require appealing to the independents, undecideds and others whom the Democrats failed to reach in 2016.
If all of these progressive (socialist) promises, or even a few, are planks in the 2020 Democratic platform we are doomed to a second term of Trump as president.
19
To win these voters back from Trump, the Democrats just need better dog-whistle policies than Trump.
1/ Secure borders by strictly enforcing robust immigration laws designed to select only the best immigrants to meet US needs.
2/ Enhanced Obamacare plus the option for people to join a public health care system.
3/ Competitive economic strategy to create good new jobs for Americans affected by offshoring of jobs.
4/ Really draining the swamp.
5/ Make America Great Again.
10
What's wrong with these people? Their moral values are not my moral values, and I don't recognize these voters as having a traditional American ethical foundation.
112
It all goes back to undereducated and non-educated people who get to vote in a democracy. They are minimally informed voters who tend to vote along the lines of the "bumper sticker" mentality. One issue might impassion them, but they can never see the forest for the trees. And, typically they do not even ponder whether that "tree that fell in the forest" actually makes noise.
50
@Larry Larrichio What a terrible thing to write, Mr. Elite!
9
Democracy is based on the premise of the collective wisdom of its citizens, take it or leave it. Elites do not have a great track record in recent history.
For an intellectual exercise, stack Senator Warren’s proposals against the 5th, 10th, and 14th Amendments, without attempting to rationalize. Do tell.
It has nothing to do with being "elite"; it has to do with critical thinking.
4
All the more reason for the DNC to quit wasting time and money wooing middle-class white voters in rustbelt states and concentrate on organizing and turning out progressive women of color who can more than balance the former's bizarre allegiance to the worst president in modern history. It would also help to choose a progressive candidate to juice up turnout, and not bet on another "centrist" like Clinton who ran up the score in states like CA but failed to deliver the goods in the Electoral College.
18
So sad that these people are so easily duped. Hopefully many will stay home on election day. But that seems unlikely.
15
This article is next to the one entitled "Bleak U.N. Report Finds World Heading to Climate Catastrophes." Nothing is more depressing than a possible prospect of Trump re-election.
People are already so much struggling with drought and flooding. I cannot understand the mindset of these Trump voters and do not know how to change their narrow minds. You may be ok (not sure though), but your children and grandchildren will definitely suffer. Please please open your eyes!!
20
Trump will make history in being the only President to be impeached, but not removed from office, and go on to win a 2nd term with the help of the Republican Party who continues to gaslight Americans about their love of country, religion, the military and the Constitution.
23
@Jacquie That’s incorrect. Bill Clinton.
1
@JJ
Sorry, you are wrong. Bill Clinton has already been re-elected in 1996. He was impeached in 1998 and the trial was held in the Senate in 1999. Most likely if he had been permitted to run for a third time he would have been re-elected in 2000.
4
As I interpret this, Trump has given these voters the ability to rationalize flaws, lies and even crimes as long as they are not affected. They may also use the midterm vote for a democrat as some form of salvation for their true sins. They exemplify how terrible behavior needs enablers who are blind to the truth.
42
I've said it before but I'll repeat it until I die: if you really can't tell that Donald Trump is neither smart nor honorable, then it's fair to seriously doubt your character and intelligence as well. This is not a political judgment, as I have had many intelligent and decent Republican friends over the years. Trump is so obviously dishonest, corrupt, narcissistic and dim that if he were a fictional character in a book or movie just five years ago, it would be dismissed immediately as ridiculously unbelievable and an unfair depiction of Republicans.
822
@Kevin McKague Spot on!
27
@Kevin McKague
Yes, tell them that they are deplorable. That will surely win them over. Works every time.
10
@Polaris
The truth hurts, doesn't it?
44
These people have figured out that liberals are ‘nothing will change’ while they’re in charge virtue signaling, magical thinkers who offer nothing but platitudes while enriching themselves through corrupt endeavors.
One needs to only look at Baltimore and pelosi to put 2 + 2 together.
7
@Llyod Instead of looking at Baltimore, how about Kentucky, Alabama and Louisiana -- oh and Mississippi, too. These states are run by Republicans and are near or dead last in every quality of life category.
11
@Llyod As far as I can tell "virtue signaling" is a term used by people who resent those who have the audacity to live virtuously. I suppose that explains why these same people tend to support President Trump. As a man with no virtue, he can't make them feel morally inferior.
5
White, male, uneducated. You might as well add, Desperate to go back to 1950. No one can give them that — least of all, the Donald, liar extraordinaire — corrupt, unfit, self-dealing. Short of making every day Christmas for Putin, what has Trump actually done? The country and the world are worse off. The wall isn’t built and the country is still as diverse — and brown, and polarized — as ever. There’s no Trumpcare. He has jeopardized democracy and blown up the deficit. He’s made us weaker. I will admit, however, that he’s been able to highlight the spinelessness of the Republicans in Congress, which really argues that we have to take big business and black money out of politics.
80
@Andy all of the above considerations require some education to be understood as facts and time to get well informed.
