The House GOP just gave Biden’s campaign a huge gift: Roughly 80 percent of House Republicans just lined up behind a plan to cut Social Security and ban all abortions
In a YouGov survey released this month, Trump boasted an advantage over Biden on 10 of the 15 issues polled. On the three issues that voters routinely name as top priorities — the economy, immigration, and inflation — respondents said that Trump would do a better job by double-digit margins.
Meanwhile, in a recent New York Times/Siena College poll, 40 percent of voters said that Trump’s policies had helped them personally, while just 18 percent said the same of Biden. If Americans could elect a normal human being with Trump’s reputation for being “tough” on immigration and good at economics, they would almost certainly do so.
Biden is fortunate that voters do not have that option. But to erase Trump’s small but stubborn lead in the polls, the president needs to erode his GOP rival’s advantage on the issues.
I was basically going to say the same thing, they'll vote anyway, party over policy. It doesn't matter what they propose. As long as Democrats disagree with it, their constituents will vote for it, standard team-driven advertising.
Most voters don't care about politics at all, we just want what everyone else wants - a chance at opportunity, some form of health care and social security, you know, the good life. We can all pretty much agree on that and it's really not that interesting a topic. So, politicians turn politics into a sports game because that's what people care about and engage with, sports and competition, our old friend, Ego.
I don't understand retirement. Didn't John Oliver just tell us that Millenials already don't get to retire at 65? I am fucking livid, i am 35, my mom died at 62, I probably won't even make it to 65 and all the money I have given to the government for this is going to be lost.
It's not as simple as people pretend. But not all that complicated, either. 65 was the "full" retirement age before law changes in the 80s. For most workers today, it's 67. But wait! The amount you will get per month from social security depends on 2 things -- how much you paid into the system, and what age you actually are when you retire. You can start collecting at 62, but it will be considerably less per month than if you retire at the full retirement age. And to confuse things more, you can keep working until 70(?) and the amount you will get continues to increase every month, so I'm not sure why full retirement age is 67 instead of 70.
You know John Oliver is not actually the government minister in charge of When People Get to Retire?
Retirement is just a number. Once you hit that number, you can retire.
Talking about the "retirement age" is just the age at which social security benefits kick in. It doesn't mean you're no longer allowed to work after that age, or that you're required to work until that age.
Let me add a side dish of - I'm increasingly convinced they want a system designed such that we can all work to increase the wealth of the 1% right up to the moment we drop dead in our cubicles.
No need to be unconvinced, right wingers have explicitly said that's what they want. Benny Shaps recently said something to the effect of "It's unhealthy to retire, everyone that retires ends up dying in a few years. We should all work as long as possible."
Perhaps it's that social security doesn't let folks do much beyond existing. If they had money to travel and adventure and indulge in hobbies, maybe folks would live longer. Ben just convinced me that we need to pay people way more both while they work and in retirement.
The policies they vote for again and again are definitely designed for the wealthy to only get wealthier. However what they are being sold, is a world they no longer understand, being turned against them and their children. This is the lie they're swallowing when they vote red.
They don't think they're voting to enrich the elites, they believe they're saving the future for unborn children. If you listen to the rhetoric it's very apparent. To me it's sad as these folks think they're doing the right thing for their children and by proxy the world.
Meanwhile, back in reality, the GOP recently lost two more special elections in places they normally wouldn't & nationwide the Democrats are still beating polling by 9+ points at the ballot box post Roe V. Wade fuckery by SCotUS. Also, the GOP's bank accounts are literally being looted by the Trumps which will devastate down-ballot politicians.
I'm assuming they are using AI or a something similar for targeting polling to get the "answers" they want,
Polling hasn't been anywhere near accurate since 2016, but the Media needs its horse race. Make sure you vote & make sure 3 other people vote & we've got this.
EDIT: the silly little fascist symp @syllogi has been blocked by everyone, so all they can do is sad little downvotes. How pathetic you are, fash.
