How will Biden be good for the U.S.?

Biden suggested that people in the inner cities are too dumb to get online to register for a vaccine.

He's really good with people. A uniter. lol

 

Hahaha. That was funny.

 

How? What has he said/did that would indicate bipartisanship??

 

True That!

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Great video. Well done. Simple and effective.

 

OK. I asked what President Biden will do/has done for the U.S. and the only responses I received were that he signed off on aid to TX, and he ordered more vaccines (to be fair, I once worked under someone who didn't order paper clips until we were COMPLETELY out, so I can see that this is important). However, it seems that Biden supporters see little he does as particularly good for Americans, nor do you expect him to do anything good. This is terrifying. I have to conclude that either a great bunch of Americans voted for a man who was never expected to support us simply to get "the other guy" out of office, or more likely that not nearly as many people voted for him as we've been instructed to believe.

 

https://www.usnews.com/news/politic...alogue-with-republicans-on-coronavirus-relief

 

You've been instructed to believe things? That does sound terrifying.

 

I feel like this is Sarcasm... It's gotta be!

 

He is sending money to Tx for their power problem issues. And I don't think Tx even had to ask for help.

Build Better Back.
Unify.

The help to Tx is a step in unification.

 

Now that's the one thing I've never understood. What the hell is with some voters that the Democrats can call Republicans every dirty name In the book but let a Republican respond in kind you'd thing WWIII just happened. Good Lord folks how much crap do Republicans have to put up with before their allowed to respond in kind? That was might favorite thing about Trump he didn't take the BS he called them on it.

 

Let's see, Biden is allowing more illegal immigrants in...no thats not good.
How bout he's letting biological boys / men in bathrooms with my granddaughters...oh no, thats not what i meant.
Maybe stopping the pipeline will help, oh gosh that ain't good....um, I'll circle back to ya with an answer later.

 

Who responds may be important. I would say most folks, I'll refine that to independents expect a president to act, shall I say presidential. To stay basically above the fray. Reagan took a lot of abuse when first elected. But he'd smile, tell a self deprecating joke, everyone would laugh, soon the abuse ceased. He let all the small stuff just roll off his back. He won reelection by a landslide, people liked him as a person. That likability allowed Reagan to survive Iran-Contra without a scratch. Many people differed with Reagan politically, but most liked him as a person.

Bill Clinton was the same, he was a very likable guy. Except Republicans, most Americans liked Bill personally. He could easily survive his bimbo's and his impeachment. His approval and favorable rating went up during his impeachment and trial. From 59% at the beginning to 65% when the trial was over. Neither Reagan nor Bill Clinton for the most part responded to attacks, others lower down did it for them. That too was accepted and expected.

Obama was always under attack from Republicans. But he never resorted to name calling or throwing temper tantrums. Obama was another likable guy. Independents like him as a person and hence he won his reelection by 4 points if I remember right. Independents really didn't like a lot of Obama's policies, which resulted in the GOP regaining the house in 2010 and the senate in 2014. Independents disagreed on a lot of Obama's policies, but voted for him anyway. They like Obama as a person. Obama had a good personality, a positive persona like Reagan and Bill Clinton. Outside of the very hard core partisans, they were easy to like as a person.

Trump was different, he was very easy to dislike as was Hillary Clinton. Few liked either one as a person. 2016 was obnoxious and rude against elitist and aloof. Obnoxious won, barely, winning the electoral college, losing the popular vote. Trump carried independents 46-42 with 12% voting third party against both major party candidates. Independents after living with Trump very distasteful personality and childish actions for 4 years, having his very unpresidential behavior grate on them they went heavily for Biden 54-41, a turn around or swing of 17 points from 2016. Trump just wasn't liked as a person. Biden was, although he was an old, bland, uninspiring candidate, he came across as the adult in the room. No name calling, no temper tantrums, no 3rd grade schoolyard bullying tactics, he acted and looked presidential, not like some wrestler out of the WWE in a pre-fight interview. More or less a return to presidential behavior standards most people thought the office deserved. Call it a return to sanity, normalcy, a president who knows how to act like a president should. Biden was the most likable and he won. 2020, one could say the adult and the more likable candidate won over obnoxious.

One thing to remember, all presidents have their attack dogs, but until Trump, those attack dogs wasn't the president himself. Sometimes it was the VP, sometimes a congressional leader, at times it was a member of the cabinet or some other person in an influential position. But never the president, the president always stood about the political fray.

 

OK. Noted. Now, what is President Biden doing or do you expect him to do, that will improve the lives of U.S. citizens??

Do you see what I mean that no one, even Democrats, seem to have much?

