The United States is a big place. Lots of cultures, economies, climate, landscape. All this produces a bit of infinite variety in what is important to people. To farmers in the prairie it may be mostly rainfall. But severe weather has also entered our lives.
The fact that we have 340 million people and a small area on the East Coast houses our government makes many feel that politicians, once moved there, can't really be in touch with daily lives in all our states. The views of the federal government range from hatred, by MAGA folk, to a neutral one by the undecided and independent voter. They do not see much benefit personally from the government. The left has the educated elites who see things like education important. It is seen as a human right to have a basic education. I would say most MAGA voters actually hated school.
Trump, with his two separate terms, is able to be a bit of an outsider still. He is now floating an idea of rebates. He has indeed collected tariffs from goods we sell in store. But now he is able to frame it as "Trump is giving you your money back" and not make it look like the deep state or evil goernment is involved. Biden made bold moves as well, forgiving student loans. But those went to the elites.
The politicians attempt to give you a picture of what is wrong and what should be done. Things like the economy are always there, but even there, prices, wages and inflation do not give a voter much of an idea. They only react when they lose something. It could be a benefit or a job. Trump was good at putting blame on groups. "They are ripping you off." Other than that, in normal times the current president is pretty much always blamed for the econoy. That is why the party in power often changes two years into a prsident't term. Normally. Trump will push through with a lot of executive power. At least till the election of 2026. He pretty much has to. If we still count on democracy, that two years is all he has.
The voter had a good feel for a presidential candidate. Their hunch about who was to do something for them was formed over days, weeks. Sometimes over a longer term. A low rating for Biden for month after month certainly meant something.
They then make some bond with a candidate and vote based on that. It may be a lack of overall feel that makes a voter decide. "I just don't know about Kamala." Some charisma is needed for all candidates. No Walter Mondale is ever going to win again.
The voter then votes, and also correctly assumes that the president is the important vote. A US president has tremendous power and a fixed four year term. Doing reawlly badly will get you one term. Vice presidents who run ofter end up not as capable as the president they served under. Prime ministers can be voted out any time.
The main problem is that politics is not that interesting to most people. Or they do have issues that politics could solve, but no interest or time. Voters have a much less defined idea of their congressman or governor. The party does carry some clue. A GOP candidate is always going to cut taxes. But there is somehow less need to find out more. They may vote along the party line or on a single issue. We now have a lot of independents, and many are not that deeply interested in politics. They seem to remember negative things about both parties well. Yet they are eventually able to vote for those democrats and republicans. There is often a less than 3% in the number in the House. Senators are seen as old fuddy duddies. The independents either like the person for a term or two or know nothing at all about their own senator.
The small groups that follow politics are from both ends. Educated people seem to know a lot and get frustrated with the general public not finding out much. We have most of the information on many topics. At the other end, uneducated voters are mostly fascintaed by conspiracy theory. If you connect it to an item the right is obsessed with, such as child trafficing, you can direct voters to believe that Democrats are the cause of it.
It is a big job to wade through all this stuff. Before an election, people start puttin in questions into Google. Google AI told me that ICE has arrested 300 000 people and that some 50 000 are detained by ice. I tend to doubt the first number. They have maybe detained that number, but have released many due to lack of evidence. They number of arrests itself is a quota they are trying to meet.
You can try to Google some other items yourself.
