Donald Trump has a whole new 2020 problem
Because he likes to claim credit for a solid economy that he inherited, Donald Trump regularly boasts about the state of the stock market as proof of why he’s good for the country and deserves to be re-elected. This is also what you’ll usually hear his supporters ranting about as their pathetic last line of defense for anything despicable that he does. It’s even pervaded the rhetoric of the more pessimistic people on our side, who fear that the stock market and low unemployment numbers from this year will guarantee Trump a victory next year.
Unfortunately, there’s a bit of bad news for Trump on this front. It should be fairly obvious for anyone that measuring the economy based largely off of how well rich people are doing is a terrible idea, but now there’s a poll conducted by the Financial Times to reinforce this. According to their findings, 61% of Americans say the stock market had little or no effect on their economic well-being, compared with only 39% who said it had a somewhat or very strong impact on improving their lives.
In even worse news for Trump, 64% of Americans said they were currently either worse off financially or no better financially than they were back in 2016. There was even a decent-sized minority of respondents – 18% – who weren’t even aware that the stock market’s been going up and thought it decreased.
Yes, Trump’s tweets can be downright dangerous to everyone involved but a number of people, including his supporters, don’t even bother to read them. As much as he foolishly likes to boast about the economy, it’s fair to say that a number of ordinary people don’t share his optimism. If Democrats can flip the issue, making it a personal one about how the average person feels in the current economy, they can win this.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making