 

Not expecting much, is probably true. What many expect to include independents is a president who at least acts presidential. More or less a return to normalcy, to saner times where a president doesn't go around calling others names or use 3rd grade schoolyard bullying tactics. So the bar is very low. If Biden does nothing but acts presidential in the normal manner all presidents have done prior to Trump, that will be enough to satisfy most. I don't think you know how much Trump's irrational, unpresidential behavior grated on folks.

I'll add this, Biden was viewed as a moderate Democrat. I do think if he kowtows to the extreme left as he seems to being pushed to do so, 2 years from now just acting presidential may not be enough to save the Democratic congress. Folks may like Biden, but that like may not extend down to congressional level and their anger could be taken out on congressional democrats. Much like in 1994 and 2010. Folks liked Bill Clinton and Obama as a person, not their policies. As a result both were reelected fairly easily. But there was a huge change at congressional level.

I also don't think that those highly partisan and to include political junkies realize that presidential election for the most part are beauty contests to quite a lot of independents. They don't delve deep into policy, but base their vote on who they like or don't like as a person, candidate.

Bill Clinton, Obama all won the independent vote in both their initial election and in reelection. Both lost congress during their terms as president. Independents while voting for Bill and Obama were voting Republican down ballot. Much like in 2020 only in reverse. Independents voting overwhelmingly for Biden over Trump, but then voting Republican down ballot which resulted in a 13 seat pick up in the house, 2 state legislatures and a governorship for Republicans. All while Trump was losing by 7 plus million votes.

I think the bottom line is if Biden does absolutely nothing, most Americans will be satisfied with that. As long as he doesn't try to shift the country too far left that is. All that is expected of Biden is that he act like an adult and presidential. Not as a four year old spoiled brat calling others names and throwing temper tantrums and cease with the 3rd grade schoolyard bullying tactics. I don't think Trump can ever win independents back which means since the GOP is the smaller of the two major parties, he can't win in a general election. To regain the independent vote, I think the GOP has to distance themselves from Trump.

Whether that is true or not, only time will tell.

 

That is maybe the saddest thing I've ever heard. That most Americans have set the bar that low. Newsflash, though, he's already shifting the country mighty far left.

 

I realize that, the shift left which is the opposite of what old Joe campaigned on. He campaign as a moderate and is now being pushed left by the progressives of his party. Which in turn may cause them to lose congress 2 years from now.

I don't think it's sad if one has been following independents and what they have been saying about Trump. Perhaps what says it best is that Trump lost by 7 plus million votes to an old, bland, uninspiring, lacking of energy, basically staying hidden in the basement, non-charismatic candidate. 2020 wasn't a vote for Biden as much as it was a vote against Trump. Biden probably would have lost big to almost any other Republican candidate.

But the same could have been said about 2016, almost any other democrat, alive or dead would have trounced Trump other than Hillary Clinton. I think what may be sad when it comes to future prospects of the GOP is they're entirely ignoring the fact Republicans congressional candidates received more votes than Trump did, at least a higher percentage of the vote. Trump also ran behind most of the Republican senate candidates when it came to the percent of the vote received in various states. All thanks to independents who were voting for Biden and Republican down ballot.

 

I take it you are registered as independent. It is hard for me to believe, as divided as the voting blocs are right now, that anyone who voted for Biden would vote Republican for anything (or vice versa). Which is one reason why I am skeptical of the election results. However, I recognize that a lot of people don't like Trump, maybe even more than I originally thought. I wonder if a lot of voters voted for Biden for that reason only and didn't vote at all down ballot? Might explain why Trump lost, but so many other Republicans didn't.

 

What I have found with independents is that many support some Republican ideas while opposing others, the same with Democratic idea, favor some, oppose others. A lot of people try to picture independents as being in-between the two major parties ideologically. I'm sure some are, but they don't fit neatly into that category.

Here in Georgia, we don't register via party. We just register to vote, no party affiliation is asked.Myself for example, I'm pro-choice and pro-2nd amendment. That leaves me at odds with both major parties. So my vote is decided more on how I view the candidates than party affiliation. Still using me as an example, I voted for Biden, then voted Republican in our two senate races and voted Democratic for my congressman. Ticket splitting is more the norm for me than punching any straight ticket line.

Using the numbers from the exit polls of 2020, I figure you had at least 4 million ticket splitters. Folks who voted for Biden, then Republican down ballot. There were probably more as 4 million is the minimum number to get the numbers to add up. It doesn't include those who voted for Trump and then democratic for congress. Just that there had to be 4 million more that voted the former than voted the later.

In 2016 Senate race, Republican Johnny Isakson received 2.2 million votes and 55% of the total Georgia vote. Trump who won Georgia then, received 2.0 million votes, 50.4% of the total Georgia vote. A prime example of ticket splitters.