None of the folks in the article have any of the two: this is a real problem. We rely more and more on decisions taken w/o any adequate preparation and face a political party that for short term gain is willing to continue with the status quo.
6
@Andy :
They are not wanting to go back to 1950. They are taking us to 1906. Read and see what was going on then, repression of unions, of workers.
Just have to look in the history books to know why the House flipping in 2018 does not portend anything good for Democrats in 2020. Both Obama, ( yes, The Saint ), and Clinton, ( sure, The Lout ), lost More seats in the House, AND LOST seats in the Senate, than did Mr. Trump in 2018. So, it was just the normal swing that happens after a President assumes Office, on a notably smaller scale.
5
So there is American democracy in a nutshell. A tiny sliver - 2% - of the population can decide the vote. And that 2% - comprised mostly of white males without college education seems to be unreachable by facts and reason.
184
Agreed and well said..
5
Does moral fiber and character not count any more? Is corruption, deceit, relentless lies, greed, bigotry, unaffordable health care, and pollution of our environment the acceptable status quo during this Trumpian Era? Are unsubstantiated conspiracy theories and ignorance victorious over proven facts from politics to science? We blame Mr. Trump, his Cabinet, his Republican Senate for this unprecedented march toward an autocracy, and we are justified in our reasoning. But the buck stops with the everyday voter who is blind to the words of our Constitution, except for the 2nd Amendment.
43
This article terrifies me and makes me wonder how untouchable a competent Republican president would be right now.
"This group is only a sliver of the electorate — 2 percent of registered voters — and is not representative of all voters. They are overwhelmingly white, 60 percent are male, and two-thirds have no college degree."
Let's assume that the 60% referred to is also pretty much entirely heterosexual. So straight, white, males. With a good economy, are these people thinking, (albeit incorrectly), "well, the Republican party's policies aren't going to hurt ME, and the economy is good, so..."? Is there any way to get this person to vote for a Democrat? Especially when you factor in the propaganda being spouted out of Fox News 24-7 about Democrats? With a strong economy, Trump, Fox News and Co. can keep tossing the politically dominant social group (and as a white, straight, male, you are really part of the dominant 3 social groups) red meat and they will be tough to beat.
5
“But he’s a great president. Most politicians just talk about doing things, but Trump does them.” Juli Anna, what things has Trump done that qualifies him for greatness in your mind? Instead of throwing out unfounded superlatives, please do detail what great things have been accomplished by Trump. Go ahead, share with us. We’ll wait.
73
What has Trump done? Build a wall-NO not a single foot
Healthcare?--wrecking it
Manufacturing?--still lagging
Coal jobs- continued decline
Illegal Border crossing- higher than Obama years despite putting children in cages
Stock Market? Whiplash
Foreign Policy?- In Shamble
Corruption and swampy behavior- None like we have ever seen.
122
@Greenfield Hey now...you forgot blowing up the deficit!
17
@Steve
Great catch!
4
@Greenfield Greenfield hit the nail on the head. WHY do we not read these lists in every paper? Why are they not put on billboards throughout the mid-west? Why are the democrats not blasting this from every talk radio station?
The facts are solidly against the crook and his swamp-dwellers, yet they are taking over the narrative because somehow, during all these darn debates, our candidates are getting lost in the weeds. Do we need more candidates, perhaps Deval Patrick, to stumble through the weeds with the rest of them? Or can we have someone not bore the heck out of the American public and take on this buffoon?
Sheesh.
2
These voters are completely illogical. I wished they wouldn't vote at all. To hear their common concern that Democrats don't want to get things done vs. what Trump wants to do is ludicrous. So many of Trump's policies are counter to anything even a conservative Democrat would vote for: the willful destruction of the environment for short-term corporate gains, tax cuts for the wealthiest, defunding social programs that help people at the fringes, stoking the courts with right-wing judges, nationalist trade policies, increased military spending without effective need. There is no middle ground here, and there should not be. Ever.
17
How do Democrat’s persuade voters who believe the nonsense peddled on Fox and the dishonest framing of candidate positions and platforms?
How do you reach people who believe the fiction that Trump has boosted a stagnant economy instead of the reality that he has marginally slowed a healthy economy gifted to him by his predecessor?
How do you communicate rationally with red state voters who approve of aid for farmers, are net recipients of federal dollars, don’t mind corporate handouts, can’t afford drugs or hospital bills, rely on Medicare or Medicaid but strongly oppose “socialized” healthcare?
IMHO, they are a lost cause. They wear their ignorance proudly like a badge of honor. Many of them hold the balance of power for freakish distorted geographical reasons and they condemn the majority to suffer under the wrecking ball buffoons they foist on us: the Trumps and Bushes.
Fooled and united by their fake religiosity, fake populism in servitude to oligarchs, and shared hatreds: women, minorities, foreigners, gays, the urban poor, intellectuals, and shared loves: weaponry, alpha-male bullying, ignorance of science, conflicts, choking fossil fuels, conspiracy theories, and determination to starve and pervert good government and promote the selfish individual over community, employers over workers, rich over poor, hatred over empathy.
