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I think it’s more nuanced than that. People are just skeptical of government especially in rural areas. Aside from access to healthcare, I don’t think many poor

by cpopw 5y ago

I think it’s more nuanced than that. People are just skeptical of government especially in rural areas. Aside from access to healthcare, I don’t think many poor people have faith in government help. And living in a major city like Los Angeles is even worse. The government’s spending billions of dollars for 600-800k apartments for the homeless, when the cost of living for regular people goes up and up. And with little support for small businesses. The trope that poor Republicans are just “too stupid” to vote for Democrats to save them, or are blinded by social issues, seems largely false. They view the government as causing their problems via cheap labor, “free trade”, unfair regulation and inflation.

8note 5y ago
Free trade and cheap labour are republican policies though. That's what the republican god Reagan was all about
- brimble 5y ago
  Republicans and Democrats alike bought into neo-liberalism entirely, no later than 1990 (though, yes, it did start on the R side). The leaders and presidential candidates of the big two parties have consistently been on board with it, with the only big exception being... Trump. Meanwhile, neo-liberalism has been and remains unpopular with the electorate on "both sides" (which is why Trump was able to leverage that gap between voter preferences and the standard party platform)
JohnBooty 5y ago
The trope that poor Republicans are just “too stupid” to vote for Democrats to save them, or are blinded by social issues, seems largely false. I know a lot of Republicans who are very smart, but they value vastly different things than I do (to put it mildly) and vote accordingly, thus my observation.
rurp 5y ago
> People are just skeptical of government especially in rural areas. I would be more convinced of this if rural and conservative areas weren't net takers of federal funds. In the US at least, urban areas subsidize rural ones by quite a lot of money. In addition, take a look at the federal deficit under each partie's leadership for the last 100 years. It's quite a coup that Republicans get to pretend that they are the party for small government and fiscal responsibility.
- namelessoracle 5y ago
  In almost Urban area, the rural voters know about this company or that company that is on a government contract and fails to deliver the goods and services, while the companies owners are living like Kings of the rural area. The narrative you are using is the opposite side of the same coin that Republicans use about how wealthy people who vote for paying for more taxes should just donate money to the government. If the government is giving out money, you'd be a fool to refuse to take it because it's going to get dispersed either way and the voters arent getting their taxes back.

by cpopw 5y ago

8note 5y ago

Free trade and cheap labour are republican policies though. That's what the republican god Reagan was all about

brimble 5y ago
Republicans and Democrats alike bought into neo-liberalism entirely, no later than 1990 (though, yes, it did start on the R side). The leaders and presidential candidates of the big two parties have consistently been on board with it, with the only big exception being... Trump. Meanwhile, neo-liberalism has been and remains unpopular with the electorate on "both sides" (which is why Trump was able to leverage that gap between voter preferences and the standard party platform)

JohnBooty 5y ago

The trope that poor Republicans are just “too stupid” to vote for Democrats to save them, or are blinded by social issues, seems largely false. I know a lot of Republicans who are very smart, but they value vastly different things than I do (to put it mildly) and vote accordingly, thus my observation.

rurp 5y ago

> People are just skeptical of government especially in rural areas. I would be more convinced of this if rural and conservative areas weren't net takers of federal funds. In the US at least, urban areas subsidize rural ones by quite a lot of money. In addition, take a look at the federal deficit under each partie's leadership for the last 100 years. It's quite a coup that Republicans get to pretend that they are the party for small government and fiscal responsibility.

namelessoracle 5y ago
In almost Urban area, the rural voters know about this company or that company that is on a government contract and fails to deliver the goods and services, while the companies owners are living like Kings of the rural area. The narrative you are using is the opposite side of the same coin that Republicans use about how wealthy people who vote for paying for more taxes should just donate money to the government. If the government is giving out money, you'd be a fool to refuse to take it because it's going to get dispersed either way and the voters arent getting their taxes back.