We have heard much about the puzzle that US economic performance under President Joe Biden has been much stronger than voters perceive it to be. But the current episode is just one instance of a bigger historical puzzle: the US economy has since World War II consistently done better under Democratic presidents than under Republican presidents. This fact is even less widely known, including among Democratic voters, than the truth about Biden’s term. Indeed, some poll results suggest that more Americans believe the reverse, that Republican presidents are better stewards of the economy than Democrats.
The way I see people like this is that they have too many other things tied up in their decision. It’s not just about facts they have friends, co-workers, family that all believe a certain way. If they were to make a big change to this way of thinking it puts them on the outside of their social group.
But what you may have done with your line of questioning is set a seed for change in their thinking. It may take a while to grow into an obvious change but it can happen. Of course this means that they have to put the work in to grow those ideas, which may not happen but it was good to do.