2020 Republican senate candidate Perdue received 2.5 million votes, 49.8%, Trump 2.4 million, 49.2%. This is just an example of ticket splitting that goes on. 200,000 more voters voted for Isakson than Trump in 2016 while 100,000 more voted for Perdue than Trump in 2020. Had those 100,000 not split their ticket, voting for Biden, then Perdue for senate, Trump would have won Georgia in 2020 by around 85,000 votes.

I think the bottom line is normally Republicans and democrats don't split their tickets. They vote for their party's candidates. Independents on the other hand are much more prone to split their tickets depending on the candidates. Independents are also much more likely to vote third party if they don't like either major party candidate rather than vote for the lesser of two evils or their least liked major party candidate. 12% of independents voted third party in the 2016 presidential race, 5% in the 2020 presidential race.

Ticket splitting and voting third party isn't uncommon among independents, but rare among those who affiliate or identify with the two major parties. Independents can also swing wildly between the two parties. Obama in 2012 won independents by 8 points, Trump in 2016 won them by 4 points, Biden won independents by 13 points in 2020. They swing even more wildly in congressional races, some examples, in 2006 independents voted for Democratic congressional candidates by a whopping 18 point margin, 57-39, but 4 years later, 2010 they voted Republican in the congressional races by 19 points 56-37. Closer to today, in 2016 independents went for Republican congressional candidates by 4 points 51-47, but in 2018, just two years later they went Democratic by 12 points 54-42.

By the way, I always preferred swing voter to independent. I'm not loyal to any political party, I just choose who I think are the best candidates regardless of party.

 

Thanks for the info. If you listen to enough news and commentary, you come to believe the swing voter is a myth. My father always said he voted "for the man, not the party." However, it does seem to me that candidates are always loyal to their platform. That might be a recent phenomenon though. How do you figure then which candidate to vote for, say, because of his/her pro-choice views and which on their pro-2nd amendment?

P.S. It is nice to have a real discussion with someone I may not agree with on everything, but without the name-calling and general obnoxiousness that we often see on both sides!

 

I usually ask the question, will candidate A leave this country in better shape once he leaves office than when he first entered. Or whatever office that is up for election, Governor, senator, representative, country commissioner etc. I also think that by watching and listening to candidates, also their past record you can tell if their sincere, trustworthy, honest, if they have the what is best for country or is it just party in their heart. Is it a power grab or does the candidate really believe he can make life and this country a better place.

Issues are usually on the back burner until I get a feel for the candidate/s. I'm far from being an ideologue. I've voted for pro life candidates and voted for anti 2nd amendment candidates if I feel they're best suited for the office they're running for. Another important factor is whether or not I think the candidate once elected will listen to the folks back home. Follow their wishes and want and not just the party line. So I always liked mavericks. Murkowski, McCain, Manchin etc. Folks who will buck their party if they know what their party want is opposite of what the folks back home want. elected officials who weight the merits of legislation and ideas, proposal and not base their vote strictly on which party proposed it.

I respect the heck out of Bernie Sanders, but I disagree with him on almost all issues. But I know he's basically honest and in his heart he'll do what he think best for this country. With Trump, I can't say I had any respect for him at all. Although I agreed on his policies more than I disagreed. He wasn't a good president in my book. With Biden, I know I'll disagree on far more policies than I agree with him on. But I came to the conclusion that he'd make the better president for this country.

I can always oppose his ideas, the ones I disagree with. But I'm far more comfortable with Biden sitting in the oval office than I was with Trump. I think this is something that ideologues, the very partisan have a hard time understanding. I'm strange, it's how I feel about a candidate, whether I like and trust him, how I think he'll handle the job of the office he's running for. Whether he'll do his best. In a way, I'd rather have someone in office I'm comfortable with, that I know he's doing what is best for the country in his heart even though I disagree with him on most issues and policy than have one in office, although I agree with him on most issues and policies, but someone I don't trust or don't feel comfortable with.

Ideologues, I don't think make the best presidents, senators, governors etc. I think the best one are those willing to compromise, to keep moving forward even if it is only a couple of steps at a time. One that is willing to work across the aisle. In short, I let my gut decide who I'll vote for. Not scientific, but my gut hasn't lead me astray yet.

 

I think how you feel about a candidate is important, whether you expect him/her to actually keep their promises. I am actually more about their policies though. Seems like so few politicians check both boxes and have great policies/ideas and also are personable!

I have lots of friends who voted for Biden, but most of them are people who felt themselves insulated from his policies. For instance, older people on social security or assisted living, who believe nothing he does or doesn't do could possibly affect them, so they had the luxury of voting for the guy who seems "nicer."

Anyhow, I hope for the best.