The Washington Post investigates why so many poor and working class Latinos in Texas border counties shifted rightward in 2024:
Democratic and Republican party leaders said the Biden administration’s border failings are only part of what explains it. “You can tell me things are better, but if my food stamps don’t last the month, I’m not going to believe you,” said Toni Treviño, the chair of the Republican Party in Starr County, where nearly 58 percent of voters supported Trump.
Well, OK, but I'm going to be that guy again. Here are SNAP (food stamp) benefits compared to inflation over the past few years:
In mid-2021, SNAP benefits jumped thanks to ARRA, Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus bill. After that, SNAP benefits increased more than inflation every single year.
After the 2021 jump, SNAP benefits increased 24% compared to 16% for food inflation. For the entirety of Biden's presidency, they increased 43% compared to 20% for inflation.
Is Treviño right anyway? You can only receive SNAP benefits if you're below the poverty line. That means you're living a pretty rough life and SNAP benefits probably do run out before the end of the month. Who cares if they've (supposedly) gone up if they still aren't enough?
I don't know if people think that way. Then again, I also don't know if they have any idea that Biden gave them a big raise in 2021 and then kept smaller raises coming every year after that. I didn't know that until I looked it up. Did Biden or the DNC or local Democratic Party leaders spend any time in Starr County bragging about this? I don't know that either.
But I'd guess not. After all, bragging about increasing welfare benefits might help with the people getting them, but it might also hurt with all the people who aren't. It's a dilemma.
It should be pointed out that the monthly amount people who qualify get is pro-rated. You don't just qualify and then get $250 or whatever the maximum per person is a month. A calculation is made based on income, rent, and a couple other allowances for expenses. The average recipient gets much less than the maximum award.
I don't know if they increased all the amounts, changed the calculation or qualifying income threshhold, or what. And since it is administered by the states I think both qualifying factors and amounts may differ in each one.
When the Democrats give up on means-testing and just send checks out to everyone, including the middle-class, then they'll see some appreciation.
I'm middle class, and maybe an outlier, but I'd far rather the government borrow money to build infrastructure and clean energy than borrow money to send me a check.
But then again, maybe that explains why I voted for Harris and also why Harris lost.
I totally agree, but I guess we're that rare person willing to suffer in the short term that all may benefit in the long term.
I'm convinced that a substantial fraction of Americans don't actually think about anything. They are able to absorb (mis)information, and regurgitate it, but they never really think about it.
+1
They don't. They never do. Lemmings, this country is populated by a large number of lemmings.
Sadly, it ain't just "this country." That's humanity as a whole. Other countries may have better institutions and systems, but the basic homo sapiens model we're working with is pretty much the same everywhere.
Which is maybe a reason for hope: we don't have to accomplish the impossible of changing humans, just the lesser task of improving our systems.
You're probably correct, thinking requires energy. Stillness, focus, time.
So the people who get food stamps voted for the party that is constantly seeking to cut or eliminate food stamps and voted against the party that actually increased benefits. I guess not enough is better than less or nothing at all?? Fucking unreal. Don't dare call them stupid though. Because that's not nice. Meanwhile there are many Americans that are dumber than a bag of rocks.
They are most likely ignorant, possibly foolish, on occasion selfish.
Odds are you'd think like them if you were caught in the disinformation machine. Even brilliant minds are susceptible to propaganda.
True, intelligence is no protection against propaganda. I've always believed that intelligent people are better equipped to convince themselves and others that what they believe is the truth. Propaganda is most effective when the targets are fearful and anxious. If those are missing its effectiveness is probably due to stupidity. Personally I regard everything with skepticism. Even myself. Lately more so than ever before. I blame it on being old!
My brother is a Trumper out in the boondocks. When we visited this summer, he was shocked to learn that we coastal liberals are paying $400/week/child for summer day camp, because he only has to pay $15.
He will never, ever ever admit, even to himself, that his kids are in a state-sponsored program that covers nearly all the costs. Free lunches too, summer and in the school year.
What state?
Michigan.
His family is poor enough and large enough to be on the edge of qualifying for this and that. I don’t know any of the details but the school is in a poor town, and gets a fair amount of outside funding. Obviously no one is watching his kids for $0.50 an hour and giving them free lunches and snacks to boot.
Of course, those on food stamps are a negligeable voting block. They're only a reason for Democrats to do what's right, and thankfully they did, and an excuse for Republicans to score unearned points. As Republican needs make it fit, they're either neglected by the establishment like "we" all are or undeserving, and so should never stand in the way of white privilege.
"41.9 million people in 22.2 million households received SNAP benefits. That translates to 12.5% of the total U.S. population"
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/07/19/what-the-data-says-about-food-stamps-in-the-u-s/
But it would be informative to know how many of the recipients actually voted for Trump because of the supposed inadequacy of the benefits, when Trump is likely to cut them. Are many of them that dumb? Reporters and pundits can always find somebody to interview to support their narrative.
"Are many of them that dumb?" Yes.
Because of ARPA, not ARRA
it probably isn't enough. by a long shot
but sure, vote for the guy who already tried to make it worse and will do so again
"Trump administration moves to remove 700,000 people from food stamps" 2019
https://www.reuters.com/article/world/trump-administration-moves-to-remove-700000-people-from-food-stamps-idUSKBN1Y82C4/
and now
"Trump's economic plan also targets food assistance programs like SNAP (food stamps), aiming to tighten eligibility requirements. "
https://www.marca.com/en/lifestyle/us-news/personal-finance/2024/11/08/672e348022601df14f8b459b.html
+1
I'm really sick of hearing pundits say that the DEMOCRATS should have done a better job of communicating how much the Biden administration did for people. No one believes the politicians, ESPECIALLY when they are in power. It's the job of the MEDIA to tell people stuff like that, and not only in some remote corner of their outlets, but on the front pages. When demagoguery and lies are running rampant, it's even MORE vital for the vaunted free press to set the record straight. Blaming the politicians for not convincing voters that they are helping them is knavery.
