[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by ThePrince

As someone living in the States, there is so much projecting of Canadian political thinking in this discussion, it’s actually hilarious. There is shockingly little understanding of the American political landscape and why the polls look like they do.

Completely agree with the bolded and have been saying this for years. Thank you for acknowledging the same. The disconnect is what makes these discussions so painful to read at times.

Originally Posted by ThePrince

A lot of posts in this thread about how the only people voting for Trump are uneducated far right MAGA idiots, and how good Biden has been because that’s how American politics is portrayed in Canada (and the rest of the world). “Dumb Americans” is the classic trope so people can get on their high horse about how their country is better.

This is mostly true. What we have in the United States is team politics and a very intellectually lazy electorate. Most people vote for the team they have supported their whole lives (what they raised to cheer for) and don't bother to look past the false platitudes that pass as platforms. Truth be told, the two parties aren't much different. They will tell you that they are, but their actions speak much louder than their false platitudes.

In reality, there are some very valid criticisms of Biden. His approval rating has been dropping for a long time now and he’s been trailing Trump in the polls for a lot longer than people on here like to admit.

This is because of inflation and what people perceive to be the economy. Sadly, most people do not understand fiscal policy or the how long it takes for political policy to impact the nation's economic engine. To see what a political policy has wrought you have to wait two years to feel its effect. They inflation we felt was because of Trump policies. You don't cut all those taxes and give away all the money he did without seeing inflation. What made it worse and slowed the response from Biden policy is the feckless nature and piss poor job congress has done to get ANYTHING accomplished. They're pretty much locked in their asinine games of one upmanship and are doing nothing to improve the situation of the nation as a whole. Congress has a greater influence here than any care to admit, and congress right now is a carnival sideshow.

He’s been polling (relatively) weakly with black and Latino voters, which aren’t exactly the MAGA demographic. One example is that his border policies had been atrocious and it was an issue that was very visible to a lot of Americans.

This is a media driven narrative that doesn't hold much water IMO. Biden has actually followed much of the Trump doctrine when it comes to the border with the exception of the methods to "build the wall". There is still plenty of wall building going on - one of the companies that builds the partitions is down the road from where I live - but the real big investments in the wall are in the virtual wall building. The investments in sensors and observation technology are through the roof. He's also encouraging the use of the national guard to fortify the efforts at the border. The same policies exist, the Biden admin just does it with a lot more finese.

“Sleepy Joe” and Biden’s decline has been well publicized and talked about down here for a while, it wasn’t some revelation with the debate. I’m not sure why people are saying it’s a conspiracy theory that Biden’s team has kept a pretty tight lid on him publicly, that’s pretty obvious for anyone who’s followed American politics.

BOTH candidates are in major decline. Both display physical and cognitive decline. Biden struggles to find his words while Trump babbles nonsensical verbal diarrhea. Both are indicators of cognitive decline. Biden struggles with his balance while Trump's fine motor skills are all but gone. Trump is getting unmercilessly mocked for his golf swing and putting stroke, but that is indicators of age and cognitive decline. They both should be disqualified for the same reasons. The fact that one side ignores the concern is just more support for the claim of a cultish following.

Many people simply didn’t want to vote for Biden, and it wasn’t just dumb Americans.

Agreed. But there are many people that simply want to vote for Trump - because he owns the libs and says the ignorant #### they haven't had the sack in the past to say themselves. I classify those people as dumb Americans, not for what they say, but because the policies they support hurt them as badly - many times more - than the libs they are hoping Trump will own. That is stupid. When you vote for someone that is going to hurt you, that is just plan ####ing stupid.