On the contrary, "trans issues" were, arguably, the decisive factor in the election. According to a post-election survey of voters conducted by a Democratic polling firm, the statement "Kamala Harris is focused more on cultural issues like transgender issues rather than helping the middle class" was ranked the most important reason for rejecting Harris among swing voters who voted for Trump.
Interesting survey. The first thing that caught my eye is that being too pro-Israel, supporting Covid lockdowns and allowing too many abortions were way down the list across the board, and other issues such as crime and taxes were also relatively unimportant. It was all about the government not doing enough to 'help' the middle and lower classes. Immigrants are apparently bad for the economy, and 'cultural issues' are a distraction from what Harris
should have been promising, even lower inflation and more jobs for real Americans.
They chose Trump because he promised to do more. And as every swing voter knows, the policitan who promises the most will always deliver on those promises - even if common sense and his previous record says he won't.
When you look at the actual numbers, you have to wonder why so many think the Biden/Harris adminstration wasn't doing enough. Inflation in October this year was practically the same as it was under Trump in 2018 (2.6% vs 2.5%), and is still on a downward slope. So why do they think Trump will do better? It's almost as if they don't know the facts, and are just going by what Trump tells them.
On immigration there seems to be a similar disconnect with reality - which is that Biden has deported more immigrants in a single term than any other president since George W. Bush. The difference between Biden and Trump is that Biden has been turning more away at the border rather than expelling them after they enter the US - despite Trump's
failed promise to build a wall to keep them out. Once again, it's like these swing voters don't know the facts, and are just
assuming that when Trump says something it must be true.
On cultural issues, I see no evidence that Biden and Harris have focussed on them to the detriment of helping the middle class - unless you consider that eg. transgender people are somehow separate from the middle class and so don't deserve help. Such thinking comes off as rather seflish and possibly even bigoted, which I'm sure doesn't apply to swing voters. The logical conclusion is that once again they have fallen for a narrative that doesn't match reality.
So what this survey is
really telling us is that swing voters are inclined to believe a serial liar and convicted criminal over the truth. Knowing what we do about humans in general, this is unsurprising. How many of
us ever bothered to invest a few seconds of our precious time researching the facts? Whether liberal, conservative or 'independent', few of us are willing to be guided by the actual numbers - lest it clash with our ideological preconceptions.
