Thursday, May 16, 2024

Reality check: almost no one gives a crap about Gaza

 So, leftists are fricking deranged over this Gaza thing. Normally I'm pretty sympathetic to third party voters, but this time these guys just...seem in their own little world. They are going all single issue over Gaza, they are screaming that Biden has to "earn their vote" over it, and they're acting like, if Biden loses the election, it's because they didn't go out of the way to pander to them on this issue.

Now, I wanna make this clear, no democrats are not entitled to your vote. They do have to earn it. However, I seriously have to question the wisdom of lefties this election cycle who think that they can just pressure Biden into caring about their pet issue, and act like if Biden loses, it's gonna be because of Gaza.

Now, to be fair, in the grand scheme of things, given this election could, like 2000 and 2016, be decided by a few thousand, or even a few hundred votes in a handful of swing states, ANYTHING can matter in theory. The reason I push the economic argument in 2016 is because I think both Bernie and Trump represented a massive dissatisfaction with the status quo and both pandered to economic populism. I don't act like the issue was say, specifically UBI. Quite frankly, fewer people in 2016 cared about UBI in particular than Gaza this election, but they felt some economic pain, and they wanted SOME policies to relieve it, or at least just a dude PROMISING to make it better. I think back then, we had an electorate knowing there was a problem and looking for solutions. I had my own solutions, but they weren't everyone's solutions, and I understand that. Some wanted to just bring the factory jobs back like Trump promised. The smarter ones generally went with Bernie and his progressive policies. And even I voted for Bernie, even if he didnt represent me perfectly, because again, expecting a UBI centric candidate in 2016 would've been peak delusion. We're lucky we got yang in 2020. I totally didn't expect that, and he really did make me realize that maybe my views werent so unique after all, but yeah, even then, look at how well he did vs even Bernie, who himself lost. 

But I digress. The point is, on Israel, no one cares. Well, almost no one. I mean, the segment of voters who care are about as consequential as the yang gang's voter base. And that's not an exaggeration. If you look up gallup's most important issues poll, you'll find that foreign policy issues are 3% of the electorate. Now, that doesnt even assume gaza in particular. Some of these guys might care about Ukraine, or they might care about Taiwan, but let's say the Gaza people are maybe 1-2% of the population. That's accurate.

Now, that COULD flip the election. Sure. Again, narrow margins, every vote counts in the swing states. BUT, let's look at where MOST voters' heads are at. 

36% of voters care about the economy. Economic issues are always near the top, for better or for worse. As of now, 17% care about the economy in general, and 13% care about inflation. Beyond that, it drops fast. 3% for the budget deficit (so just as many conservative debt hawks out there as gaza voters right now), 2% for unemployment/jobs. That's SUPER low, but a symbol of the times. This is why I keep saying, yep, batten down the hatches, lefties. Things aren't going our way on economics right now. Our economics thrive during periods of recession and high unemployment. They DON'T do well and are a target of criticism in times of high inflation. Because government money, especially not paid for by taxes, and a lot of stimulus programs aren't paid for by taxes, are inflationary. Anything that helps the working class is inflationary btw. Simply having money is inflationary to SOME degree. It's just a matter of how much is too much, and we clearly have too much. This is why I'm perfectly fine with just backing off this election cycle, keeping my mouth shut, and waiting for "worse" economic times to push my ideas again. We're at the wrong part of an economic cycle to push for UBI and stuff, because the problem isnt necessarily people having money, but in the eyes of economists, people having too much of it (although I'd argue in reality businesses are just being greedy and seeing what they can get away with). 

On non economic issues, 27% of people care about immigration. This is why Biden tried to push an immigration bill that gave the conservatives most of what they wanted. It didn't pass, because those same republicans wanted to screw Biden and they wanted Trump to do it. So basically just fighting over who gets credit for fixing the problem and refusing to cede ground to a democrat. 

18% say government/poor leadership. This is vague, but it's safe to say a lot of people aren't happy with Biden. Many think he's too old, they don't think he's the right guy for the job, etc. And beyond that, we get stuff like poverty at 4%, elections/electoral reform at 3% (possibly the never trumpers), 3% for foreign policy (the gaza nuts go in this category), and yeah. Those are the issues people care about. 

If Biden loses, it's very obvious that gaza would NOT be a primary cause. leftists are more like an annoying mosquito here when Biden is in a room trying to wrestle a literal elephant. Is it annoying? yes. Will it try to bite biden? Yes. But if Biden loses, clearly the cause isnt the mosquito, it's the elephant in the room. What's the elephant in the room? Inflation, immigration, and questions of his ability to lead. No one (okay, almost no one, 3% tops) gives a crap about gaza. Okay? Can we stop making this the center of the universe? if Biden loses, here's what the dems are gonna take away from this. Biden went too far left on economics. He tried to push too many progressive things, he spent too much money, and we need to do less of that in future elections. Is this the right message to glean? No, probably not. It's just a product of the times, honestly. But will the left have an argument? If they dont back him? No. Because the dems are more likely to write off economic left wing ideas as not vote getters and leftists as unreliable.

As such, guys, you gaza nuts, you're shooting us in the foot, you're screwing us all over. Your little protest will not only be unheard, but the dems will take it as an excuse to never do anything progressive again. And we'll be screwed for a generation. 

That's where you guys are bringing us with your gaza crap. You bring electoral doom to our door. And over what? A foreign policy conflict on the other side of the planet?

If I was a voter shaming motherfricker, I'd be saying F you guys, but I won't go that far. But I am kinda thinking it at this point. 

I just wish you guys would get out of this delusional worldview that everything in the world has to revolve around gaza. No one cares. Really, no one actually cares. You're a tiny minority of Americans, you're barely statistically significant, and you're just making things harder for the rest of us. 

EDIT: Looked down a bit more and 2% seem to be influenced by "war in the middle east." I'm guessing that's gaza, but yeah. Still, drop in the bucket compared to the big three issues. And how many of these guys are gonna protest Biden over this? Probably not most of them. But yeah, relatively small faction vs inflation, immigration, and just general concerns over Biden's leadership abilities. 

Also, I looked at more polls. 

Young Americans are mostly concerned with inflation too. It's not gaza, they care about most, it's literally the cost of living.

Even on foreign policy specifically, Israel/Gaza is only the 15th most important issue among voters. So yeah, these guys are a lot less consequential than even the above would indicate.

And going back to the state of the union, most people are concerned with things like the economy, terrorism, money in politics, and healthcare. 

So yeah the genocide joe crowd is a laughably small, vocal minority.

No comments:

Post a Comment