Wasn’t that the price of eggs back in November? It’s time to be honest with ourselves about what motivates Trump’s base. Hint, it’s not what they’re saying out loud.

Yes, it WAS the price of eggs (and mortgages and other life expenses) in large part. And President Biden (white, male Christian) would have lost by a larger margin if he'd stayed the candidate. Being disdainful of what voters care about is a great way to keep losing elections.

Biden, by running for reelection, paved the path for Trump. We agree. My point is you’re flatly wrong about the motivation of Trump’s base. The proof that you’re wrong is the fact that they’re not “economically insecure” in this environment which is worse than what Biden left behind.

You misunderstand; I don't care about Trump's base. I care about the 10% of politically disengaged voters in the middle. They went for Biden in 2020 and didn't (voted Trump or didn't vote) in 2024. We need to win them back by addressing what they care about. Including the price of eggs.

Your theory is people sat out the election because of the price of eggs?

They were unhappy with their personal financial situation, blamed Biden for it, and either sat out the race or voted for Trump because their recollection was that things were better financially during his first term.

We had rising wages, declining unemployment, pockets helped with Covid money & infrastructure investments, the strongest economy in the world and people forgot how Trump drove the last thriving economy he had inherited into a ditch.

I suppose that view of their motivation is still better (about them) than mine, which is hate, bigotry and misogyny.

My election postmortem: michaeljudge.substack.com/p/chris-bast...

Well, I agree with paragraph 1, but claiming being a black woman didn’t hurt Harris is a bridge too far for me….

Again, WE'RE NOT TALING ABOUT TRUMP BASE VOTERS.

I think you’re talking about people who don’t exist. At the very least you’re talking about people who don’t have a problem with Trump’s base getting what they want.

You just did what Biden did: address feelings with macro statistics. It doesn't work. However incorrect voter perceptions may be, you have to start by acknowledging and empathizing with their angst and then move to address it. To paraphrase Rumsfeld, you go to the election with the voters you have.

Not sure how reality (like having the world’s strongest economy) became “minor statistics”, but ok. So you’re telling me we have to attract voters who replace facts with feelings and don’t have a problem with Trump’s mendacity, ignorance and racism.

Pretty much.....

I don’t think that nearly as many of those “swing voters” exist as people think. I think it *looks* like they exist because of the “sometimes voter” problem. I think that some independent Trump voters stayed home in 2020, and other independents who voted for Biden just didn’t turn out for Harris.

This voter worries that Trump and his toadies are destroying America and the future of my children. Dems failure is not hammering home the damage republicans are doing daily.

Then as a voter, a Dem voter, I worry daily about the economy and how it affects everyone. I worry about the blatant lies of politicians and how their lies "buy" votes. How they con. I worry about pedophiles being hidden and sheltered and how the victims will grow up angry and potentially violent.

You however are not an “average” Democratic voter (if for no reason other than you’re discussing politics on a social meeting site). We need to appeal to disaffected non base voters who supported us in 2020 but not in 2024.