Precisely. Biden and Harris can give great speeches but if it's just NPR and MSNBC covering it, what does it matter to the Great Undecided voter? If they were routinely watching MSNBC or listening to NPR, they wouldn't be undecided!
The Washington Post over the last year has a real sideline in passive-constructed headlines. Whenever Biden or his administration, or the Democratically-controlled Senate did something, it's presented in a passive headline ("Congress passes X") but whenever Trump or the Republicans block something or say something obviously crazy, that's passive too ("Congress fails to pass Border Control measures").
The broader problem is that nobody on the government/political news beat seems to care that much about informing people how government works. If you can't report on it by sitting in a diner or going to a fancy DC dinner party or having off-the-record phone conversations with important people, it doesn't get reported. Much of the big Trump news just required watching TV or being on X.
It’s amazing that folks react viscerally to changes in gas prices, which politicians don’t control, but seem oblivious to changes in anything they do control.
I’ve been saying it for months now, but I’m no longer confident the American public is capable of self governance.
One of the big voter group shifts towards Trump was those Americans earning under $50K. I think that's a big confirmation of the error of downplaying headline inflation the past 12 months.
The Republican party, the Supreme Court and the dithering Merrick Garland managed to give Trump an aura of invincibility/inevitability. Americans earning under 50K are not immune to that aura. They will likely rue their votes.
I hope so. Probably petty of me but I honestly don't care if the people who voted for a pathological liar suffer for their choices. But they'll probably still blame the Democrats because they didn't do anything to stop it. The Democrats are damned if they do and damned if they don't.
Downplaying?
There hasn't been high inflation for mire than a year.
The absence of high inflation does not mean prices are back to normal for the things that poorer people rely on to survive. This is less true for raw foods but more so for processed foods. It's especially true for restaurant food.
As I pointed out for months, trying to argue that inflation is back to normal and that people are biased in their understanding of inflation only alienates and angers people who are actually struggling to make ends meet.
DO NOT ever talk down to people about what their experience is, if you want to be elected by these same people.
Yes. The proper strategy would have been for Harris to agree with Trump that the economy was terrible, and to pound home that message throughout the campaign.
After all, nearly all republicans and some democrats agreed that the national economy was terrible (despite majorities of both feeling that their local areas were doing fine, and their personal experiences were good).
It would have been insensitive for Harris to talk about record job creation, solid GDP growth, incomes outpacing inflation, and a trillion dollars invested in domestic manufacturing, and impolite to talk about how all of Trump's economic proposals are horrifically anti-growth and pro-inflation.
Meanwhile… Alleged capitalist, consumers, begging for government to lower prices apparently isn’t socialist but instead a winning GOP election strategy.
Huh.
There was a huge shift of this group when the parties switched on racism in the Nixon-Reagan administrations. Trump himself came out of nowhere in 2016 when inflation was not a problem and the economy was not either (except in Trump's lies). I have not checked the demographics of that election but neither have those who talk about the shift this time as being economic.
And again, I think we will see whether Trump voters were really motivated by economics when the polls come out after Trump takes office. I predict that the supposed economic "pain" will vanish among those voters before there could be any real economic change.
+1
I don't see it as a dilemma. Dems should be out there touting everything they are doing to help people regardless of the consequences. If the electorate doesn't like it then fine vote for the other side. At least they will be doing voting the other side for the right reasons.
Pretty sure Biden touted it.
https://x.com/search?q=Food+stamps+%28from%3Apotus%29&src=typed_query
It's going to be especially bad when the leopards eat their faces, because with Trump cuts to food stamps, they will need to eat their own faces to survive.
Wanna bet they and the media blame democrats?
+1
Confusing the Working Class with those getting food stamps is emblematic of who a white-collar university educated Left in the USA continues to misunderstand, misframe and alienate the voter segment they need to stop hemmoraghing.
You can't get the right answer if you don't ask the right question. First: What do people getting SNAP benefits eat? (I don't actually know, btw...) If we just guess at a few things (canned beans, chicken legs, hamburger...) we can turn to FRED for some answers.
Canned beans? Well... they track canned pork and beans, which are actually somewhat cheaper now than 5 years ago. Chicken legs? 28.8% higher. Hamburger? Ding ding ding! Ground beef is up 67.9% over the last 5 years. A LOT of people eat hamburger. And meatloaf. Well, wait... I forgot eggs! The price spiked after the bird flu incident, so how's it doing now? UP 176.28%!!! Holy fried egg on a burger! (Source: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU0000708111)
So, yeah... inflation is under control, except for some things that folks purchase pretty frequently, and those things have an outsized influence on our perceptions. That's why smart Dems didn't go around saying "Oh, stop your whining! Inflation is down to 2%!"
They should have had policies to address high prices with bumper sticker like ads to sell them. Let Trump defend his support or lack there of. I think the Dems underestimate the average Americans understanding of economics in general, nevermind inflation. The Democrats need to become more devious to some extent. You can't fight a man like Trump by being nice.