The 2024 presidential general election is here, for all intents and purposes. Joe Biden and Donald Trump are set to face off in the first presidential rematch since 1956. It’s also the first rematch between a current and a former president since 1892.
Biden will face the same challenges Trump had in 2020, namely that it is harder to have people fired up and enthusiastic to show up to the polls when their current choice is already in office. I think that Biden will have pandemic fall out inflation to hurt him with independents like Trump had his covid response hurt him with independents. It really will be a coin flip IMO.
I wish we had better people running.
I voted for Obama twice. He was very disappointing, in my opinion, but I felt the Republican candidates were garbage. I know Democrats get upset when you say their messiah was disappointing but had the potential to be one of the greatest presidents in history.
One thing that defines me is I like people who create jobs. One thing I admire about Elon is that he has created many good paying jobs. That is how trickle-down is supposed to work.
Romney prided himself on destroying jobs and outsourcing jobs. A person like that will never get my vote.
That is part of the appeal to the blue-collar people and Trump. It is a nice catch phrase: MAGA, Make America Great Again. Bring the jobs home.
Now, I am not convinced he delivered on that promise, but I like the idea of breaking our ties to countries like China, which abuses people and wants to invade our allies.
Overall I am not thrilled with Trump but life was good under Trump. Unless something radical changes, he will get my vote in the next election. I just wish the Republicans had run someone better.
The economy is actually doing quite well under Biden. Between the IRA and CHIPS, and other measures, manufacturing is looking good. Blue collar jobs are doing fine too, with some hiccups due to world events. I’d rather have Biden anyway especially since he has let the Central bank have autonomy to set interest rates unlike Trump who took a less conservative approach and more of a populist approach.
Inflation and polls say otherwise. People do not feel the economy is good, consumer debt is rising along with foreclosures.
Inflation has risen by 3.1% from Jan 2023 to Jan 2024. The target that the Federal Reserve has is 3%. Consumer confidence may be a different story though, as even though market indicators say there’s a strong economy, people saying that the economy is bad will make people say that the economy is bad. There’s currently a labor shortage and strong jobs growth and wages are starting to grow in real terms for the first time in a while.
Granted, the only thing that matters in the end is if people think the economy is bad
https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates/
4.1% over the year. 8 % the prior year 4.7 the year before that.
The problem is prices are going up faster than wages. As long as inflation outpaces the cost of things, we are not in a strong economy.
If people were piling on debt just to live and could afford a home, I would agree we have a stronger economy. Right now, I can’t say that with a straight face.