What Does " The Country Is On The Wrong Track" Mean?
Almost every day we hear someone from the Trump campaign say that Trump will win because 70% of Americans think the country is "on the wrong track". The figure is given as not only evidence that Trump will win, but also as a justification for him winning.
It is implied , rather plainly, that this dissatisfaction demanded a Trump or Trump like candidacy to lead the way out.
My own opinion is that this assertion is almost certainly at least 50% wrong. Yet we almost never hear anyone object to Trump's appropriation of this theme.
First of all, it is nothing new that a majority of Americans think the country is on the wrong track.
"But here’s the thing: Over the past 40 years, polls have consistently found that a solid majority of Americans have not been happy with the direction of our nation. Sure, there have been a few bright spots, but they are far outweighed by the times we have not been satisfied with the way things are going." http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/07/we-ve-been-on-the-wrong-track-since-1972.html
We are not at an unprecedented "wrong track level". It has happened before, yet no one demanded a Donald Trump type character in 1972 or 76 or 80 or 96 or 08 or any of the times of "wrong track" in the past.
Another problem with this theme, to me, is that there is not one "wrong track" . Today, some of the people think we are on the wrong track because of the Obama administration and the Democrats, and some of the people think it because of the Republicans in Congress and the control corporations have over our national economic agenda. In other words, the off track perception is from the left view and the right view. Sanders got almost as many votes as Trump did. Yet their political proposals are hardly in sync.
Trump does not own "off track voters" . He has some of them, and some of them will vote for Johnson, Stein, and Clinton.
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Trump blow smoke to appeal to his followers...Red meat
You will be upset with me John, but if there really is an October surprise for Hillary, I think a lot of people will be looking else where, like Johnson and Stein. Trump's constant change in his platform will fool some, and piss off others. This could be an epic election if things turn for the two nominees.
As for the electorate thinking America has gone awry, you are right that it has always been this way, but I think that this election has really brought the chickens home to roost.
If it makes you happy to think Johnson or Stein will make a big impact, I will try and be happy for you.
I don't see it. There is an old saying, you can't beat something with nothing. Whatever Clinton and Trump are, they are something. The country is not going to elect a libertarian president of the United States. Stein has run a couple times already. She has no charisma. Neither does Gary Johnson for that matter.
Why do you think that this country will not vote for a libertarian? What do you base that on? Stein might be the wrong person for the party.
Because with the economic conditions and system that we have today, we have to have a welfare state. We cannot have a libertarian government. If and when Johnson ever got traction he would be blown out of the water by his opponents bringing up his past beliefs. He wants to end the income tax. Who will pay for the government? A national sales tax? It is regressive.
If we had a country where everyone was well off you could have a libertarian set up. We don't have such a country and it's been going in the opposite direction.
wrong track numbers since 1979
There have been many times the wrong track number has been as high as it is today, and sometimes it has been higher.
For example, the wrong track number was higher in the election year of 2012 than it is now, and Obama won re-election. Obviously the majority did not blame the Democrats for the country being off track.
"What Does " The Country Is On The Wrong Track" Mean?"
It means the country is on the track to hell...
Buzz, according to some the country has been going to hell for decades if not centuries. No matter what, they cannot see the forest through the trees.
I don't dispute that a lot of people think the country is on the wrong track, but the figure is not necessarily representative only of unhappiness with the current administration . It also includes those who are unhappy with the opponents of the current administration.
Read Atlas Shrugged you will see the similarities and then know why the country is on the wrong track.
RIGHT TRACK - WRONG TRACK: It's All About Gridlock. It seems clear to me that people are not upset with the direction of the country because of President Obama – why would his approval rating be over 50%?. It doesn't even seem to be a highly partisan dissatisfaction – around 37% Democrat Congressional approval is only moderately better than 20% Republican, and not really anything to be terribly proud of. What’s so revealing is the combined Democrat-Republican Congressional approval rating of 14%.
It’s not the leadership at the top that has the country so upset – it’s because of the complete and utter inaction and dysfunction in the U.S. Congress – it’s called Congressional gridlock and it is the root of the publics’ belief that the country is headed in the wrong direction. See my blog, "Exposing the Underpinnings of a Broken Government" for an indepth discussion