The pseudonym "Philo Vaihinger" has been abandoned. All posts have been and are written by me, Joseph Auclair.

Sunday, March 20, 2016

So maybe it's not the economy, stupid?

Kevin Drum on Trump supporters.

I've been periodically making the case that Americans aren't really all that angry about the economy, which naturally implies that the economy isn't the reason for Donald Trump's success. 

This argument has taken several forms. 

First, in objective terms, the economy is in decent shape. 

Second, the number of people affected by globalization (lost jobs, reduced wages) isn't that large in absolute terms. 

Third, polls indicate that concern about the economy isn't especially high by historical standards. 

And fourth, polls also indicate that overall personal financial comfort is fairly strong.

. . . .

Trump actually does slightly worse with voters who are concerned with the economy than he does overall. 

This is yet more evidence that economic anxiety just isn't a big factor driving Trump's success. 

The bigger factor, by far, is immigration, and Winship argues persuasively that this is not primarily an economic concern.

Racism and nativism.

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