This is why most Trump supporters, and a lot of the country, said their economic situation had improved in four years. On first glance, it seems like material analysis can’t explain Trump’s resilience in 2020. You look deeper and you start to understand.
The exit polls showed a third of people made 100,000 or more. Trump also has a lot of boomers who might not have the same income but have retired comfortably. This is the main contingency of Trumps support. The material conditions of this pandemic do affect people, but these people are insulated. They aren’t affected by the depression, and the virus is killing African Americans overwhelmingly. To them, wearing a mask or having your business shut down is the worst consequence of this pandemic. Biden could never beat Trump with these folks, but the dems will still try and blame socialism when they fail.
Why didn’t Biden win the working class? Well he did. By a decent margin. But it wasn’t enough for a comfortable victory. These were pretty historic lows in coalitions that are needed for democrats to win. Why? Because Biden’s campaign offers no better vision to our material reality. The virus is out there. He can’t start a lockdown, Trumps petit bourgeois would start a riot. If he did, the capitalist system would flounder again like it did in the spring. All of this would be fine if you did UBI and rent forgiveness on a national level. Moratorium on mortgages and loans to businesses so nothing goes out of businesses and is ready to open again when this ends. But Biden won’t do those things. And if he will, he won’t campaign on them so people won’t know. Imagine if Biden campaigned on $15/hr in Florida? Instead, he goes completely negative on Trump and offers vague promises like build back better.
This is why most Trump supporters, and a lot of the country, said their economic situation had improved in four years. On first glance, it seems like material analysis can’t explain Trump’s resilience in 2020. You look deeper and you start to understand.
The exit polls showed a third of people made 100,000 or more. Trump also has a lot of boomers who might not have the same income but have retired comfortably. This is the main contingency of Trumps support. The material conditions of this pandemic do affect people, but these people are insulated. They aren’t affected by the depression, and the virus is killing African Americans overwhelmingly. To them, wearing a mask or having your business shut down is the worst consequence of this pandemic. Biden could never beat Trump with these folks, but the dems will still try and blame socialism when they fail.
Why didn’t Biden win the working class? Well he did. By a decent margin. But it wasn’t enough for a comfortable victory. These were pretty historic lows in coalitions that are needed for democrats to win. Why? Because Biden’s campaign offers no better vision to our material reality. The virus is out there. He can’t start a lockdown, Trumps petit bourgeois would start a riot. If he did, the capitalist system would flounder again like it did in the spring. All of this would be fine if you did UBI and rent forgiveness on a national level. Moratorium on mortgages and loans to businesses so nothing goes out of businesses and is ready to open again when this ends. But Biden won’t do those things. And if he will, he won’t campaign on them so people won’t know. Imagine if Biden campaigned on $15/hr in Florida? Instead, he goes completely negative on Trump and offers vague promises like build back better.