Exactly. Who do you think is more likely to answer a phone poll? A rural landline to an older man with nothing better to do then shout "Trump" into the receiver OR an urban mobile number owned by a young non-white woman with two kids?
These polls oversample loud conservatives and undersample quieter Democrats with actual lives. Remember 2020 when Trump had lots of "enthusiasm" at his rallies? How'd that work out?
It doesn't matter how enthusiastic your vote is, it matters if you vote. Just vote and help others to do the same. Sign up for a Biden or local Democrat's GOTV effort. That's actual democracy.
Dude exactly, also a bunch of us dems are just of the type who wouldn't participate regardless even if they got a hold of us. If they want my time they have to pay.
Can we please stop with the whole "if the Republicans make the country terrible enough, they will start losing!"
No. That's a terrible strategy. It worked once, with the repeal of abortion protections, and even then it didn't work super well. And the tradeoff was not worth it. Women are dying.
Voters, especially Republican voters, are so stupid and brainwashed that they will believe the GOP when the GOP tells them that it's actually Democrats (and immigrants etc etc) who have made their lives worse.
What blows my mind is how many people these poles seem to say think that Donald Trump's economic policies are so great. The fact is that he, in four short years, undid nearly all of the economic growth that Obama built on for eight full years. And that was before he mishandled the pandemic so unfathomably badly that our country is still recovering from it four years later.
It is just mind boggling that there are people, that aren't a part of his moronic base, who see him as anything but a buffoon.
The economy is a really easy target for someone to point to to claim a president is doing well or poorly. Really whenever someone makes a claim about "the economy" in general without specifying which metrics they're talking about and why those are relevant, they're full of it and just using it to make the list of pros or cons longer.
I'm still in my 20s and I'm more or less a layman as far as economics go. Ever since I started paying attention to politics, the economy has simultaneously been doing extremely well and poorly depending on who you ask, and they can use a whole mess of different metrics to explain why they're right. Meanwhile the only thing I really notice is the price of gas, groceries, or rent.
It seems that we live in two different economies: a good one for people that support the president, and a bad one for those that don't.
The people still supporting Trump, by and large, live in an entirely different reality than the rest of us. Even among Republicans, the belief that Biden actually won the last election or that Trump has done anything wrong is strongly correlated with Fox News viewership.
I don't think GOP voters really care about policy at this point. They have voted against their own interests all the time. I've seen it 1st hand working at the SNAP office in my state. People voting/worshiping guys like DeSantis while he makes it harder for them to get food or help.
But it's not about the core voters that always vote for the same party. It's about the people that are switching and still (somehow) unsure. And they can be reached.
40 percent of voters said that Trump’s policies had helped them personally, while just 18 percent said the same of Biden.
One significant change I've noticed from Biden's policies in my daily life is the capping of overdraft fees. Previously, having a negative balance was a financial emergency as I had to borrow money from friends to avoid hefty $30 fees while waiting for my income check to clear.
The biggest campaign disaster is not touting the monumental investments in infrastructure. You almost certainly have a water line replacement, lead service line replacement, or bridge reconstruction project in your town funded by Biden.
Trumps tax policies benefits the majority of Americans who take a standard deduction. He made sure his name was on the COVID checks and the Child Tax credit checks. He was the President that stopped student loan payments.
None of these are historically GOP policies but they did help the average person. Trump is pretty good at making sure people know that he's helping them in some way.
Trump didn't STOP student loan payments, Trump PAUSED student loan payments. Biden was the President that actually stopped payments by providing real debt relief, while Republicans attempt to block it with all their heart and soul.
The child tax credit checks were for 2021 which was Biden. Also him making sure just name was on the checks created delays and is just an ego things. Also when they doubled the standard deduction they took away exemptions.
He lost by an extremely thin margin in 2020 and that was on the back of COVID and before people had a chance to experience four years of Biden. I have no idea how you're this confident. Does this look promising to you?
And before you all jump down my throat thinking I want Trump to win: I hate that fucker and hope he dies before the election.
