More and more, people's sentiments are divorced from reality and tied to party identification

Politics
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Or, I should say, people’s sentiments are driven by their party identification and that identification drives them to look at only those parts of reality that conform to what they’ve already chosen to believe.

Until Donald Trump, consumer sentiment never was this tightly tied to party identification as it is now.

Totally amazing that consumer sentiment nationally has stayed about the same, but Dems and GOP simply switched how they felt about the economy pre-Trump and post-Trump.

Now the Dems look at rapidly falling unemployment, a booming stock market, and increase in “back to normalcy” measures and their confidence is sky high.

But Republicans look at high inflation, disrupted supply chains, and companies unable to hire workers at the wages they would like to hire them at and believe the country and the economy are headed to Hell.

Reality of course is probably somewhere in the middle, but people will fight for their perceptions now until the cows come home.

When those who disagree with you aren’t just wrong, but evil and anti-American…can it be any other way?

(Yes it’s a CNN article and so the headline is biased against the GOP pessimism, as is the article. I tried not to be because inflation and the idea that we can keep printing money with no ill effects are things I worry about even as I rejoice in the improving economy).

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Oh, look, you have been left behind by today’s left, capitalism is racist, everything needs to be shut down to address the climate crisis. None of this greedy running around spewing carbon nonsense.

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Um…what?

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I am glad the article nods to the “both sides” effect, because it is true: the moment one party takes power, the other party becomes fatally pessimistic and relentlessly hammers away.

Trump’s term was by no means an economic boom, but it was not the recession many folks tried to float (while ignoring the criterion for a recession).

The problems we have transcend policy and presidents, yet too often parties will obstruct for temporary partisan gain.

Nevertheless, I still align with Democrats because I simply believe that their policies are better.

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I’m guessing he’s saying the left is miserable too, which is true. During the first three years of Trump the economy was great, we were at peace, etc., but people on the left were beside themselves with fear and loathing. I wonder if CNN wrote an article about that?

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And I stated the implicit bias in the CNN article on that score right from the first to focus on my takeaway…that we now have a tighter correlation between our consumer sentiment and if “our party” is in power than we ever have had.

I wondered if others saw the same thing and hoped by stating I saw CNN’s bias that others could get past it and discuss their thoughts in general.

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Let’s ignore your spin on this and just take a look at your subject line.

I lean right on most issues and left on fewer issues. My leanings were formed over the course of my 70 years of experience. I’m certain, you have a similar experience regarding your leanings.

When I look at the political landscape the party most closely matching my political leanings is the Republican party. Your title seems to suggest that I have blindly pledged my allegiance to the Republican party and that I’m divorced from reality.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

I’m able to look at the economy independent of which party is in power. I’m considered wealthy by most measures and I’ve accumulated that wealth under both Republican and Democrat administrations. While I prefer GOP policies, I have come to believe that when it comes to economic growth, the private sector is pretty much able to thrive regardless of who is sitting in the WH.

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Great post.

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No my thesis was that consumer sentiment now more closely correlates with how you identify vis a vis the party in power than it ever has before, and this sentiment will drive people to focus only on that part of reality that jibes with their preconceived sentiment.

It has nothing to do with if one can personally thrive no matter what.

It has to do with what one’s outlook is on the overall economy.

My guess is you think the economy is in sorry shape right now. Not your personal well being…the economy.

Am I right or am I wrong?

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The article stated that too.

He has a point though that CNN likely doesn’t write this article if Trump is still President or if the GOP still controls things.

And I admitted CNN’s bias upfront.

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I agree with the thought in the thread title.

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those who forget history…

hello Weimar

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I believe the economy is recovering, following the impact of the pandemic. I don’t believe it is yet in great shape, but I don’t believe it is in sorry shape. Do I wish Trump had won the election? Of course. Would the economy be in better shape if he had won? Maybe. We will never know for sure so it isn’t worth my time to speculate.

Had someone come to me with that survey, I would have told them to take a hike - as I’ve done with anyone who has ever attempted to survey me.

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Isn’t the inevitable results of collectivism and identity politics?

It’s a team war now and has been for a while.

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I don’t remember people freaking out about the economy. I remember them freaking out about the debt, the giveaway to teh wealthy, siding with russia over our intel, his flirtation with racism, his idiotic wall, his pulling out of the iranian deal which lead to their quick advancement board nukes, his love affair with a dictator, and a bunch of other stuff.

But at least we all had work.

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It’s the inevitable result of Profit Based Ideology like Talk Radio Conservatism.

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I’ve never been surveyed. Not even once. I’d like to at least see what it is like

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Interesting. It seems to me that collectivism, or “we are all in this together” would lead to less identity politics.

Would you mind elaborating on this a bit?

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Only if there is one collective. And that’s not what collectivism is.

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e pluribus pluribus

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