Neither Party Is Talking About What Voters Actually Care About

If you believe the country needs more secure elections, I hear you. But the popular contention that Republicans are going to lose their congressional majority in the next midterm elections because of a failure to pass the SAVE America Act is a partisan fantasy fueled by social media.

Gallup has been measuring the voters' "most important problems" for decades. When you ask Americans to rank their most pressing political concerns, election integrity barely even shows up on the list. "Elections, Election reform, and Democracy" garners, in total, 2 percentage points on Gallup. Other polls typically reflect similar outcomes.

Considering historical trends, it's likely that the GOP was going to have a bad midterm election no matter what policy was passed. Treating the SAVE America Act as a make-or-break moment for the party and country, considering the hurdles it already faced in a closely divided Senate, was a big mistake.

It's not just election laws. "Foreign policy/Foreign aid/Focus overseas" comes in at 2% in the Gallup poll and is persistently on the lowest end of voter concerns. Yet, if you spent your day on social media reading Democrats and progressives or listening to the big podcasters, you might be under the impression that Israel was the most pressing issue for vast swaths of American people.

The number of times you hear Democrats warning voters about "AIPAC" imbues that modest lobbying shop with thousands of times more power and influence than its actual reach. Social media nurtures the ugliest paranoias.

Another issue that's allegedly sinking the midterm elections for the GOP is the Iran war. There's scant evidence anywhere that gettable voters are basing their decisions on what's going on in Iran.

I'm not going to sit here and tell you that Trump's capricious handling of that conflict, or other issues, is helping his prospects, but the notion that a mass of voters are altering their party affiliation because the president is bombing an Islamist terrorist regime is far-fetched.

On the other hand, 36% of Americans place economic issues at the top of their minds. That's up from 25% only a few months ago. The high cost of living, inflation, oil prices, unemployment, wage issues, taxes, etc., dominate virtually every poll. In a new Pew poll, economics is by far the top concern of voters, as well.

So what did the president do this week? He slapped new tariffs on products from 60 trading partners, which will drive up prices for consumers. Tariffs, incredibly popular with Make America Great Again loyalists on X, consistently rank as one of the least popular of all the president's policies.

Trump's tariffs have far more to do with the GOP's electoral problems than failing to pass the SAVE America Act.

Obviously, just because an issue doesn't rank as the voters' greatest concern doesn't mean it isn't of any concern. It's also fair to point out that simply because a majority of voters don't care about an issue doesn't mean it isn't important.

For Americans, voting is often an affirmation of an overarching cultural worldview that's disconnected from any specific policy.

Among noneconomic issues, for instance, the leading concern among voters is "government and poor leadership" at 26%. It's not outlandish to theorize that independent voters who aren't obsessed with politics might be looking for competence and stability.

They won't get that from politicians and their staff who spend all day scanning and reacting to social media feeds. In 2024, Democrats widely embraced extreme "woke" cultural quackery that happened to be popular on X at the time. Americans overall found that outlook unsettling enough to put President Donald Trump in the White House. "Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you," was perhaps the most concisely powerful ad of the last presidential campaign.

The same social media capture also affects mainstream media, where journalists and commentators frequently treat X outrages as a reflection of broad public consensus, distorting the expectations and perceptions of their readers.

Media doesn't temper social media panic — it exports it into the real world.

Our social media-modulated politics, though, is so feeble and uninspiring that it's a miracle any normal person even bothers to participate. Every political fight is transformed into a maximalist end-of-days event. Ultimately, politics fails us.

Social media takes that failure and plunges us into despair about our country. It's completely unhealthy for individuals. But it's also severely corrosive for political discourse.