I think you misread that line. They meant if Trump was less of a personally crazy person, but made the same accomplishments, he would be on the way to win by a landslide when you also consider bidens popularity.
That being said hope your right. Polls don't look great and I'd rather have them saying that trump is looking very bad.
I don't think dumps would be on track to win by a landslide or even a margin taking into account all contemporary factors, including biden's ostensible poll popularity.
I understand the line, it does not reflect reality.
He's demonstrably the actual biggest loser in history, and he only gets more loser-y folks... If any of you are starting to have your memories fade, here's a quick refresher to read this morning and then copy and send to your aunt karen in Missouri.
0 re-elections won
1 term president
2 times impeached
3 marriages
4 inch lifts in his shoes
5 kids, from 3 different mothers
6 bankruptcies
7 US Capitol police suing him for Jan 6 terrorist insurrection and murder of police
8 trillion + dollars added to the US debt in a single term
9 trump lawyers sanctioned by federal judge for lying in frivolous election fraud lawsuits and ordered to pay defendant's legal fees
10 years that trump paid $0 in income taxes between 2000 and 2015. ($0 to cops, teachers, roads, prisons, disaster relief, etc)
11 trump associates charged with serious crimes over the past 5 years
12 million votes (the big lie) - trump claims he won the 2020 election by 12 million votes when in reality, he lost by about 7 million votes.
13 of August, 2021 - one of multiple days that trump was supposed to magically become president again according to Qanon and a crack addicted pillow salesman (the two most respected information sources in the gop)
14 year old girl in a youth choir that trump approached in 1992 to say, "Wow! Just think - in a couple years I'll be dating you."
15 originally confirmed cases of COVID in the US trump said would soon be, “down to close to zero.” followed by, “like a miracle, it will disappear.” - over 1,000,000 Americans have since died of COVID as it continues to kill years later.
16 years old - age of daughter ivanka when she hosted "miss teen" pageant and, according to long time trump associate Noel Casler, "trump called her over in the middle of a rehearsal and had her give him a lap dance while he leered at the crew."
17 known trump and russia investigations from local, state and federal prosecutors
18 gop senators that ignored trump threats / warnings and supported Biden admin's infrastructure bill.
19 as in COVID19 - trump was verified as the single largest source of disinformation on the virus, with a Cornell study claiming that 38% of the "misinformation conversation" originated with trump
20 the day in January, 2021, when Biden was sworn in despite trump inciting a violent insurrection to stop election verification at the US Capitol.
21 gun salute that trump ordered for himself when he left office after a humiliating defeat, even though he never served in the military, famously called military members "losers" and "suckers" and actively avoided the draft with a cowardly "bone spurs" excuse.
22 date in August, 2021, when Alabama hate rally crowd booed trump for finally saying people should get vaccinated, only after 700,000 Americans had died due in large part to his failure as president
23 as in wrestlemania 23 in 2007 where trump, a cartoon level failure with no other prospects, participated in a fake bet that a proxy wrestler would win a fake fight on his behalf or he would shave his wig and hair plugs off.
24 day in August, 2021, when trump actually filed a lawsuit in Florida court against YouTube, a private company, demanding that they reinstate his YouTube channel like a desperate, irrelevant embarrassment with no platforms left to abuse.
25 plus credible sexual assault allegations against trump, spanning decades and with accusers starting as young as 13 years old at time of assault.
I don't think "not voting" should lead to what trumpers will do to this country. BUT, voting is easy enough that if they really care they better make the little effort it takes.
Just throwing this out there: it's not so easy for everyone, red states in particular love to add roadblocks to it including closing so many polling places that voters at the remaining places will likely face many hours of standing in line, particularly in areas more likely to vote blue, and have even passed laws making it illegal to shuttle people to the polls or pass out water to people waiting to vote.
I don't live in a swing state. Voting for President is literally pointless for me.
You can get me to the poll if the vote is for abolishing the electoral college, or if ranked choice/instant runoff becomes the method used to determine the winner.