18
@Xoxarle
Sadly we can't persuade them. I've yet to meet a single conservative I could persuade. If the facts don't correlate with what they believe they discard the facts. How do you reason with people who won't even acknowledge the truth? How do you persuade people who refuse to believe what their eyes see or their ears hear? The obstinance in impenetrable.
Our only hope is to out-vote them. We will never persuade them. We will have to defeat them!
I guess it's true that we can't fix stupid but we can at least get all of the utterly disgusted people to the polls and possibly deprive republicans of the popular vote AGAIN. The majority in this country may continue to live under the tyranny of minority rule but one day we will take this country back with a vengeance. And when that day comes I just hope we can take the gloves off and finally clean house because heads definitely need to roll after our Russian puppet president gets dethroned.
16
So, basically, this article is about the small percentage of people who, without any real basis, randomly cast their ballot for whomever each election and, as a result, their votes aren't consistent from one election to the next.
Sad to know these people exist. Even sadder to think that the survival of our democracy now rests with them.
9
True then true now: nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.
20
How much more ink has to be wasted on the low-information voters' uninformed commentary?
They may doom the country, and you do a disservice to all of us in flattering them.
Try informing them, instead.
18
This can't be true. Haven't these people heard of the $17 trillion Green New Deal? How about the $40 trillion Medicare for All plan? Aren't they aware of efforts to dismantle constraints on illegal immigration, and give all illegals free health care? How about reparations? Student Debt forgiveness?
How could anyone reject those nation-transforming initiatives just to stick with historically low unemployment and inflation, sky-rocketing retirement savings account balances and relative peace?
And weren't they listening to Gordon Sondland? Don't they realize all the national business Democrats have set aside to pursue this quixotic impeachment on their behalf?
Apparently not.
Some of us have been preaching for months that the election is going to be decided by a fairly narrow band of Rust Belt whites in places like Sheboygan, Scranton and Grand Rapids. They vote the economy. They vote America's cultural heritage. They vote to protect the borders and national sovereignty. They care little for impeachment, have no interest in surrendering their health plan, see unrestrained illegal immigration as a national threat, and understand that Global Warming initiatives that hurt the US economy while letting China continue its ghastly CO2 production are meaningless.
Wake up Democrats.
28
@Philboyd
Wish I could recommend this 500 times.
7
“They vote America’s cultural heritage.”
The dog whistle is a bullhorn here.
9
@Philboyd
So, basically, you're calling on Democrats to vote for Trump policies without Trump. Got it.
What has Trump accomplished ?
His signature deal is a tax cut to the wealthy
He has no new trade deals, he has crippled farmers with his ‘trade wars’ , and has not delivered any new legislation on prescriptions etc.
There is a reason why the uneducated backs Trump. They believe Trump’s lies.
9
Trump and his Congressional sycophants have accomplished nothing but a colossal deficit spending goose to the economy. (I wouldn't call that an accomplishment, but these voters do.)
So when they say 'he gets things done' they must have some other things in mind, too.
Just as in 2016, they are voting for him to assuage their cultural anxiety. And that's really all it is.
For proof, look no farther than the comment about 'quiet little Christian women.'
I happily note that most of those interviewed are older voters.
Hopefully, their kids and grandkids aren't so benighted.
8
Why does the NYT and other msm label people as non college educated. Does the Times reporters and editors believe college education makes for a better American citizen?
6
@John Gilday , Critical thinking, while taught in secondary (high school) education is limited by brain maturity. By the time students complete one or more years of post-secondary education, their brains have reached a level of maturity that allows for greater critical thinking, adopting practices that promotes the viewing of all sides of an issue before coming to a conclusion. As an example, the House has passed more than 200 bills which are being held up by the Senate. Republicans continue to spread the misinformation that the House has done nothing. If an individual only listens to one side, their conclusions will only mirror that one-sided belief. Of course, these are all generalizations. I am quite sure there are many high-school educated voters who do practice critical thinking, but statistically, they are in the minority.
9
@Kent Davis
But sadly many highly educated believe the same. I don't think FOX "news" is just the media of the under educated. I live in a professional town where 67% of the population has at least an associates degree. Our town supported trump by about 60-35% with handful of voters voting for Jill Stein or Gary Johnson. Many of the well educated people I know support trump. Some are teachers, some are engineers, some have Masters degrees. Others are nurses, doctors, lawyers yet they all believe the conspiracy theories, and they all love trump. They don't care or pretend they don't know about the children in cages, they don't care about the depravity, the cruelty, the ugliness. They don't care about the environmental degradation. They care about their money and holding onto as much as they can. And if things start going badly for them it's always the "others'" fault. The illegals, the blacks, the slackers on welfare. They are republican disciples and will never place the blame for all their ills and woes where it belongs; at the feet of the republican party.
1
I guess these people don't think ahead to what the current administration's policies is leaving for the children. Whatever happened to caring about out of control deficits and incredible giveaways to the obscenely rich? I'm sorry, just because some wealthy guy can blow $350,000 on his daughter's sweet sixteen party - I don't think we are doing well. Why are so many teachers struggling to make a living? it's like nobody on the right is thinking about the children.
3