WHY TRUMP’S MESSAGE WORKS. SUMMERVILLE, South Carolina — Former President Donald Trump arrived in this suburb of Charleston, South Carolina, buoyed by a new Washington Post poll that showed him leading President Joe Biden by 10 points in a hypothetical 2024 rematch. “That’s a lot,” Trump said of his lead. “It’s hard for Republicans to lead by that much in the fake news media.”
Trump then went on to mock the Washington Post for distancing itself from its own poll. “They said this must be an outlier,” Trump said, which was an accurate summary of what the Washington Post had indeed reported. “The numbers must be wrong — it was their poll!” That, too, was correct — when the Washington Post’s research showed Trump with a big lead, the paper suggested its own research must be wrong.
But the bigger question is: How did Trump get that lead? And if he is not really leading Biden by 10 points and is instead ahead by only a point or two — how did he get that lead? How is Trump, nearly three years out of office and facing four indictments, ahead of the incumbent president?
Here’s one answer, after listening to Trump and talking to people who came to see him on a hot, sweaty late September day in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Trump’s message is compelling because it is, in essence, the spoken-word version of the feelings about the state of the country expressed in…the Washington Post poll. Other polls, too.
Then came Biden inflation that hit nearly 10%. Buying food, gas, and other essentials became burdensome for millions of people. Home mortgages went up as the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to combat inflation. “Crooked Joe’s inflation crisis has raised costs for small businesses,” Trump said. “Biden’s energy crisis…soaring interest rates…loans much more expensive…household incomes have been crushed. … A vote for Crooked Joe Biden is a vote for inflation, taxation, submission, and failure.”
Trump spoke at length about the economy and his proposed solutions. More than anything else, it is the core of his message. And why does it work? Because it reflects what the polls, including the Washington Post poll, show voters are most concerned about. In the new Washington Post poll, just 30% of those surveyed approved of Biden’s handling of the economy, versus 64% who disapproved. Just 25% said the state of the economy is excellent or good (actually, just 2% said it is excellent, while 23% said it is good). Seventy-four percent said it is not so good or poor.
In a Washington Post poll from November 2018, when Trump was president, 65% said the economy was excellent or good, while just 34% said it was not so good or poor. In another Washington Post poll from September 2019, the numbers were 56% excellent or good and 43% not so good or poor. Even in September 2020, after COVID-19 struck, Trump’s numbers were substantially better than Biden’s are today, with 40% saying the economy was excellent or good.
On some specifics, the Washington Post found even worse results for Biden. Just 12% said gas or energy prices were excellent or good. Just 8% said the same about food prices. Just 21% said the incomes of average workers were excellent or good.
Obey
Article URL : https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/why-trumps-message-works