Why Is The ‘Swingy’ Voter A Good Thing?”
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
I don’t mean to interrupt everyone’s post-Election Day jubilation, but I’m going to anyway.
Isn’t part of the problem us… the American people? Aren’t we a big part of why our politics these days is so messed up?
Let me explain what I mean. Among all the headlines the night of these historic midterms, this historic repudiation of Donald Trump, were the following data points I saw: Young people, who had voted in unprecedentedly high numbers for Trump in 2024, swung wildly to the Democrats this year. A HUGE swing, the numbers showed, in just two years.
And then, a little bit later in the evening, the exact same thing was said about Latino voters. A HUGE swing away from Republicans to Democrats this year, when just two years ago, Trump captured a majority of the Latino vote. And a moment later, the number crunchers made the same observation about Black men. Finally, before I went to bed early in the morning on Election Night, once again… same story, this time with Independents. Turns out Independents went big for Trump in 2024 and came out super big for Democrats two years later. Another… HUGE swing.
I’m listening to all of this reporting, and I’m asking myself not only what’s going on here, but also what’s up with young voters, Black men, Latino voters, and Independents. Like, how can they swing so wildly between two completely opposite sides in just two years? We tend to blame politicians and the parties for not being consistent or attentive to the needs of the voters, but what about the voters themselves? What about the voters for being nonsensical, utterly all over the map in what they tell us they want, and for not being as damned informed as they should be?
I mean, I understand where we’re at right now in our electoral politics—every two years, the American people poke their heads up and vote for the party they hate the least. But don’t they share some responsibility here for how fucked up our politics is, by swinging so dramatically between the two sides from election cycle to election cycle? Like… how in God’s name can most young people, most Independents, and most Latinos, as well as a big percentage of Black men, vote for Trump one year and then JUST TWO YEARS LATER vote in droves against him and his party? Like… what changed about Trump in two years? Nothing. So why couldn’t they see what Trump was two years ago? Are these “swingy” voters just not paying attention?
Talk about sending mixed messages to our politicians. And we talk about these swingy Latinos, swingy Black men, swingy young people, and swingy Independents like this is some sort of good thing—they think independently, they can change their minds with new data, neither party is dealing with their concerns, and so on. And I get that the weaknesses of the Democratic Party in 2024 played a big role in why they voted for Trump that year, but… come on. Do they not have eyes and ears? How could they not see just two years ago what a horrible, dishonest, cruel, corrupt, lawless person Trump was?
And why is it such a good thing that these voters are so “swingy”? Doesn’t it mean they’re uninformed and just really darn inconsistent? And how the heck do these voters expect politicians to understand them and their concerns if they’re so easily swayed? Or swung?
Am I making any sense?
My rant is over, but this really bugs me. I feel like we’re letting voters off the hook in general when we talk about what ails us, and, from where I stand, if 65% of Latinos voted for Trump in 2024, and 75% of them voted Democratic in 2026, they’re the ones that got issues. Not the politicians. Same goes for Black men, young voters, and Independents. They all need to get their shit together.
Does this make any sense? Do you agree or disagree with me? Let me know what you think.
BE BRAVE,
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Joe Walsh was hard core tea party when he was in Congress, but I believe he has evolved since then.
It is unfortunate that younger Americans are not sufficiently engaged with the political zeitgeist to be so easily duped by this administration. A huge chunk of those swing voters are the reason the country got so hopelessly damaged by a lying crook. They should accept that they are the reason all of us are paying through the nose while witnessing a criminal accumulate massive wealth through the office they put him in.
Although social media is used extensively by all ages I think its magnetic attraction is to below 40 crowd. Social media encourages and rewards superficial thinking.
I agree. Social media is so ingrained in those who were raised with it that they literally could not imagine a world without its shallow reward system. They have been conditioned to think of “friend” not as a physical person, but instead as someone they’ve never physically met but does identify as one of your numerous artificial online friends. I moved away from my hometown in the days of MySpace. I made the conscious decision to not get into social media and only communicate with physical friends in the traditional ways. It’s a sure fire way to find out who your real friends are. Full disclosure, every actual hometown friend has faded into the ether. It seems that humanity has become too lazy to put in the minimal effort it takes to maintain a real friendship.
Agree. While it is not easy to find a accurate unbiased news sources tic toc is the last place anyone should go for their news. You only go there (and places like it) if you are looking for something to make you feel better about your biases.
We just had a guy call and cancel his health insurance through the Minnesota Exchange (MNSure). He and his wife are moving to Florida after the election results. ...seriously, people are insane.