I dunno if you know but the US has 2 branches of govt that are democratically elected... One could argue the legislative branch is actually far more powerful than the executive.
I have believed this for a long time. They could make the world better for everyone but focus on making sure that others suffer just a little bit more than they do.
There is a study about this (link); many people would rather have less as long as their peers are worse off. This is our inner caveman brain telling us this is a zero sum world.
Can someone explain to me what would stop dems from infinitely fillibustering any of the Republicans bullshit laws if they got control, similar to how the Republicans have?
Nothing, though the budget reconciliation process allows for one filibuster-proof bill a year if it primarily deals with the budget.
That said, the filibuster is just an internal Senate rule. A majority could simply eliminate it at any time, but that of course may come back to bite them when the balance of power shifts.
...respondents said that Trump would do a better job by double-digit margins.
...in a recent New York Times/Siena College poll, 40 percent of voters said that Trump's policies had helped them personally, while just 18 percent said the same of Biden.
So these polls are just showing that Trump gets all the Republicans because they don't actually care about policy, and Biden only gets a few Democrats because these questions are actually about issues, and his entire platform is that he isn't Trump
All my life, I voted for the greater good of the greater whole, at my own expense. I am not a Biden fan and many who voted lockstep for the neolibs are most certainly voting on the issues.
Many Americans are too idiotic to realize the president is not the legislature. They can champion laws/policies, but the Executive is not the Legislative. It feels so weird to me that so much focus goes to the presidential slot when senators and house reps are the primary power brokers. It's equally weird how we've allowed so much power creep to seep into the presidential office, where presidents have routinely exercised powers that are way out of their constitutional lane on numerous occasions. It sometimes feels like Americans want a totalitarian form of government.
Worse, when they blame the economy, they are ignorant to the fact that Republicans passed a law to specifically make the US Central Bank (the Federal Reserve) a PRIVATE entity that is outside the reach of the president.
And yet, when asked about Trump’s ability to handle key issues — or the impact of his policies — voters routinely give the Republican candidate higher marks than President Biden.
More recently, they tried to dissociate their party from the most unpopular aspects of the anti-abortion movement’s agenda, voicing opposition to the shutdown of in vitro fertilization clinics in Alabama.
Raising the full retirement age to 69 — as the RSC proposed last fall — would translate into a roughly 14 percent cut to Social Security benefits, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
To the contrary, he has signaled plans for slashing federal tax revenues by trillions of dollars, policies that would make preserving existing benefit levels even more fiscally challenging.
Biden, on the other hand, has called for substantially raising payroll taxes on Americans earning over $400,000 a year in order to sustain Social Security in its current form.
It’s unlikely that any of this will make a big impression on undecided voters, who do not typically pay much attention to budget proposals in general, let alone those without a prayer of actually passing in the current Congress.
The original article contains 1,110 words, the summary contains 192 words. Saved 83%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
If you read the article, it says the Republicans are proposing raising the age to collect full Social Security benefits to 69 (it is now currently 67). That's not quite the same as 'cutting' social security.
BTW, the surplus SS currently has in its account will run dry in about 10 years. Once that happens, Social Security will become a pay as you go program if nothing changes, which means benefits will be reduced by about 25% (i.e. the amount of money coming in from SS taxes will only cover about 75% of projected outlays).
I did read the article. The current age to collect full benefits is 67. They are proposing it be raised to 69. Please illuminate for me what I am missing.
Who is this “actual candidate” you keep blustering about? You’re all “fuck genocide joe and the neolibs” but never once have any of you offered a viable alternative. Special, urgent emphasis on viable, by the way. Otherwise, I am going to assume you do want Trump to win as some sort of accelerationist gambit so the proletariat revolution can finally begin… well, guess what, in the power vacuum you want so bad, you’ll be surprised to see who actually ends up against that wall.
Which actual candidate was either running in the Democratic Primary or has any statistical chance of winning the presidency without being either the Democratic or Republican nominee?