The last time this happened, voters didn’t credit Bill Clinton. That may be a bad omen, or a good one.
If the stock market chose presidents, Joe Biden would be a shoo-in for reelection in 2024. The market rallied this month amid growing optimism about the economy, with the S&P 500 zooming 1.9 percent Tuesday on news that the consumer price index rose only 3.2 percent in October (compared to 3.7 percent in September). Stocks rallied again Wednesday on news that the producer price index fell 0.5 percent. Commentators are no longer debating whether the economy will experience a “soft landing” (i.e., a reduction in inflation without recession). The only question now is when it will arrive. The S&P 500 seems to have decided it’s already here.
But the stock market doesn’t choose presidents. Voters do, and polls continue to show they think the economy is in terrible shape. A Financial Times–Michigan Ross Nationwide Survey conducted November 2–7 is absolutely brutal on this point.
I don’t think cynicism will bring us any further. I believe it can be done if we vote for people who share the vision. And there are lots of people who share that vision.
But, of course, it’s not going to happen if people end up voting for someone else on election day because “gas prices are a little high for my taste right now.”
The best bet is to vote for enough progressive democrats that will support ranked choice voting and we get it. Once that happens we can build actual progressive platforms and parties but as it sits your not going to change the foundation of the democrat or republican parties. We need new ones and for the time being the democrats are allowing us to vote in more younger progressives and that may be the ticket to finally getting out of the US’s trapped two party system.