(COMMENT, BELOW)

Previously:
• 07/20/26 Luddites Are Winning the Data Center Debate
• 07/13/26 AOC Should Thank Baby Boomers for the World They Left Her
• 07/03/26 The United States Has Always Been at War
• 07/01/26 The Socialist Revolution Will Eat the Dem Party
• 06/19/26 Why Is the Trump Administration Taking Orders from the Iranians?
• 06/12/26 Even Without His Controversies, Graham Platner Is Just a Lightweight Extremist
• 06/08/26 Southern Poverty Law Center's REAL scam
• 06/01/26 Dems Are in No Position to Lecture Anyone About Candidates
• 05/25/26 Jeff Bezos Is Right About Capitalism, Wrong About Taxes
• 05/11/26 Why Stay in NATO if Europe Isn't Willing to Help Us?
• 05/01/26 Nazi Tattoo? Hamas Defender? No Problem, Says Chuck Schumer, a self-styled defender of Jewish interests
• 04/24/26 James Madison Saw Abigail Spanberger Coming
• 04/20/26 Hey, Socialists, We've Already Figured Out the Supermarket
• 04/16/26 Argentina Is Booming -- Capitalism Remains Undefeated
• 04/13/26Everyone Knows What the Dems' AIPAC Obsession Is Really About
• 03/27/26 Trump's Iran Deal Must Be Nothing Like Obama's
• 03/24/26 Class-War Economics Is Counterproductive and Un-American
• 03/20/26 Paul Ehrlich is dead. Regrettably, his legacy isn't
• 03/13/26 When 'Islamophobia' Becomes a License to Lie
• 03/06/26 Trump eradicates 47 years of feckless foreign policy
• 03/02/26 What Trump Should Tell the American People About Iran
• 02/20/26 Yes, Dems are crazy
• 02/20/26 Obama Is in No Position to Lecture Us About Decency
• 02/13/26 Shut Up and Ski
• 02/06/26 Don't Cry for The Washington Post, It Helped Destroy Media
• 01/30/26 Price Controls Won't Work Any Better for Republicans Than It Does Dems
• 01/16/26 The Left's Silence on Iran Is NOT Hypocrisy
• 12/26/25: For JD Vance, Free Speech Only Means His Friends Can't Be Criticized
• 12/12/25: The Left Doesn't Believe in the Constitutional Order
• 12/07/25: War Powers Are Dead
• 11/27/25: MTG Embodies the Inanity of Populism
• 11/14/25: Gaslighting Americans is latest Dem Disaster
• 11/11/25: Trump's Filibuster Nuke Would Hand Dems the Keys To Remake America
• 11/04/25: Let's Talk About the Real Genocide of Christians in Africa
• 10/16/25: Obamacare Is a Massive Failure. The GOP Shouldn't Bail It Out
• 10/10/25: Why Aren't 'Ceasefire Now!' Activists Celebrating Trump's Gaza Peace Deal?
• 09/12/25: Israel's Strike on Qatar Should Have Happened Years Ago
• 09/05/25: An Open Letter to My Esteemed Colleagues at the International Association of Genocide Scholars
• 08/29/25: The President Doesn't Get to Dictate How We Express Ourselves
• 08/22/25: Is Socialism as Popular as the Media Think?
• 08/15/25: Save the Little Sisters of the Poor!
• 08/08/25: RFK Jr.'s War on Vaccines and Public Health Continues
• 08/01/25: Europe's Recognition of 'Palestine' Is a Cynical Joke
• 07/18/25: Legacy Media Still Covering for Biden
• 06/27/25: Trump Learned the Lessons of Iraq
• 05/30/25: We Have No Constitutional or Moral Duty to Subsidize Harvard
• 05/30/25: Welcome to the Intifada, America
• 05/16/25: Scapegoating Biden Isn't Going to Solve the Dems' Problems
• 05/09/25: The Pulitzer Prizes Have Become a Sad Joke
• 05/05/25: How Do You Do, Fellow White People? Tim Walz Says Hello!
• 04/25/25: Ketanji Brown Jackson Makes a Powerful Argument for School Choice
• 04/18/25: If Everyone Is an Expert, No One Is
• 03/31/25: The Left's Imaginary COVID 'Reckoning'
• 03/21/25: Sorry, Conspiracy Theorists -- Lee Harvey Oswald Acted Alone
• 03/03/25: Mitch McConnell: A GOP Hall of Famer?
• 02/21/25: RFK's Dangerous Autism Lie
• 02/14/25: It's Time to End the EV Racket
• 02/07/25: If You Really Support Immigration, Stop Excusing Chaos
• 02/03/25: Trump's Gaza Proposal Makes Complete Sense
• 01/24/25: How Biden's Pardons Normalize Abuse of Power
