Voters Are Furious About Inflation, Demand Measures That Would Make Inflation Worse
Democracy gonna democracy
My takeaway from the survey polls released Monday — which were not good for Biden — is that I’m not going to make it to November. I can’t take six more months of this shit. I can’t spend another half-year of trying to decipher the utter fucking nonsense that comes out of focus groups. Did you know that 20 percent of voters blame Biden for the end of Roe v. Wade? Did you know that the one voter the New York Times found who says he’s not voting for Biden because of Gaza appears to be lying about having voted for Biden in 2020? Trying to make sense of voters’ preferences is like staring at a magic eye poster for an hour and then realizing: That’s not a magic eye poster — that’s chili that someone threw on the wall. The thing you’re looking at will never “make sense”, and the fool — yet again — is you, for failing to accept the mystery.
Just about the only thing that’s clear is that inflation is a weak spot for Biden. Inflation has hurt the popularity of incumbents around the world, and Biden is no exception. Here — for a fleeting moment — voters are rational: It makes sense to not like higher prices. One woman in the focus group complained about having to buy Kroger brand peanut butter, and speaking as someone who was raised on that watery slop: I feel her pain. I understand that no matter how the economy is doing — and it is doing very well — paying more for stuff sucks. Did you know it costs $130,000 to keep your mistress silent these days? That used to cost a few mink furs and the occasional Oldsmobile dunked into the water off of Martha’s Vineyard. Thanks a lot, Biden.
Of course, voters’ preferences make it clear that they don’t know what causes inflation. As I’ve argued before: It’s fine that they don’t know. They’re not supposed to know — policy makers are supposed to know, because that’s their job. Asking a hairdresser what causes inflation is like asking Larry Summers which type of gel gives the most volume to a full stem curl — Summers probably doesn’t know that the answer is a waving lotion with an amino acid base that doesn’t contain Thioglycolate. But Larry Summers being a complete hair retard has no consequences; voters not knowing what causes inflation, on the other hand, might make inflation worse.