Because people are told about the state of the economy by news media whose interests are aligned with the same forces wrecking it.
I was working with someone who I made the assumption they'd be a Democrat. Call me racist or otherwise bigotted if you want, but I legitimately can't understand why anyone who isn't a straight white male would want to vote republican.
He genuinely thinks Republicans are better for the economy, DT is completely sane and it's BIDEN that's turning senile and showing clear signs of dementia on live TV, and that DT is "good for the country"
I figured through some prodding questions that it's because of the little amount of news he DOES see, it's almost entirely Faux News and their ilk.
So I asked him some rather leading questions about who is making money off of what we are doing while we work. Cause we know the prices of these things we make, and we know how much we get paid. Massive difference.
So he understands that the CEOs and other higher ups are basically robbing the lower parts of their work pyramid, he understands that the people with money are greedy and won't willingly part with it, that they will do anything to keep their money and the power they get with it, AND that they own media outlets outright and back certain politicians.
He was clearly thinking about how all that connects with "billionaires own the media and want to tell you to vote republican because that keeps them in power" but after about 5 minutes of clearly contemplative silence, he goes "I don't know man, it's still a toss up to me."
At that point I just kind of gave up. I can only show someone the door. I can't make them walk through it.
It's impressive you brought them into Undecided territory. Most of these folks are fully indoctrinated cult members at this point.
The way I see people like this is that they have too many other things tied up in their decision. It's not just about facts they have friends, co-workers, family that all believe a certain way. If they were to make a big change to this way of thinking it puts them on the outside of their social group.
But what you may have done with your line of questioning is set a seed for change in their thinking. It may take a while to grow into an obvious change but it can happen. Of course this means that they have to put the work in to grow those ideas, which may not happen but it was good to do.
As long as those in power make money from making the human world worse, the human world will continually be made worse.
Republicans don't mind a troubled economy because they believe they are avoiding worse pain. Democrats are more willing to increase the cash flow at all levels of the economy. There really isn't much to be surprised at here.
Of course, they often don't present their positions that way, but lying is like breathing to all politicians. Trump kind of abandons any pretense otherwise.
Propaganda, of course. Big business likes the tax cuts, and news media is big business.
When an asshole says they're good for the economy it's just more believable, because most rich people are assholes.
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs:
MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: High - United States of America
Wikipedia about this source
Media Bias Fact Check | bot supportSearch topics on Ground.News
https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/historical-puzzle-us-economic-performance-under-democrats-vs-republicans
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News