• 01/17/25: Israel Makes a Deal With the Actual Devil
• 01/13/25: Why Javier Milei Matters
• 12/20/24: The Obama Doctrine Is Dead
• 12/13/24: It's time for a national conversation about left-wing violence
• 12/09/24: It's time for a national conversation about left-wing violence
• 11/08/24: Don't Trash the Constitution to Dunk on the Libs
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• 11/01/24: HARRIS Is the Bigger Threat to the Constitutional Order
• 09/20/24: Fact checked! Harris Is the Extremist
• 07/13/24: Explain Yourself, Kamala Harris!
• 07/05/24: How Biden's Mental Decline Went From 'Misinformation' to Fact in a Week
• 04/12/24: Biden Is Now Chasing the 'Death to America' Voter
• 03/15/24: Turns Out Biden Lied About Hur, Beau, And Why He Pilfered Classified Docs
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• 02/09/23: Electric Cars Are a Scam
• 06/30/23: Americans Have Never Been Less Threatened by 'Extreme Weather'
• 03/03/23: Questioning Biden's Ukraine Policy Doesn't Make You an 'Isolationist'
• 01/20/23: No ribbons? Don't hide behind religion!
• 01/13/23: On Classified Documents, Joe Biden Is Out of Excuses
• 04/29/22: Biden's Ministry of Truth
• 04/08/22: The Most Radical Abortion Law in the Nation
• 04/01/22: Recuse Yourself, Joe Biden
• 03/25/22: No, School Boards Are Not 'Banning Books'
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• 01/28/22: It's Not Government's Job to 'Root Out' Misinformation
• 01/14/22: Biden's Big Elections Lie
• 01/07/22: Schumer's Ugly 'Voting Rights' Gamble
• 12/24/21:AOC's Grasp on American Governance Is a 'Farce'
• 12/17/21: Dems Pivot from Build Back Better to Useless Extremism
• 11/19/21: Reckoning' Over Steele Dossier?
• 10/15/21: The Biden White House Will Pay for Playing Inflation Games
• 09/24/21: The most demonstrable political scandal still ignored
• 09/17/21: Sorry, AOC, The Rich Already Pay Their Fair Share
• 09/02/21: Why Isn't Biden to Blame for COVID-19 Deaths?
• 08/06/21: Biden's Unprecedented Attack on the Constitution
• 07/30/21: Jan. 6 Was Deplorable. It Was NOT a Coup
• 06/21/21: The Myth of Republican Obstructionism
• 05/21/21: What Does Putin Have on Biden?
• 04/16/21: Kristen Clarke Is Unfit to Be in Government
• 03/26/21: No to DC Statehood is far from GOP being reflexive
• 03/22/21: Biden Prepares to Strip College Students of Due Process Rights The Hypocrisy of the Filibuster Busters
• 03/12/21: Biden Prepares to Strip College Students of Due Process Rights
• 03/05/21: AOC's Terrible Minimum Wage Argument
• 02/12/21: The Dem Party Is Radicalizing against the Constitution
• 02/05/21: What NOT to Do with Marjorie Taylor Greene
• 01/15/21: Free Speech Is a Value Not Just a Right
• 12/31/20: It Can't Get Any Worse Than 2020. Here's a 2021 Political Wish List
• 10/26/20: Wanted: An Honest Debate about the Death Penalty
• 10/26/20: These are the questions 'Big Guy' Biden must be forced to answer about Hunter's emails
• 09/11/20: The Dems' Dangerous Delegitimization of the Election
• 08/28/20: Biden Is Underperforming Hillary in Battleground States
• 08/14/20: Kamala Harris, Imaginary Centrist
• 07/24/20: Who you calling a fascist?
• 07/17/20: Speech Police have finally gone too far
• 07/03/20: 'But Gorsuch' Is Still Trump's Best Argument
• 06/22/20: Welcome to America's Cultural Revolution
• 06/12/20: The color of my skin is not an indictment of my morality, nor does it strip me of my agency
• 06/05/20: What this son of immigrants knows about bulding bussinesses --- and the dismay of destruction
• 05/28/20: The Folly of Twitter's Fact-Check
• 05/22/20: Dems Warning Trump Will Reject Election Results Should Look in the Mirror
• 05/15/20: Obamagate Is NOT a Conspiracy Theory
• 05/08/20: Really, Joe --- due process is the opposite of justice?